Carl's Blog

Finding breakfast was more difficult than it needed to be, because I was concerned about being late for my morning tour of the Statue of Liberty. I really should have gone to the first place I found, which was McDonald’s, but I wandered toward the subway stop which I needed to use to head to Battery Park. I ended up getting a smoked sausage bread at Paris Banquette.

I arrived at the meeting point for the tour about 30 minutes early so I wandered around the pier area for a bit. Found out later that these dog parks are sort of “pop up events” the city allows various parks to be used on a rotating bases in the morning for dogs to be allowed to run off leash.

Statue of Liberty ferry time. Met up with the tour group, and our tour guide was Nicola, who is from Italy and moved to New York with his wife a few years ago. He was very energetic and was full of tips on how to navigate the crowd while boarding the ferry and where best to stand. He is the one who told us about how the dog parks. I tried to upload a short video from the ferry ride, but the mobile internet just wasn’t having it so I lost patience. Maybe when I get home I will upload it.

Statue of Liberty Tour. It was well worth getting on the first ferry because we avoided the crowds. Nicola took the picture below I truly believe him that we were his 1061 tour of his career. He even joked that he was the honorary mayor of the island the Statue of Liberty is on because of how many tours he has done.

After the 20 minute or so history lesson of the Statue of Liberty, which was not a gift from the French to the US: you normally don’t have to pay for a gift with money and trade deals) It took 21 years from the offer to the actually installation of the Statue of Liberty, and we can thank Mr. Pulitzer for the first viral campaign for funding a public project that the rich people didn’t want to fund so he “encouraged” the common man with the chance to get their name on the frontpage of the paper. With the history lesson concluded, we had about 45 minutes to look around the island and visit the museum or take pictures of NYC from the island. I decided to take some pictures. I should see if I can share the Google Cardboard picture I took. Oh well, maybe later..

Ellis Island Tour. We concluded the 2nd part of the tour on Ellis Island. Nicola told the story of a fictional immigrant from Poland, who came to America as a young tailor apprentice. It was a really good story. No spoiler just encase you take the tour and get Nicola as your guide.

After the tour ended and I took the ferry back to Battery Park I walked around and took some pictures of the flowers in the garden. There were 2 play areas for kids, and one had a bunch of slides that I wished I was under the age of 10 so I could have enjoyed them.

I next headed north and ended up on Wall Street outside of the New York Stock Exchange.

Lunch at George’s

Time to check out the Nintendo Store

After the Nintendo Store I headed back to my hotel for a short break. It was 3:45 PM when I arrived after a decent walk. I put my blistered feet up and laid down to relax my hurting back. I didn’t intend to take a nap, but I woke up about 2 hours later. 🤪

It was time to decide what and where I would have dinner. I think it took me about an hour using Google maps and checking out places. End with a Irish pub near Time Square, so shoes back on, time to walk a few blocks.

After dinner it’s time to wander around Time Square

I headed back to the hotel. I think it is crazy that people live in all these buildings but they must else why are there all these cars on the street? Until tomorrow and I figure what I’m doing.