Navigating New York: The Statue of Liberty

We arrived in New York City on the day before my boys were to watch the Bruce Springsteen concert. It was late by time we got to our hotel and there was nothing to do but check in and leave our car in the parkade.

However, since our hotel was on the same street and only a few blocks away from the Walter Kerr Theatre, the concert venue, my husband decided to walk over with our son to “check things out” maybe catch a glimpse of The Boss if he happened to be going out of the theatre after that night’s show. We had not told our son that we had tickets for the following night. My husband wanted to hold on to the surprise and tell him only a few hours before.

I stayed behind to unpack our luggage and take a much-needed hot shower. When my boys came back, they told me Springsteen had already gone but my son was excited to find out that his Dad’s (and now his) idol was actually in the same city and on the same street as ours. Oh boy! If that thought got him excited, we wondered how he would react when my husband tells him they were going to see him live in concert.

The next day, after a huge breakfast at the hotel lounge, we headed to Times Square to begin our “hop-on-hop-off” bus tour of New York City. We got the three-day NYC pass which included this bus ride, as we did not want to drive around. We thought this would be a nice introduction of the city for our son.

We chose to do the downtown route which took us around Times Square and through Midtown, Koreatown, Nomad, The Flat Iron District, Union Square, The Bowery, Chinatown, the Brooklyn Bridge, Lower Manhattan, The World Trade Centre, TriBeCa, SoHo, Chelsea, Greenwich Village, Hudson Yards, The Garment District, and Midtown West.  It was good to see a lot of places without walking. The bus was a double-decker, and my son enjoyed the vantage point from the top deck.

The only downside was the New York traffic, the constant honking of vehicles (which I realized I am not used to anymore since I left Manila), and the on-and-off drizzle which suddenly turned into a full-blast downpour when we reached the financial district. We were soaked despite our raincoats that were twice as thick as the free plastic raincoats provided by the bus company.

Dripping wet, we got off at Battery Park where we boarded the ferry to Staten Island to see the Statue of Liberty. There were a lot of people, but it wasn’t too crowded on the boat. We got a nice spot where we enjoyed the view of the city’s skyline as we departed. My boys ate their take-along sandwiches while I took pictures of seagulls and other ferries and munched on my granola bar.

As Lady Liberty came to sight in all her green glory, my son looked at it mesmerized. My husband and I, on the other hand, remarked how she seemed to look smaller. It seems that every time we see her, she appears less and less imposing. She is still magnificent, of course, but I guess the impact of the first impression has worn off on us. 

As we landed, we noticed the huge crowd and the signs announcing they are no longer selling Crown Tickets as they had been sold out two hours ago. Pedestal access has also been closed. It was fine with us since we did not have plans to go up the statue anyway. The line was crazy and we did not have the time. On my first visit there, I managed to climb up the pedestal, but it took us around two hours that time. We were not going to subject our son to that, in addition to waiting in line under the rain.

 We just walked around the island and took the requisite family photo in front of the statue. Then we headed to the gift shop to get some break from the drizzle and to buy some souvenirs. On our way out, my son asked if he could have an ice cream cone. We got him one and proceeded to walk to the end of yet another long line to get to the ferry. Halfway down the line, my son declared he had enough ice cream, and so I ended up eating more than half of that humongous chocolate ice cream cone. That was my lunch for the day.

The ferry stopped at Ellis Island where more than half of the passengers got off to see the Ellis Island Immigration Museum. I have never been inside that building, but we did not go that time either due to lack of time. We will leave that for the next trip when my son is a little older, old enough to appreciate the exhibit. We stayed on the ferry until it collected another batch of passengers returning to Manhattan.

As we disembarked, our son said, “That was a nice ride. Now, I can believe I am in New York, New York because I have seen the Statue of Liberty.”