Day 2

Well today has been successful so far! This morning I "slept late".. meaning I got up at the time I was supposed to leave, 6:40. I was freaking out about whether or not I was going to make it on time. I left as fast as I could, hopped the subway, and arrived at Whitehall street. Then I wandered around the wrong way for awhile looking for the ferry station. There was a place that said STATEN ISLAND FERRY in huge letters, but I didn't think that was it. Finally I started following signs for "Pier A" and they led to the entrance of Battery Park, and I found it from there.

I walked to the entrance of Castle Clinton where you buy ferry tickets for the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, and there was a small group of tourists clustered in front of the doors. So I went to stand behind them, and I swear, no more than two minutes went by and suddenly a HUGE CROWD of tourists showed up. The line was wrapped around the building within the next ten minutes, maybe. I was really lucky. And then I was really glad I HADN'T gotten there at 7:30 as planned, because I would've been just standing there for a long time. I got there at the exact moment I needed to. So, of course I was one of the first passengers on the first ferry, and I could move a lot faster being by myself, because I don't have to stop and wait for my group to go through security. I felt a smug sense of eliteness, being a tourist by myself. I felt like that's a step above being a tourist in a crowd, for some reason. Anyways.

I had forgotten to ask for a monument pass for the Statue of Liberty, so all I could really do was walk around it. That bummed me out... the monument reopened on my birthday last year, after closing as a result of 9/11. But I couldn't see it. Oh well. I was the only person on the walkway around the statue at first. It was really weird. Just me and Lady Liberty. I called Tracie because it just felt so odd. Finally I ran into a couple of girls and they had me take a picture of them and I had them take a picture of me. Cool.

Ellis Island was a little bit cooler, I think, because of all its history. My goal there was to find the statue of Annie Moore, who was the first immigrant to be processed at Ellis Island along with her two younger brothers. We saw her statue at Cobh in Ireland (where she left from) and they had told us there that there was another statue of her at Ellis. So it was my mission to find it. I walked all through the museum (I get impatient in museums... I usually don't want to read everything, just look at stuff) and I couldn't find it. I walked all around the perimeter of the building and couldn't find it. Finally I asked someone and she said "It's in the 'Peak Immigration Years' exhibit." So I went there and still couldn't find it. I was about to give up when finally I found it. It was different from the one in Cobh, so maybe that's why I didn't see it at first, but oh well. Mission accomplished. I took lots of other pictures there too, don't worry. :)

After arriving back at New York, I wandered around Battery Park waiting to meet up with Julia. After about maybe half an hour, we met up and headed for Chinatown to have lunch. We ate at a place called the Green Bow and her friend Nina and Nina's friend Laura showed up. (Laura is also visiting NY from out of town. She arrived last night, like me, and is leaving Sunday, like me {although I plan to come back Wed.} and is here for the first time, like me. Cool!) anyways after lunch Julia and I went to pick up the Empire State Building pass from her friend who works on Broadway, so I got to walk through Times Square and see Broadway. Then we headed for Ground Zero. Very sobering sight. The Cross at Ground Zero is still there but there is nothing mentioned about it anywhere on the plaques, which I thought was strange. I took lots of pictures of the area.

After that Ju and I headed back home to relax a bit and we'll go back out later and meet up with Nina and Laura for drinks or something. We might do the Empire State Building tonight too. It rained all day today (contrary to what the weather was originally predicted to be) and it's going to rain all day tomorrow too so I don't know when we'll have a good chance to have a good view. So I guess it doesn't matter when we go. Tomorrow's plan is to walk the Brooklyn Bridge, go to Central Park, and maybe see more of Times Square, and do the Empire State Building if we don't tonight. Should be good.

Feeling pretty good about the trip so far. Still a little nervous about going to Boston by myself but I'll manage. I've come this far, so I can push myself to go a little farther. Although Hurricane Wilma is headed up the East Coast and looks like it'll be in the New England vicinity by Wednesday. NOT cool. Pray that it doesn't affect me that much...