NYC: The Empire & The Lady

While there, we couldn't pass up visiting 2 major NY landmarks.

This sign hangs above the information desk on the first floor. To your right are the escalators that take you up to stand in a potentially HUGE line before even paying.

Yep, 86 floors straight up! And to get that high, you have to ride on 2 different elevators. All the way up they kept telling us that visibility was at zero. That is until we came to the point where they wanted to sell us a map of what we'd see at the top. When Nancy told the guy that everyone before him was telling us we wouldn't be able to see anything, he basically told us they were lying and still tried to sell us a map. Such a salesman! We of course, didn't buy a map.

We had to go despite the weather and it was still cool to look at the city from 86 floors up.

Because of the "zero" visibility on the 86th floor, we had no desire to pay to see what the clouds looked like on the 102nd floor.

See? It was really cold and rainy that day. We were actually grateful for the weather because there were zero lines. And that made it so we could get to our Broadway showing of Lion King on time. We hadn't planned time to wait in lines before the show.

But the next day the storm had passed to make it a beautiful day for a ride on the Staten Island Ferry. See the dock to the right of the picture? We left from the grey one, but right next to it is the green dock you see below.

I just loved the architecture and history this dock represented. The grey one, in my opinion, is so boring and lacks personality. I don't know if the green one is still used or not.

When you enter the grey building, you go up escalators and enter a vast waiting area. I got goose bumps when we were greeted by the giant red, white and blue. We rode the free ferry on a Sunday. The ferry makes 68 trips on a Sunday, 75 trips on Saturday, and 109 trips on weekdays. For how often the ferry runs, there bathrooms should have been significantly cleaner! I thought that because of how many people pass through here, daily, the bathrooms would be decent. Sorry, Nancy!

"Hello, New Jersey!" I checked the route and numerous times the ferry passes into New Jersey while on it's path to Staten Island. So, I've been to New Jersey, too!

Ellis Island. Awesome to see this landmark in person. I, like many others, have ancestors who came through Ellis Island. I wish the ferry had gotten closer to it, but it was still beautiful.

Lady Liberty. What more can I say?

I didn't expect to see a tug boat.

Leaving the big city in our wake.

Leaving Staten Island in our wake.

We didn't ever get to Brooklyn, but that's it right there. If you ask me, it has much the same landscape as the rest of NYC.

One last look at Lady Liberty. She is a sight.

Some other interesting facts about our trip are that the Staten Island Ferry has only been free since 1997. Every trip, both ways, is accompanied by the US Coast Guard because of 9/11. The ferry docks at St. George Terminal on Staten Island. The ride is 5 miles and lasts for 25 minutes. The population of Staten Island is about 500,000 and on 9/11 the ferry took countless people from the uncertainty in lower Manhattan to safety on Staten Island. The days following 9/11, the ferry was closed to civilians, but still ran carrying emergency personnel, military personnel, and even tanks.