Tuesday 7th July - New York Day 2

Yesterday evening we made a plan for today - trying to consolidate our sightseeing into a particular area, or at least at places not too far apart. This is such a huge city that a lot of time can be wasted getting from one place to another.

The first thing we did this morning was to go up the Empire State Building. We thought that perhaps the views would be clearer during the morning. But it was quite hazy and a notice told us visibility was two and a half miles. We didn’t pay the extra to go to the very top, we were advised that the extra 15 floors didn’t make much difference. And … golly, were we high! The view to every direction was spectacular. This is the view south over Manhattan. It must have looked quite a bit different pre 9/11.

From there we went to the Ground Zero site. We first of all visited St Paul’s Chapel in Manhattan. Located directly next to the World Trade Centre site, this Chapel was the headquarters of an extraordinary volunteer relief effort after the terrorist attacks. There were several very moving displays inside - photographs, letters, tributes to volunteers etc. From there we took a walk around the outside of the site and found our way to a viewing platform, in a large office/shopping complex, which overlooked the construction site.


We had lunch in that locality, then walked along a very pleasant embankment in order to get the ferry to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

Ellis Island

We decided not to visit Lady Liberty herself - it was very crowded, so we just gazed at it from the ferry and went on to Ellis Island - the site of the Immigration Centre for entry into America until 1954. This vast building is now the Ellis Island Immigration Museum. It was full of photographs etc which describe the terrible conditions some of those early immigrants suffered in ‘steerage’, although conditions did improve as ships became more modernized. There are also facilities for Americans to trace their immigrant ancestors. While we were there we watched a half-hour play telling of the immigration experiences of Bela Lugosi - an Hungarian born immigrant who went on to be a famous Hollywood actor and is especially known for playing the part of Count Dracula both on Broadway and on film - way back in the 30's. It was extremely good. We could have spent much longer at that museum than we did.

After the return ferry trip back to Manhattan we returned to our hotel area where we had dinner. We both feel pretty tired so an early night is in order.