Statue of Liberty
On Sunday, we spent the day at the Statue of Liberty. We took a ferry over, skipping Ellis island. When you have a young child, you have to really prioritize and be able to let things go. I wasn’t sure how it would go with Ingrid. Could potentially be super boring. I hoped at least she would enjoy the ferry ride. When the statue came into view, I came out onto the deck where Andrew was taking pictures and just stood looking at her. I started thinking about those five million immigrants and how they must have felt seeing her for the first time… pretty soon there were tears streaming down my face. What she stands for resonates very very deeply in me. I struggled a bit to hold it together amongst all the other tourists who were just staring in a blank kind of a way.
After going through two security check points, including one that x-ray’d us and blew gusts of air around our bodies (Andrew thinks it was for bomb material sniffing), we arrived at the museum under the statue. I approached my first sign and Ingrid asked me to read it to her. I did, and surprisingly, she stood by me while I read each and every exhibit there to her. I could see other people watching us… it seems not as child friendly here than in other places we’ve been. They probably thought it was a waste of time but Ingrid kept looking at the exhibits and asking me questions and I was only too happy to turn this into a learning opportunity. We found out how the statue was made, why, and got to see some life size examples of it, that we could touch. I learned about the broken shackles on the feet, the seven rays sending liberty to the seven seas and continents of the world. I thought it was fascinating that the sculptor and creator did not wish to make her a fighter for liberty, but rather a peaceful beacon of enlightenment. Also that she is made of copper that is only as thick as two pennies! She is walking rather than just standing, and she looks very similar to the sculptor’s mother. She’s not very tall, only about 100 feet, plus a 200 foot pedestal.
We had to walk to the top of the pedestal because the elevator is out of service indefinitely. They warned us it would be 168 steps but it really wasn’t bad at all. Ingrid got a free ride in daddy’s arms. We didn’t plan far enough in advance to get tickets to the crown, but we liked our visit so much that we’re planning to do it another time, and go all the way to the top.