Ok, for the bad news.........
If you want to go up into the crown of the statue you need to book 4 months in advance. Yes folks! You read right, 4 months. If you want to go up to the pedestal (which is just below her feet) you need to book at least 1 week in advance. But what you can do without any pre-booking is walk around her, which is what I did!
Now for the next lot of bad news.......
If you are really dying to get up into the crown or pedestal, as of 1 November 2011, you will not be able to do so. They are renovating her to make her more accessible for the disabled. So these two options will not be available until November 2012. But you will still be able walk around her and the island.
When you purchase your ticket for the Statue of Liberty you also get access to Ellis Island. A lot of people think that the statue is on Ellis Island but she is not. The statue is on Liberty Island. Ellis Island is the island that all new immigrants went to when they first arrived in America (up until 1924).
I totally loved the day, and if you want to get the most out of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island experience, it takes the best part of a day, so make sure you factor this in.
You buy your ticket from within Clinton Castle (an old fort), which is in Battery Park, at the bottom of Manhattan. Once I purchased my ticket I then needed to go through a security check. After that I boarded a special boat and the first stop is Liberty Island. From waiting in line to setting foot on Liberty Island it took over and hour and a half!
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| Clinton Castle and the line for Statue of Liberty tickets going around the castle. |
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| Before going through a security check you pass this statue. It is dedicated to all those service personnel that have lost their lives overseas fighting in wars. What I found moving about this statue is the arm rising out of the water. |
When I purchased my ticket I bought the audio tour option and I highly recommend that you do that. You will get so much more out of the day. The audio is not long and arduous, it tells you all the necessary information that you need to know to appreciate the statue, or to learn about the history of Ellis Island. For example, when De Laboulaye and Batholdi came up with the idea to give the Statue of Liberty to America, they were basically saying to Napoleon "America has the one thing that we in France want - liberty and freedom" "Napoleon - You do not give us that!".
As I walked around the statue I fell more and more in love with her. The colour and the detail up close were amazing. Periodically I would pause the audio, sit under a tree, let the sea breeze cool me down and just watch the tourists from all over the world admire and take photos of her.
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| Coming up to Liberty Island. |
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| Walking around the Statue of Liberty. |
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| Front on view of the Statue. |
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| My favourite view of the statue - looking powerful and strong. |
I stood at the above view of the statue for a long time. My brain found it hard to process that this was a statue made of copper and not a statue that had delicate material draped on her. The folds in her dress are just so real that it was hard for me to comprehend. The sheer artistry of her is amazing.
Whilst on Liberty Island I stopped and had lunch. What amazed me what that the prices for food were around the same price you would get on Manhattan. It's nice to know that the National Parks and Wildlife services are not gouging the public of their money!
After lunch I boarded the boat to Ellis Island.
Basically the boat goes from Manhattan to Liberty Island then onto Ellis Island.
The moment I got off the boat at Ellis Island and headed into the Immigration Hall I could feel the nervousness that still lingered over from the hundreds of thousands of immigrants had to wait and go through the various medical checks before being given residency.
What is amazing about this audio tour is that it is designed so that you follow the process that a newly arrived immigrant would go through. You walk down the main processing hall, go through the different medical rooms, where physical and psychiatric tests were done and check out the dormitories that people would need to stay in until a family member arrived to pick them up. It is an amazing audio tour.
Now, there is a lot to see beyond the audio tour. For example there was one display on how slaves were transported around the southern states of the US once they had arrived from Africa and Jamaica. But by the time I had finished the audio tour I did not have much steam left to see all the other smaller exhibits.
By the time I got back on the boat for Manhattan I was exhausted - a good exhausted. I really felt like I had had an adventure. This was probably the best thing that I have done to date in Manhattan. So, if you really want to learn about the history of America whilst on your stay in New York - this is one option I would not miss.
Whilst on Liberty Island I stopped and had lunch. What amazed me what that the prices for food were around the same price you would get on Manhattan. It's nice to know that the National Parks and Wildlife services are not gouging the public of their money!
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| Whilst on Liberty Island, some guy proposed to his girlfriend. This plane kept circling the island with the message "I love you Bunnies - Marry me please!" |
After lunch I boarded the boat to Ellis Island.
Basically the boat goes from Manhattan to Liberty Island then onto Ellis Island.
The moment I got off the boat at Ellis Island and headed into the Immigration Hall I could feel the nervousness that still lingered over from the hundreds of thousands of immigrants had to wait and go through the various medical checks before being given residency.
What is amazing about this audio tour is that it is designed so that you follow the process that a newly arrived immigrant would go through. You walk down the main processing hall, go through the different medical rooms, where physical and psychiatric tests were done and check out the dormitories that people would need to stay in until a family member arrived to pick them up. It is an amazing audio tour.
Now, there is a lot to see beyond the audio tour. For example there was one display on how slaves were transported around the southern states of the US once they had arrived from Africa and Jamaica. But by the time I had finished the audio tour I did not have much steam left to see all the other smaller exhibits.
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| Entrance to the Immigration Hall. |
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| An example of the type of trunks people would arrive with. |
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| The second floor of the immigration Hall. This is where you would stand in line for hours before you would get your name and basic details cross checked from the list that would arrive with the captain of the ship that you arrived on. Once your were checked off here you would go into a small doorway at the far end of the hall to start the medical checks. |
By the time I got back on the boat for Manhattan I was exhausted - a good exhausted. I really felt like I had had an adventure. This was probably the best thing that I have done to date in Manhattan. So, if you really want to learn about the history of America whilst on your stay in New York - this is one option I would not miss.
