I'm pretty much zoning out at this point, but Sarah is paying attention and overhears a guide telling a group that this ferry doesn't actually stop at Liberty Island. The statton ferry has just pulled in, and Sarah gets both barrels of a JD grumpy gram - the first of the trip. This isn't the ferry we want. Looking back, Sarah didn't deserve the hairy eyeballs that she got, but maybe the haze of a 40 hour commute got the better of me. I really wanted to go to Liberty Island, so I bolt back to the information booth only to confirm that we had been waiting for the wrong ferry.
We jump out of the line to the Statton Island, and hurry back past the subway station, and head towards Battery Park - where the ferries to Liberty Island leave from. We wander past a few ferries, that upon closer inspection are just a bay cruise - not stopping at the statue - and lob at the circular 'battery" building. The park guide booms out a repeated message " tickets to liberty island around to the left" .... he seems bored. We walk around the corner, only to find our first "Disney" line.
Aside: A disney line is a waiting line when you can't see where the line ends, and ultimately have no idea how long the wait really is. It's an exercise in wishful thinking for those folk in a disney line, as just when you think you're close to the front, you turn a corner, or move into a building or room, only to find that there are already 500 people in there waiting. Some might think that this is done on purpose to trick people into waiting for hours on end to get a ticket when they otherwise wouldn't wait for..... but then again, I could be a cynic, right? ..... hmmm...
We hit the end of a line cordoned by strangely permanent looking temporary rails, and wait as the folk in front of us inch forward. About 20 minutes later, we enter the building, only to see the obligatory large room with 5 lines and 500 people waiting. About the same time, an announcement is made that there are no more tickets available for the "base" of the statue today, and the wait for a ferry is 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Sarah and aren't too keen on a 2 hour wait to get a ferry, and Sarah has a brainstorm - there is a short line where the booth signs say "pre-paid tickets", and so she jumps over to it and asks if we can buy tickets for the first ferry in the morning @ 8am. Success. We've got tickets for the island AND the base museum for 8am. Cool. Sarah also bought tickets for the harbour cruise that would allow us to see the Statue of Liberty and the Brookyln Bridge - score one for Sarah - and we walk straight over and line up for the 12:30pm boat.
The cruise leaves as scheduled, and we get an amazing view of Manhattan, The Statue of Liberty and the Brooklyn Bridge. See the pics page linked earlier for the photos. Whilst this took a hour and a half, I'd recommend it to anyone visiting New York, as it gives you an amazing perspective on the scale of Manhattan Island and the surrounding areas. One thing that we wouldn't recommend is the hot-dogs on the ferry - small, and not particularly tasty at all. Dunno what I expected, I suppose, but they did fill a gap.
With the plan set to get the Monday morning ferry to Liberty Island, we once again set of in search of the sights of Manhattan. Sarah wanted to see Wall Street, and we both were interested in having a look at "ground zero". The most striking thing about the World Trade Center is how big the area is. Whilst it is hard to visualise what it would have looked like with two huge buildings in the open space, you really do get a sensation of the enormity of what happened there on Sept 11. Unfortunately, there was construction going on and getting down into ground zero wasn't an option. Interestingly, from one of the viewing platforms around the edge, you can see a few of the train carriages that they haven't removed from what must of been the subway under the building. Kind of eerie, really. The rebuilding of the new towers is well under way, but looks as if it'll be a number of years before they'll be finished.
It takes us over an hour to walk around the Trade Center site, so we head off to the subway to go and see Washington Mews and New York University. Not really sure what the significance of the Washington Mews was for Sarah, but we got some photos, and walked through "Washington Square" to New York University. Haphazard is the best way to describe this campus - not at all like Stanford, or Harvard. Weird.
Hour 44 - 3:30pm Sunday
We're starting to run out of steam, so we jump back down to the subway and head back to Days Hotel and check in. Check in is quick, and after a quick trip up to the 11th floor in THE WORLDS SLOWEST LIFT we dump our stuff in our room, and settle in for a much needed shower and sit down. We're off to the restaurant eight mile creek for dinner, but there's also time for a quick nap.
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