Statue of Liberty + Ellis Island

Statue of Liberty + Ellis Island

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

On Saturday I was able to cross another item off my bucket list: climbing to the top of the Statue of Liberty. When I was in college there was this stair-stepper that would let you set your goal; things like the Eiffel Tower, the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, etc. Of course I became obsessed and I knew once I hit my goal on the machine, I wanted to do it in real life. So here we are! 

I had a blast. It was a gorgeous day but it was freeeeezing! I was sure to bundle up (you can see what I wore here) but being on the water, you kind of just had to deal with it. Anyway, we bought tickets to access the crown (you can buy yours here) which also gave us access to all of Liberty Island and Ellis island. If you go, I suggest at the very minimum to get tickets for the pedestal. Otherwise you only get access to walk around the island. I mean, if you're going to go ... GO!

Walking around was fun but I was eager to get climbing! There are 393 steps from the bottom to the top and the first flights (from the ground to the pedestal) were normal, everyday stairs. The last 162 steps looked a little something like this:

Andrew was more surprised than I was with how narrow and tight the steps were. I mean, you can't be over 6'3" to climb these steps without hitting your head and I was holding on with both hands up and down. Here are my before and after pictures: 

Being up at the crown was a lot of fun. It was small but it was gratifying! The views were awesome and it was so fun to see what Lady Liberty sees everyday. It was also really cool to check out the inside of the statue and see everything (like her face -- two photos down).

After our time on Liberty Island, we went over to Ellis Island and soaked up some history. It was fun and I'm glad I went, but it wasn't what I expected. A little underwhelming and I mean it in the nicest way. Ellis Island was hit hard by Sandy and because of that, all of the artifacts were gone. So the museum and the tour was just a bunch of empty cases. They're waiting for the air and temperature to stabilize in the building before bringing them back. 

All in all, we had a great time and I'm so happy to have checked it off the list! Next on my bucket list? Ride an elephant, climb the Eiffel Tower and visit Greece!