Travel: The day we visited Lady Liberty
When we exited the Uber, we thought we were just where we needed to be. Our objective had been to catch the ferry to New York City’s Liberty Island.
As it turns out, we were mistaken.
It was my birthday, and my wife, Mary Pat Treuthart, wanted to celebrate by taking me somewhere I had never been. And her destination of choice was the spot where the Statue of Liberty stands.
I’d first seen the monument – the one the French government gifted to the United States in the late 19th century – sometime in the mid-1990s. I got that first glimpse when I sailed on the ferry from Manhattan to Staten Island and back. To this day, on both legs of the journey you can get a great, if distant, view of our symbol of national freedom.
But I’d never seen the statue up close. That was what spawned the idea to visit, which Mary Pat had planned for the two of us, plus her sister Jean and Jean’s husband Steve.
But then we got off to our poor start. It turns out our Uber driver, who barely spoke English, got our directions wrong – either that or we put the wrong information into our iPhone app. Regardless of who was at fault, it turns out we had traveled from Brooklyn to Manhattan and yet were nearly three-quarters of a mile from where we needed to be – at the Battery ferry terminal.
The good news was that it was a brisk, sunny day, which was perfect for walking. The bad news was that we had an 11 a.m. reservation, and it was then just past 10:30. So off we strode.
We made it, a bit out of breath. And even though we then found ourselves amid a throng of hundreds of others also headed to Liberty Island, a friendly uniformed woman assured us there would be room for us all. (Which might have been optimistic. The official NYC Ferry website reports that two sizes of ferry are in service: one with 150 seats, the other 350.)
And while what the woman told us turned out to be true, we had to wait while the boat emptied, then shuffle slowly forward, rubbing elbows with the great horde of other travelers as we headed toward the single, narrow gangplank. After which we rushed to find someplace, anyplace, to sit.
Soon, though, the ferry was on its way. And looking around the vessel’s interior, I soon noticed two things. One, pandemic fears seem to be no longer an issue in New York as I saw only the rare person wearing a face mask. And, two, as has happened in all my previous New York visits, I could hear several different languages being spoken – only a few of which I could recognize.
One I could decipher somewhat, though, was Italian. And no wonder as we found ourselves among several Italian travel groups, each one congregated behind a leader carrying a mini-Italian flag. Suddenly, the air around us will filled with sound of their rhythmic native tongue. (Mary Pat, who has visited Italy more than a dozen times, was even able to converse a bit with members of a family who were as lively and friendly as she’s found most Italians to be.)
Fifteen or so minutes after leaving the Battery terminal, we pulled up to the Liberty Island dock. As we’d approached, our first views of the imposing statue were limited by our having to see it through the windows – yes, windows not portholes – that lined both side of our ferry. We vowed to snare topside seats on the return.
Disembarking was laborious, too, but soon we were free to make the long walk toward the statue itself. Tours of Liberty Island offer options and are available to purchase online. Mary Pat had opted to avoid any organized tour, deciding on her own to make our own arrangements online.
Forced to make reservations in advance, she’d had two options from which to choose: the statue’s Pedestal or the Crown. While you can ride an elevator up to the Pedestal, which serves as the base for the statue itself, you can alternatively climb what the literature says is 200-plus steps to access the Pedestal’s viewing platform.
As for the Crown, it turns out that no elevator goes up to the higher level. So anyone wanting to experience that part of the statue needs to be in good shape as you’ll be facing another 162 steps. In fact, the National Park Service website makes it clear: “The climb is strenuous.”
Being older and not in prime physical condition (in fact far from it), we nixed any notion of seeing what the Crown might offer. But my brother-in-law Steve and I did compromise: After looking at the line of people waiting for the Pedestal elevator, we chose to take the stairs.
While climbing, I counted only 195 steps. Even so, I was breathing hard when I emerged and had to rest for a minute before taking in the 360-degree view that the Pedestal level offers. Walking around the perimeter, working your way past the crush of people on the narrow walkway, you can catch a glimpse not just of Manhattan and the Hudson River but also the New Jersey shore and the expanse of water that leads to the open Atlantic.
When it was time to head back down, Steve and I joined our wives and this time we jumped on the elevator. We were shepherded down by a friendly uniformed park ranger who smiled when I asked if he were getting paid (this was during the first weeks of the recent federal government shutdown). He explained that he was one of the lucky employees because his paycheck came from a special account.
I remember thinking that I wished the same situation would apply to the air traffic controllers who in a few days would be monitoring our flight home.
Anyway, we headed back out into the sunlight and then waited as Steve, a graphic-design guru, figured out the best angle to photograph the statue. The photo that accompanies this story shows just how well his efforts panned out.
I’m an anxious traveler by nature. And so, recalling how much of a hassle it was just getting to Liberty Island, I suggested that we join the long (and I do mean long) line of people already waiting to board the next ferry back to The Battery. While Jean agreed to join me, Mary Pat and Steve decided to check out the Statue of Liberty Museum.
Open only since 2019, the museum features three interactive galleries that detail the statue’s history and, each in its own way, is – again, according to the park’s website – “designed to inspire visitors.” Aside from that trio of galleries, at least part of what the museum inspires in those who visit it comes from the facility’s Immersive Theater, the main draw of which is a “dramatic 10-minutes multimedia experience.” In addition to presenting the statue’s origin story, the highlight is a “virtual fly-through” of the statue’s interior.
Feeling left out, I was on the verge of joining Mary Pat and Steve when the line for the return ferry began to move. So, not only did I miss my chance to get inspired by what the museum had to offer, but for the next several minutes I found myself worrying whether the other two would end up joining us in time.
They did, eventually, with Mary Pat giving high marks to what she was able to see of the museum. An added benefit of their showing up was that all four of us were able to snare seats on the ferry’s upper deck, which gave us a great view of the imposing statue as we departed.
We could have stopped at Ellis Island, the spot where in the last century immigrants were processed after arriving from their home countries. But we were hungry, had no interest in jostling through even more crowds to get off, and then again on, the ferry. Besides, I like to abide by the travel creed of always leaving something undone. Our daughter and her family live in New York, so it’s a good bet that I’ll have another opportunity.
The only worry we had then was, after having lunch, how to best get back to our Brooklyn hotel. We didn’t like the idea of calling another Uber, so the question then was whether we would be able to find the right subway train.
We stumbled around some, but eventually we found exactly the subway stop that we needed.
This time the luck of Lady Liberty was with us.