NY NY

I went to THE City yesterday.  Got up and on the train very early.  

It was raining, but I waited in line with a few other folks. . . .

 

I had brought along a sign.  Maybe it was a bit too "wordy," but You know ME. . . .

I know I made it on camera. . . .  Sis-in-law Liz phoned me and told me so.  She recorded it and I'll see it tomorrow when I pay her a visit.  Anyway, here's the rest of the show. . . .  Or the parts of it that I saw from my location in the crowd!

Willie Geist carrying the new dog mascot for the show "Charlie" along with Al Roker.  Al came outside from the studio before any of the rest of them and actually worked his way around the crowd and shook hands with nearly EVERYONE.  There weren't many more than 60 or so of us, since it was a rainy morning. He allowed some to even take Selfies with him.  What a guy!

Matt Lauer and Savannah Guthrie (hidden behind Al) came out too. . . .

Here's one of their helpers carrying the dog around for anyone who want to pet him. . . .

The indoor studio was just across the way from me. You can see Matt & Savannah in this:

After it was over, NY's Finest sent in its "Crowd Control Unit". . .

And I hopped on the Subway to go somewhere else I've been meaning to go to. . . .

I picked up my ticket at "Castle Clinton" at The Battery. . . .

New York New York it's a helluva town, the Bronx is up and. . . .

 . . .The Battery's down.

So here's what I did for the rest of the day:

Right after landing at Liberty Island, there's this nice plaza:

The first thing you see as you get inside of the Pedestal is the OLD torch that they replaced in the 1980s. . . .

I couldn't get a ticket to climb all the way up to her crown.  You have to make reservations to do that at least three months ahead. And anyway, I was there when I was about 12 years old, my only other time here.  I did get to look UP and see the internal structure, tho, from inside the Pedestal which was the highest point in the statue that I could go to today:

The view from the top of the pedestal was pretty amazing:

 

Back down at the base again. . . .

There's a museum inside the Pedestal. . . .

Gustav Eiffel designed the "skeleton" of the statue. . . .

And French sculptor Auguste Bartholdi designed the exterior. . . .

The smaller photo is of the torch on display for a few years at Madison Square Park, directly across the street from where I used to work in Manhattan. . . .  but just a wee tad few years earlier than me being there.  Can't imagine what it'd have been like for office workers to stroll around the park on their lunch hour back then and see THIS:

I tried a LOT of times to get a close-up panorama of Her and the skyline. She's just too tall!

A couple more interesting tidbits of information on the placards around the park there:

And finally, just before leaving, I stopped at the gift shop. . . .

Then I got on the boat again, and sailed over to Ellis Island. By that time, my battery on my cell phone was dead. I wish I could have at least gotten a photo of the Registry Hall (some call it The Great Hall) there.  Very very impressive.  I did look up my dad's mom's name on the Wall Of Honor where it'd been inscribed due to my cousins' Brian and Francine's having made contributions to do so.  Ellis Island was VERY thought-provoking and got me just a little choked up as I was thinking that three out of my four grandparents had come thru here.

So that was yesterday.  I plan to go back to the city again today and do another tourist thing. . . .  Ride the "hop on, hop off" double-decker bus.  I'll see a lot more that way.  I haven't been in the new 9/11 Memorial yet, but just might do so today.

To be continued. . . .