Hello everyone!
Another great but busy day. I'm leading all my Fitbit friends by about 40,000 steps because of all the crazy amounts of walking we are doing!!
The first thing we did today was get the train to the High Line on the upper west side. This elevated 2km garden walkway was initially an above ground railway line that was built between 1929 and 1934 to decrease the amount of rail related fatalities occurring by eliminating 105 railroad crossings. However, as the manufacturing industry here decreased in the 50s and 60s, the railway was used less and less. In 1980 the last train pulled in there and the rail line fell into disrepair. In the last ten years they decided to convert the track into a public garden. Now it's lined with artwork and plants (they weren't in bloom obviously because it's winter) and provides people that work in the increasing amount of high rise buildings being built in the area with a lovely lunchtime stroll. We really enjoyed it and the views of the Hudson and New Jersey, but it was really cold! Rainy and windy today, definitely the coldest so far.
The walkway ended, leaving us in the Meatpacking district just south of Chelsea. This area gained its name due to the 250 slaughter houses in the area in the year 1900. Thankfully they're not there anymore, so we instead got to take in the trendy looking area which reminded us of Shoreditch (near my neighbourhood in London) and walked through the Greenwich. We bought cupcakes from Magnolia Cupcakes and walked to Washington Square Park to enjoy them. They were delicious, and apparently the park's squirrels thought so too because we were joined by a few of them trying to share our cupcakes!!
We went and looked at the Washington Arch in the square and then got the metro south to Battery Park to queue up for the Statue of Liberty ferry we had booked. The queue was huuuuuge, but thankfully I had already booked us tickets in advance so we "only" had to wait for 45 minutes, instead of 3+ hours in the ticket queue. So. Many. People.
We eventually got on a ferry and arrived at Liberty Island. We took in the views of manhattan island and then walked around to the front of the statue. It wasn't as big as we had expected, I had always thought the pedestal it was on wasn't that big, but it was massive and I think that makes the Statue look smaller. It was impressive all the same though! The pedestal sits atop Fort Wood, inside which was a museum that we then went and visited.
The Statue itself is 46m tall and 60 workers assembled its 28 ton structure. A man named Laboulaye proposed there should be a monument in NYC harbour to welcome immigrants arriving in New York, and the architect Auguste Bartholdi designed the Statue of Liberty. He also chose it's location as it was the first impression he had of New York when he arrived. Gustav Eiffel also helped out with structural issues due to the raised arm causing possible instability. The Statue was created in a workshop in Paris and then transported to New York via a 70 car train and then 214 crates on a ship on a four week voyage. Then ran out of coal on the way so had to rely on the sails! On the 28th of October 1886 the Statue was revealed on Liberty Island. Even though it was a gift from the French to celebrate liberty (and show their alliance with America rather than England) the American public had to raise $300,000 for the pedestal. A lot of people weren't very happy about that!!
In terms of appearance, the Statue is green because its copper/iron framework corrodes when exposed to air over time, turning it green. Underneath this shell it's made from wood and plaster. Lady Liberty is holding a tablet with the 4th of July 1776 inscribed upon it (the day the Declaration of Independence was signed), and breaking free from her shackles representing breaking away from England.
After spending a while in the museum we hopped back on the ferry and went to Ellis Island, where we went into the Immigration Museum. From 1855 to 1890, immigrants arriving in New York were processed at Battery Park. However, due to massive numbers, from 1890 onwards immigrants were processed at Ellis Island so that stricter controls could be put in place. Provided people were free of disease and clean, it only took a couple of hours for them to be processed. Eight million people arrived here from 1855-1886, while 14 million more arrived between 1886-1924. Lots of reasons made people up and leave to be here such as famine, war, poor conditions or just the hope of a fresh start, but many people were forced to come here too for reasons such as slavery.
We found it ironic that this entire museum, which spoke of immigration and how America was this amazing fresh start of a place to move to went against absolutely everything Donald Trump stands for. We jokingly wondered if he will close it down once he's inaugurated!
Upstairs we went into the registry room which had been altered to appear as it did in 1918-1924. This room looked just like the one I've seen in movies like 'Brooklyn' and 'Fantastic Beasts' - it was beautiful. The rooms off of this had information and stories about people who made the move. There were quotes about never seeing their families again and the reasons they left. One said "America was like going to the moon back then". I'm so grateful to be able to communicate so easily with you all via this blog and other social media channels whilst I travel and particularly when I moved to London last year. The people moving here back then often never saw their loved ones again once they left.
We got the ferry back, thinking that the ballet we were attending tonight was at 8pm. Thankfully I got the tickets out to check the theatre name (David Koch Theatre - how funny!) and noticed it started at 7. So we didn't have time to go home as planned and had to go to the ballet in our travel clothes. Never mind!!
We had dinner at a restaurant right opposite the Lincoln Centre - where the theatre was - and I had clam chowder. It was delicious. We are still trying to figure the whole tipping thing out but never mind! Overall due to booking things in advance I'm hardly spending any money anyway.
We went into the theatre and were surprised to find that our seats were absolutely amazing in terms of the view we had. Aside from an incredibly rude usher (whose colleague bitched to us about her once she moved away, she was that bad!) all went smoothly. We saw the New York City Ballet perform 'The Nutcracker'. It was absolutely beautiful! The costumes, music and dancing were incredible. I had previously been to the Bolshoi in Moscow but that ballet didn't have much of a storyline, this was lots better. We all really enjoyed it (even if I dozed off briefly a couple of times due to fatigue and heat).
We are all looking forward to a slight sleep in tomorrow after what has been a very busy first few days!
Love to all
Claire
Xoxox
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