Before heading to the ferry, we had time to get breakfast at Russ & Daughters. It definitely wasn't a cheap place to eat, but it was the best breakfast I've had in my life. I'm not usually a normal breakfast food person, it turns out a bagel and smoked salmon is definitely more my style. Today was my first time actually trying it! It was a beautiful and delicious breakfast!
We still had some time to kill before going to Liberty Island, so we walked over to The Oculus. I didn't really know what it was other than a cool building, turns out it is a shopping mall inside. We walked around inside a little bit and enjoyed the neat architecture, but I don't think anyone needs to plan a lot of time to check it out unless you want to do some shopping.
Right across the street was the 9/11 Memorial. Wow. That was a very difficult place to be! We spent quite a while just leaning over the edge of one of the water walls. It is crazy how much you can feel the emotion, even so many years later. Especially looking at all the names engraved into the memorial! I could hardly handle it, actually, and Bailey decided we should probably go so I could quit crying. It was a beautiful and symbolic place, I thought that the water features were a very powerful way to allude to the sadness and tragedy of 9/11. Also I found the Survivor Tree which was really neat!
We still had some time so we walked past Trinity Church and were able to see Alexander Hamilton's grave through the fence which was pretty cool. We headed towards Wall Street because Bailey wanted to see the Charging Bull. He jumped in for me to take a picture of him with it!
Bailey was finally able to get a street cart hot dog, which he said was just like any other hot dog. We picked up more drinks from Starbucks and hung around Battery Park for a minute before heading on our "cruise".
Finally it was time to board the ferry after going through extensive security! Liberty Island was just a short boat ride away, and soon enough we were on the island and picking up our audio tours. Liberty Island is a National Park, and the setup was a lot like Alcatraz. The audio tour was super simple to use and very informative. It took us around the whole island teaching us about the history of the area, the statue, and the people who saw it on their way to Ellis Island. The stories were powerful and it was such a special experience to think of all the people who saw Lady Liberty on their way to America, after leaving their home countries and enduring a long boat ride. Finally they reached their destination! I can't imagine how nervous and excited they must have felt!
It was easy to pause the audio tour, which we did multiple times to take some pictures. I love the symbolism of the statue, but it is also quite the artistic and architectural feat. She was bigger than I ever imagined her, and the details were amazing! I loved looking at all of the folds in her clothes. So beautiful! The view of Manhattan from the island was not bad either.
We spent some time just checking her out before picking up some food at the Cafe on the island. The food was actually a lot better than we thought it would be, but not really that great. I would recommend eating on Ellis Island instead, though, because after we ate we hopped on the ferry over to Ellis Island and saw that they had better looking food and way less people!
Lots of people skip getting off at Ellis Island and go straight back to Manhattan. But don't you dare miss it! Ellis Island is super cool and they also have a great audio tour inside the museum. The audio tour took us through the process the immigrants went through after landing on the island. It was another informative experience, because the process was not easy. But it must have been super easy compared to making the decision to leave home and try to make it in a foreign land! It made me feel proud and grateful to be a descendant of brave immigrants so that I could call this wonderful country my own.
My favorite part of the museum was the arrivals halls. So big and gorgeous! The audio tour told us to sit on the long benches in the hall, then proceeded to tell us that they were the exact benches that the immigrants had sat on while waiting for their names to be called. So cool!
It was sad to learn about those who were sent back to their home countries. That would suck because they made such an arduous journey, but even more so because usually the rest of their family was allowed to stay. I hated hearing about all of the families split up, so many of them not seeing their grandparents ever again after they were shipped off back home. They made it clear, though, that 98% of people made it through, which statistically that's not bad.
By then Bailey's feet were killing him so we took the ferry back to Manhattan and took a quick break at our Airbnb. Well, we tried to be quick but our host's super sweet dog, Biao Biao, was so excited to see us and snuggled up to our legs, it was hard to leave! He is so darn cute and when we let him into our room he either tries to snuggle us or hide under our bed. He is an adorable friend!
We decided that we need to at least look at the Empire State Building and the Flatiron building, so we made our way to Madison Square Park to enjoy the view. Madison Square Park is a fun little park! If we didn't already have dinner plans it would have been fun to grab some food and eat there.
But we didn't spend long, because we also wanted to walk around Greenwich Village. Our old friend Jeff had told us that is one of his favorite parts of Manhattan, and we can see why! It is full of cute shops and fun restaurants. Also, Washington Square Park is pretty neat.
We ended the night in Chinatown, exploring a little bit before checking in for the night. We ate dinner at Xian Famous Foods and it was SO GOOD! Again I forgot to take a food picture, but trust me on this one, you need to go and get their spicy lamb noodles as well as their vegetables and noodles dish. The noodles were so chewy and the flavors were deliciously authentic. So nostalgic! It was a little bit spicy however, so we stopped by Coco soon after to cool down with some tasty drinks. There was a Coco near our school in Changzhou and we went there all the time, so it was super fun to be able to go to one of their locations!
We shopped around a little bit and enjoyed the commotion before calling it a night. I'm so sad that tomorrow is our last day - we have had so much fun!
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