La Liberté éclairant le monde

We headed over to Liberty Island and Ellis Island this morning. We thought it would be pretty empty on a Monday morning in February. We were wrong. The lines were long, there was more security there than at the airport, we had to remove coats and belts multiple times. We got pedestal access and went on a great tour with a Park Ranger. We learned that the Statue of Liberty is only 2 pennies thick AND that the great advantage of having a replica of her face means you can stick your ENTIRE hand up her nose (if you're an 11 year old boy). We also learned a great many interesting things, climbed up (and down) a bunch of steps and got whipped around by the wind - A LOT.

After the ferry depsosited us back in Battery Park, we hoofed it through the Financial District over to Ground Zero. They are busy building the 9/11 Memorial and the new WTC buildings. We got to see a bit of what the Memorial will look like when completed at the viewing room and got a bit emotional at the stories they had posted and showed on the video screens.

While on the search through WINDY NYC (it was amazingly windy and annoyingly so) and the Financial District for some New York style pizza, we happened upon this very odd building. No windows. Just a bunch of vents. If memory serves, I saw this building in MiB. We were a bit enthralled by the building and wanted to know what kind of building it is. We decided it was a top secret facility as there is no name on the building or any writing around it, actually. Just the address: 33 Thomas Street. A phone switch building isn't nearly as exciting as a secret government facility, but a pretty cool building nonetheless.

We finally found some NY-style pizza at some random place. We settled on it mostly just to escape the freaking wind! It was just around the corner from the Brooklyn Bridge. After we ate pizza we thought we'd walk over to see the bridge, but then the wind picked up again and we retreated to the safety of the dark and dank subway system.

We rode the subway up to Union Square and visited a super cool independent bookstore where we all got some books. Then on the subway again and a walk down Broadway to Mood.

It was a long day of standing in line then walking and walking some more (add to that trying to keep our balance on a crowded subway train when we weren't close enough to a railing to hang on). Tomorrow we're off to Italy!