29. Apr, 2016

29. Apr, 2016

29. Apr, 2016

29. Apr, 2016

29. Apr, 2016

MONDAY 29-09-08 

Fortunately last night’s rain was just a prolonged shower and we enjoyed a fairly quiet peaceful night, in fact it was quieter than many other campgrounds we’ve been to. 

We had a bit of a lie in this morning following our taxing day yesterday. The shower block here at Liberty Harbor RV Park was quite acceptable, with plenty of space and hot water. The plan today was to visit Ellis Island Immigration Museum www.ellisisland.com followed by the Statue of Liberty State Park www.libertystatepark.com two places we didn’t get to see on our first visit here.

Off down the road we walked until we reached the light railway system, once onboard we only needed to travel two stops before jumping off and getting on a shuttle bus which took us to the Ellis Island railway station, now disused, but which was for many years the station through which immigrants passed on their way to a new life elsewhere in this enormous country. At the railway station we bought our ferry tickets to both Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. 

Ellis Island was very interesting, and I was pleased to be here since it was somewhere The Chef particularly wanted to see, and following our bad weather on Cape Cod, her other ‘wanna do’, this hopefully would proceed unspoiled  by weather. 

It is amazing just how many people passed through the Immigration process here in New York, about 12 million in total; and there was another Processing Centre in San Francisco dealing with those arriving from across the Pacific Ocean to the east. Looking at the extensive exhibits of photographs and reading the stories it looked as if just about anybody could come here to start a new life, no need for money, or qualifications, though they’d help. So it was a bit like the current UK immigration policy.  

We had a snack at their café paying London prices here in New York. After Ellis Island it was back on a ferry to Liberty Park. We enjoyed this very much and went up to the observation balcony on the pedestal below the Statue of Liberty herself. I believe it is possible to climb as high as the torch in her hand but that was stopped a number of years ago due either to the threat of a terrorist attack or of RV’ers trying to haul banned 20lb bottles of LPG up there to start a REAL flaming torch. 

Following a great day out we retraced our steps back to the RV for a relaxing evening. Our original plan was to cross the Hudson River to Manhattan Island for the evening but we felt it was getting late and besides my resident chef and Director of Six Lane Changings still had a niggling back pain and it seemed silly to risk making matters worse. 

Tomorrow we plan to catch the ferry, just 150 yards from our RV, across to Manhattan, and spend the day there working through our list of places we still want to visit or revisit. We particularly want to visit Ground Zero, the site of the 9/11 tragedy, mainly because we had been up the twin towers on our last visit, a year almost to the day before that dreadful event. 

We are mentally preparing ourselves for an additional day here making three in total just so that we can see all we want to see at a more relaxed pace than we normally work to. This would have us leaving on Thursday morning throwing ourselves upon the mercy of New York drivers whilst trying to get out of their city. 

LOCATION TONIGHT: Liberty Harbor RV Park, 11 Marin Blvd, Jersey City, NY 07302.