America's Beginning

As we near the end of our mission in New York, there were still a few places we wanted to visit before going home.

On one trip to New York several years ago we did all the touristy things, one being the Statue of Liberty.  But, on that visit we ran out of time and did not continue the tour to Ellis Island.  We felt like we had seen the most iconic of the two.  We were wrong.

The history surrounding Ellis Island touches most of our lives as 40% to 50% of Americans can trace their immigration heritage to Ellis Island. Amazing!

We purchased our tickets before going.....

You can see it is "official"

We left our apartment early Saturday morning to catch the bus and then the subway.  We planned on spending the day on this adventure.  Once we arrived at the port, we handed our official ticket and boarded the ferry. It was about a half an hour ride to the Statue of Liberty where the majority of the riders disembarked.

Just imagine how immigrants felt when they saw this symbol of freedom welcoming them to American . . . "Lady Liberty"?

Then on to Ellis Island.
This is a picture of Richard standing beside the ferry after we had disembarked.

It's surprising how close New Jersey is to Ellis Island.  In fact, there was a disagreement between New York and New Jersey as to who should own Ellis Island.

We purchased the "hard hat" tour of the island which included a tour of the original hospital and surrounding area.  It was so interesting to wander through the halls and rooms of the hospital.  The hospital had not been renovated due to lack of funding which is too bad.  It was fairly dark inside, so was unable to take pictures.  We had to use our imagination and try to visualize what it was like.  It was interesting to see the surgery theater and how primitive it was, the small rooms to accommodate the vast amount of people, and the lack of appropriate showers and bathrooms.

After the "hard hat' tour, we decided to have some lunch.  Below is a picture of the main museum and off to the side is a cafe.  Lunch was good, we shared a hamburger.

After lunch we went inside the museum

and then who do we see.......

yes, two sister missionaries.  Missionaries are able to work in the genealogy section of the museum on Saturdays.

The museum was beautifully done.  We wandered around for a few hours enjoying each display.  We were fortunate that there was not a big crowd. It was quite cold and windy which I am sure discouraged many people from choosing this day for a tour.

After we left the museum, we decided to explore the surrounding area and came upon some street performers.  They were so entertaining to watch....both the tricks they did and their funny personalities.  They asked for volunteers to help with the next stunt and no one came forward, so they started selecting people from the crowd.  They looked at me and said, "Come on sugar mama.  We need you."  (I think I was "sugar mama" due to may age.)  It was fun and Richard gave them a big tip.

It was starting to get dark so we decided these old "sugar daddy and sugar mama" needed to get home and rest.  Fun day!