Day 11: Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island & Harbor Lights Cruise

04/19/2022

Today we celebrate our daughter's 18th birthday. We want to spend it at the Statue of Liberty. She had actually wished for a visit to a musical, but one of our desired musicals is closed today, and we didn't get good tickets for the other one. So, off to the iconic symbol of America!

At 10:30 AM, we reach Battery Park and join the line in front of the security checkpoint. Getting frisked again... 🤦🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️

We're through at 11 AM, but we miss the first ferry. Well, it was crowded anyway. So, we wait for the next one. It's freezing cold, the wind is blowing in our faces. I regret not bringing a hat. Next to the line, vendors are making a fortune selling hats - it feels like every other tourist is buying one.

Once we arrive at Liberty Island, the Lady Liberty is unfortunately covered in thick clouds. No sunshine. But at least it's not raining anymore. We battle the wind and make our way to the museum, where we watch a really interesting film about the construction of the Statue of Liberty. Afterwards, we look at the models in the museum. When the sun briefly comes out, we rush to the Statue of Liberty to take photos, but the clouds are faster. So, we quickly head back to the museum. Our daughter wants to take a picture of New York from the museum's rooftop, where there is an observation deck. We quickly climb up, but we can hardly hold our phones due to the gusty winds, let alone keep our hair out of our faces. We quickly go back to the museum, everyone uses the restroom again, and we dash back outside when the next ray of sunshine appears. Ha, now we're in luck! 🤩💪🏻☀️

We catch a few rays of sunshine and a clear sky, but within a few minutes, it's cloudy again. So, we walk back to the ferry dock and just barely catch the next ferry to Ellis Island.

On Ellis Island, we walk through the lower part of the exhibition and search the large immigration boards outside for "our" names. We actually find many name doppelgängers in our family, some even with the same first and last name. It's kind of creepy 🤭😱😂

We stand in the long line and buy sandwiches for lunch, sit outside in the sun, and as expected, we miss our ferry back to the mainland - by a hair's breadth - but still missed it. Shoot, so we use the time for another restroom break and then get in line for the next ferry.

Back on the mainland, we walk along Broadway, past the Charging Bull, where there is a line to photograph "the best part" of the bull (already pretty "worn - gold-colored" 😂 ). There's also a line for the front part - but we'll skip that for now. At the next Dunkin Donuts, we stop and treat ourselves to birthday donuts. We order a medium iced coffee, 2 small coffees, and a medium hot chocolate from the very nice but poorly English-speaking cashier. He diligently types on the register and then tells us in broken English that the donuts are "free" (Ohhh - okay!? 😱) and only charges us for the drinks. Hm... strange. Meanwhile, he chats with another guest who he seems to know. A few minutes later, I pick up our drinks. With a wink, I receive 2 large (!) coffees, a large (!) iced coffee, and a large (!) hot chocolate. So, something's odd - but hey, we're happy about the "gift" 🤭

We continue along Wall Street, past the Vessel Building, to 11th Street, where the New York International Auto Show is taking place. From the fence, we watch the Jeeps navigate a course.

We head to the river for the Circle Line Cruise, where we have booked a Harbor Night Cruise for today.

The ship is packed. We manage to find seats inside, but during the course of the trip, we spend most of the time outside. It's just better for taking photos. We set off on our sunset adventure around 7 PM.

It's freezing cold, but we're lucky with the weather. We witness a spectacular sunset at the Statue of Liberty and enjoy a fantastic view of the skyline. We are totally impressed by the boat tour and highly recommend it (it was an option in our City Pass). As it gets dark, we reach the Brooklyn Bridge and continue up the river for a while, then turn around and cruise back under the illuminated bridges. Our fingers are nearly frozen, but it was worth it to stay outside and take photos 🤩

The boat tour ends around 9 PM. We take the metro back to Queens and have dinner at our new favorite diner, "24 Court Square Diner." When we tell the server that it's our daughter's 18th birthday and we're looking for a piece of "birthday cake," our daughter receives a huge slice of strawberry cake as a birthday gift from the friendly staff. How sweet! 🤩

We fall into bed around midnight. Wow, a city trip can be quite exhausting 😂