Today, we went to the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, St. Paul's, the World Trade Center Site and Trinity Church.
I have uploaded pictures from the Statue of Liberty and Ellis island to thedessie.com. There will be no pictures of the churches or the WTC site taken by me, as I do not believe in taking pictures at the WTC site like it is a tourist attraction, and both the churches requested that we do not take pictures inside their places of worship. Fair enough.
Statue of Liberty - I am really dissapointed that we are no longer allowed to go up to the observation deck at the top of the crown. Apparently, that is no longer allowed after the September 11th attacks, even though they practically strip search you on the way in. That saddens me greatly, but I guess that the TPTB care little what saddens me. I was surprised to see how small it really was up close. It is still larger than life in a sense, but so small at the same time.
Ellis Island - Fascinating memorial to the early immigration to this country. It was interesting to see what my great-grandparents went through when they entered this country.
St. Paul's - Oy, what a tearjerker. I teared up almost every display they had. I highly recommend that you take the time to visit their link and look at the role that they had on and after September 11th. Its nice to see that a church can stop caring about what religion someone is and just care about the person in times of need. Its also a miracle to see that not a single pane of glass was broken on it, especially considering the damage that I saw on surrounding buildings on a prior trip and on the news.
WTC - nothing there anymore but a hole in the ground really, but it still seems right to stop and have a moment of silence there when I am in town.
Trinity Church - This was the first chance I have ever had to visit the church, and it is every bit as amazing as it looked on National Treasure. Its a BEAUTIFUL church. They have a virtual tour on their site that is well worth having a look at. :)
After tramping all about Lower Manhattan, I think we are gonna stick close to the hotel for tonite. Tomorrow, we have Cirque du Soleil's Corteo and a visit to Central Park on the Agenda. Wheeeee!
