Made in USA...no sorry, I mean France

Lady Liberty - A symbol of freedom, a beacon of light shining over the city - hmm, after 3 weeks here we find this "land of the free" message a little hard to digest. So before  posting some happy snaps of our visit yesterday, some commentary in cartoon form;

...and now on to our visit - this was the only thing we had pre-booked before we left so waking up to an overcast and windy day for our Statue of Liberty tour was a little annoying. But our tickets included access to the "crown" observation area and as this is now booked out till November we felt good about the pre-planning.  It  took 3 subway rides to get to Battery Park where the ferry departs, which drove me crazy because I can see the statue from our apartment's rooftop garden. The R line which would have got us there quickly is still out of service due to Hurricane Sandy damage. Ellis Island is also still closed due to damage.

The ferry ride was a bit rocky but only lasts about 10-15 minutes so was manageable just. Of course the anti-nausea  tablets we had brought with us were conveniently left behind at the apartment, and Angella kept reminding me she had survived the Kangaroo Island trip, this was nothing.

Here are some pictures from the ride over;

 When we arrived I couldn't resist taking this photo of Lady Liberty with the ferry's American flag flying in the wind

Here are some snaps of me and Ange taken from the first observation area, only 179 steps but many lined up for the elevator (you read right, there is an elevator).

  

We then headed up to the crown observation area, another 240 steps up, but hey we had done the Sacré-Coeur in Paris, and the Duomo in Florence, so this was nothing. There was no elevator for this part, which probably keeps many away. Sure it was not spacious, but there was light, there was air being pumped in, and the stairs were made of metal not stone - so pretty comfortable in comparison. Below is a picture of the spiral staircase leading up, and then a shot of Ange on the way down which will give you some idea.

Once in the crown, you realise how small Lady Liberty's head is - it was pretty cramped with room for about 5-6 people at a time. The view, while amazing, is a little obscured by the dirty glass, but hey probably hard to get a window cleaner up there.

Once back down on the ground we heading to a good vantage point for the obligatory selfie with statue (I'm sure this will make our 2014 calendar)

Luckily a passerby felt sorry for us and took this shot looking back from the island to Manhattan.

Ps. Some of you may have heard about Mayor Michael Bloomberg's attempt to ban large sodas in NYC. We saw this ad on the back of a Pepsi truck that afternoon and thought it a fitting way to end this post.