Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Big Apple, Day 2

We ate a good breakfast at the hotel and then began our day. We walked a few blocks to where we boarded the city tour bus...this is a hop off--hop on type of tour bus.
We stopped at the Empire State Building...and saw great views of the city even though it was a little hazy.
Here are some sights we saw from the double-decker bus.


Jackson wanted me to put this picture on the blog and tell you that this clock is the oldest mechanical clock in NYC and it has to be wound every 8 days. The rest have all been electrified.

We had lunch at "America's restaurant"...and saw where the calories are posted as well as the price. This practice is done in all restaurants here...sure makes you think before ordering.

We went to Battery Park and got our tickets for the ferry ride to Liberty Island where we could see the Statue of Liberty.

As we got closer to the island, you could really feel the importance of this precious lady.
As we walked around the statue, we had a tour with a Park Ranger and Jackson worked through a booklet and became a Jr. Ranger...badge and all! We learned about different parts of the statue and their meaning. One bit of trivia...there are 7 spikes on her crown and they represent the 7 continents and the 7 oceans.

We then boarded the ferry again and went to Ellis Island. This is place where immigrants first landed in America.

As we were returning to Battery Park, the rains approached. They arrived before we got back to our stop, so we were given these beautiful pieces of rain wear!

We were fairly soaked by the time we got back to the hotel so we had pizza in the room!

2 comments:

jon said...

looks like fun and a loooooong day

Lynda said...

I agree with Jon's comment. It seemed like you had a long day. I am impressed at how many things you saw - - - and it is obvious you enjoyed it because there were smiles in every picture!