NYC Trip - Day 3: Financial District Bull, 9/11 Memorial, Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island

This morning, we started off by taking pictures by the Bull in the Financial District, also known as FiDi by the locals.  We noticed it was least busy first thing in the morning, so when in FiDi you gotta take a picture by the bull.  We preferred the front of the bull, versus the back.  

We then went to see the 9/11 memorial fountains. It wasn't too far from our hotel, and it is such a site to see.  It is awe inspiring to see the huge holes where the twin towers used to be and how they made it into something so beautiful and such a nice tribute to those who died in such an awful act so many years ago.  We did not go into the museum since it was kind of expensive and we wanted to make sure we had enough time to get to the pier when we needed to be there.

We looked up a breakfast place and had some yummy breakfast.  It was a sit-down place that was able to seat us without any problems.  The food was good.  

After eating we made our way towards our hotel, but we stopped by some government buildings we wanted to see first.  They weren't open because of the government shutdown, but it was cool to see them.  We then back to our hotel to pick up Wendy and Benje to go with us to the Statue of Liberty by way of the subway.

We got our tickets and wrist bands before going in the gift shop and finding out that we could get Jr. Ranger pins at each of these stops.  Betsy and I got our Jr. Ranger pin at that shop and then we walked over to get in line to board the fairy that was to take us to the Statue of Liberty.  We got in pretty fast, and the boat was pretty full, so some of us found some seats in the middle of the boat while others stood outside on the top of the boat.

When we got to Liberty Island, we walked over to put our bags in the lockers before going up into the Statue of Liberty.  Wendy and Benje didn't have tickets to get up into the crown, so they stayed on the island and checked out the museum and gift shop.

We took the elevator up the statue.  They have a deck area to walk all the way around and see the sites.  We were able to go up the teeny tiny spiral staircase to go up into the crown.  The stair way was really small.  Boyd got up one level and had to turn around because of vertigo and other issues.  The rest of us continued up the many stairs and made it to the top.  We were told we only had ten minutes to spend at the top.  It was so small that we all just took a couple pictures and then headed back down.  

I almost think going down was harder because I had to really focus on not slipping on the small stairs.  Physically I didn't have any problems, but my muscles were definitely tensed, and I felt it after.  The muscle in my right leg was going crazy and shaking a lot.  It was a fun experience, but I am not sure it was all that worth it.  It was so small and hard to see out the windows and then we felt rushed to go back down so others could come.

We met back up with Boyd and then toured around the bottom of the Statue of Liberty.  It was pretty cool walking around the island.  We then went to the museum and Betsy, and I found a Ranger so that we could get Jr. Ranger pins.  We had to feel out a paper this time and then get sworn in.  It was silly, but I am glad that we got the pin.

We then met up with Wendy and Benje and got in line to get back on the boat to go over to Ellis Island.

At Ellis Island we walked around the main floor for a little bit before Julie's family and us decided to get some lunch at the cafe.  The others continued to tour the building.  After we ate, we walked around and read some of the history of that historic site.  It was very interesting to see how immigration worked so long ago.  After we had seen all that, we wanted to, we got in line to get back on the boat.  The boat came after not too long, and we took it back to New York.  

We stopped at the Statin Island Fairy depot to get some Italian Ice.  We then walked back to the hotel to rest up before we left for the Yankee game.