Day 3 - New York

Another sunny (and very hot) day begins in New York. Today our journey takes us to Downtown Manhattan to explore the southern part of the island with its many attractions.

For many New Yorkers, today marks the beginning of a workweek, so there was a bit more traffic on the streets than in the past two days. However, the traffic was nowhere near as bad as I had imagined. Nevertheless, we wanted to be on the safe side and opted to use the subway, or as it's called here, the Subway, heading downtown.

Arriving at the southern tip of Manhattan Island, we took a boat to Liberty Island to pay a visit to a 130-year-old lady. The Statue of Liberty is one of the most visited attractions in America. Even today, the 93-meter-tall statue welcomes incoming ships in the port of New York. In earlier times, the Statue of Liberty symbolized hope for a better life in the land of unlimited opportunities.

By now, the thermometer had been hovering above 33°C for several hours, and since there weren't many shady spots on Liberty Island, we took the next ferry to Ellis Island.

Today, the island is a memorial and houses the Museum of Immigration History in the United States. Between 1890 and 1956, all immigrants (except those with a lot of money who arrived on ships in first class) were interviewed and medically examined on this island. Afterwards, it was decided whether they were allowed to enter or whether they had to return to their homeland on the next ship.

It was very impressive to visit this place, and the lively narration by the ranger during our tour brought the place back to life. Ellis Island is definitely worth a visit! Additionally, you can take wonderful photos of Manhattan Island from here! :-)

Back on the mainland, we were drawn to another place that tragically became part of American history. After a short walk from Battery Park, we reached the former Ground Zero, now also called the 9/11 Memorial.

At the sites of the destroyed Twin Towers, there are two large basins, reminiscent of "footprints." These basins have a copper border with the names of the 2983 people who lost their lives in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 and February 26, 1993 engraved on them. I still vividly remember sitting in front of the TV during the attacks and watching LIVE as all these people lost their lives. And that was probably how most of the people who visited this memorial with us today felt. The underground museum is also very impressive and definitely worth a visit!

But now we needed to clear our heads a bit so that we didn't only think about the haunting images of September 11. And where better to do that than on the 103rd floor of One World Trade Center. At over 400 meters height, we enjoyed a fantastic view from the Observatory. With a height of 541 meters, the skyscraper completed in 2014 is the fourth tallest building in the world.

Before slowly making our way back to our hotel to enjoy a cold shower, we rounded off our tour in Downtown with a visit to the New York Stock Exchange, City Hall, and the famous Brooklyn Bridge.