Liberty & Ellis

Day 3 was a cold cold day....so cold that my finger hurt whenever I take them out from my gloves for a few fleeting moments to take pictures. But it didn't look like such a hell-froze-over day! The skies was an unbelievable shade of blue and the sun shone brightly... shows how looks can be deceptive..

We visited the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, a very fun excursion if you don't take the weather into account. Liberty looks beautiful up close, her green patina shining in the sun; we managed to get one of the free tickets to the observation pedestal, and took quite a number of perfect pictures, including some of the Manhattan skyline. The museum was informative and I find it interesting how the guides emphasized that the statue was a gift from the people of France to the people of America. Before the guide left, he asked us to spend a moment thinking of the people that did not have the freedom to visit the statue and to think about what Liberty really means...

Had very yummy fried chicken and hot chocolate before boarding the ferry for Ellis Island..

I heard so much about Ellis Island before that it's almost surreal to visit this immigration museum... There was a feeling of deja vu when I stepped onto the linoleum floor...you can literally feel the place with its belly full of stories and secrets...so many broken dreams and tightly held hopes... I watched the film but skipped the guide due to time constraint. Somehow, they all seem so commercialized... too entertaining for such a place that tells its own story through the silence of the walls...

Somehow, both islands matched... the sonnet of Lazarus seems to be written for Ellis as much as for Liberty... "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free"..

Ground Zero was our last stop that day, a big crater with white lights shining...It looks like an ordinary construction site...We went into the World Financial Center to escape the cold, and there was an unexpected good view over the site...Looking around at the luxurious settings of the WFC, and imagining the difference in the view I was looking at a couple of years ago on the night P tutored me in Java... fate has a quirky sense of humor...

We had dinner by the setting sun on Hudson River, a collage of gold and navy amidst the lit skyline...before heading for the Broadway show...