A Crowning Moment in New York

Our New York journey began as we made our mission to pick up tickets the the Statue of Liberty. Before we left London, we had heard that the Lady’s crown was once again opened to the public. We immediately went on-line and not only booked us tickets for the climb to the top of the statue (because we knew there was no way we’d get tickets the day of arrival), but we found a great site that let us book a small New York hotel.

Our first stop after we arrived in New York City was to our hotel, then our second stop was to the Statue of Liberty. We eagerly made our way to the Ranger Station after picking up our tickets at Battery Park, which by-the-way, was not far from our hotel! We handed over our tickets and had to go through an interesting screening process. The tickets we purchased gave us preferential treatment, so the screening itself wasn’t so bad, all we had to do after answering some questions, was to go to the front of the line (preferential treatment) and walk through a machine that blew cold air all around our bodies (it was a hot day, so the cool air felt good), I was glad I wasn’t wearing a skirt!

We headed to the elevator to the Observatory, and it was closed for the day! So, we did the climb up the stairs, which we really weren’t prepared for. This climb is not for the weak or faint hearted. The park rangers even warned us that there’s no turning back, once you start the climb, you have to finish it. The climb past the Observatory, which leads into the body of the Lady, becomes steeper and narrower.

We finally made the last 40 steps to the Crown. We had to stop before that to catch our breath; there was a very nice Ranger with which we chatted up. The Rangers are positioned at several different places along the climb and they give you information about the Statue if you ask. After a gentle encouragement from the Ranger, we made it to the top. The Crown is small, but quite overwhelming. There were two Rangers stationed there who regaled us with tales of immigrants and other sites we should see in the city. It was hard to leave the Crown, the view is stunning and memorable.

On our way back down, a Ranger told us that we hadn’t been to the museum yet, which is the downside of going up to the crown, you by-pass the museum. In order to go to the museum, we’d have to go through security again, and we really didn’t have the energy for that, plus, we lost our VIP passes! (I’m sure some other tourist found them and is having a wonderful time using them).

As we got off the ferry and  hobbled back to our small hotel, we kept smiling at each other. It was a smile of satisfaction and a job well done!