Our time in New York was very busy and it had health warnings because of the heat. .
John, Kathryn, Karen, and Richard on the ferry from Manhattan to Liberty Island.
I think that Ellis Island was still closed because of damage from Sandy. We were very fortunate to get to visit Liberty Island because it was closed because of earthquake damage, opened briefly, then was closed again because of storm damage from Sandy. It opened on July 4th. We saw much storm damage in the Battery Park area that still hasn't been cleaned up.
The Statue of Liberty is amazing. It was rare to even hear people speaking English there because there were people from all over the world who came to be there.
This is a view of Manhatten with Ellis Island in the foreground.
This is a view of the scaffolding inside the Statue of Liberty. The actual statue is covered with a coat of copper--two pennies deep. The oxidation of the copper creates the green color. The statue was a gift from the individual donations of the people of France. The pedestal is a donation from the donations of the common people of America. No donation was more than $10.
We were extremely fortunate to get special tickets to go to the top of the pedestal. No one but the National Parks people go inside of the statue any more. You can see the tiny dots of the people at the top of the pedestal. We went up there. We also went to a fascinating museum about how the statue was constructed and is maintained.
This is an interesting police vehicle. Security was tight for us to go to the Statue of Liberty but it was even tighter to go to the Ground Zero memorial.
The memorial consists of two large pools of running water which drain into a smaller pool at the center. The pools are the foot print of the two towers which were destroyed. Other buildings are being built around the area. The reason the extremely high buildings can be built upon such a small footprint is that Manhattan is solid rock. The names of the victims are written around the outside of the pools. The light colored spots on the other side of the pool are people.
Kathryn and John are standing in front of the Survival Tree. It survived the bombing, the cleanup of the area, and later Hurricane Sandy.
Wall Street is a very narrow street. Several important streets merge near that area including the State House when Washington was inaugurated President.
Times Square. The neon green umbrella was our beacon. We also went to Rockefeller Square and several important churches. We went to the area where the Today show is broadcast.
This is the Manhattan Temple, which shares the corner with the Lincoln Center, Central Park, and Julliard.
The Angle Moroni is on a high pinnacle over the temple which is somewhat hidden in the previous picture.
There are many people in costume who want to be paid to have their picture taken with them. This is one with Karen and Kathryn with the Statue of Liberty.
We had time to walk around and see some of the fancy hotels and stores. This is one of the most famous toy stores in the world. It is featured in many movies and it was fascinating to see the four floors of toys.
This is the dancing piano.
Richard and John are posing next to a life-sized Lego figure.
There were many Lego structures in the store. This is a close-up of the workmanship.
We went to Central Park twice. This is a scene frequently seen in movies. The park is truly an oasis in the city.
This is a map of Central Park. Our bus driver was amazing. We were grateful that he would take us to a place then pick us up after a time when the tour director directed him. There were many, many cars and people! We stayed in New Jersey and came through the Lincoln Tunnel under the Hudson River to get to New York both days.
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