I don’t remember how old I was when I last climbed up the steps of Lady Liberty. I think I was definitely in elementary school. My boyfriend mentioned a few times that he’s never been to the Statue of Liberty and that he’d like to when the weather nice. Early last week, I decided that since the weather was being predicted as “nice” for the weekend, we would venture to one of the biggest tourist traps in NYC. I was interested to see the Statue of Liberty and perhaps even climb her. I did my research online and found out that in order to climb up to the crown, I would need to book those tickets like 1.5 months in advance. I was disappointed, but I was able to book tickets to the pedestal (which was free). I then did further research and the Statue of Liberty website recommended to spend about 4.5 hours to do both the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

On Friday, Jeff and I went down to the Financial District and had a leisurely early lunch at Tajin. We both had huge yummy burritos. We then walked down to Battery Park. The weather was indeed beautiful. To my shock, I saw a HUGE line wrapping around the park. I got in line assuming it would be for the ferry. I checked with the tourists ahead of me and they confirmed it was for the ferry and that it’d be about 1.5 hours before we boarded. I let Jeff roam around the park and take photos while I waited. I didn’t really mind since the weather was so nice. About 45 min later, we got on board for the ferry. The ride was really nice. We saw some amazing views of the NYC skyline as well as the Statue of Liberty. We arrived at Liberty Island just in time for our 2pm reservation to climb up the steps. I put my bag in a very high tech locker (they asked for my fingerprint) and we rushed to climb the 156 steps. First, we walked through an informative display of the history of Lady Liberty. It was pretty interesting. I got to sit on a model of her foot. It’s huge! Haha.

I was surprised how fast it is to climb up 156 steps. It’s really not much at all. We walked around and took more photos. Then we came down to the ground level outside and took even more photos. It was fun! We then headed on the ferry to Ellis Island. We were both a little disappointed with Ellis Island because it was really just a bunch of rooms with displays. You can listen to these audio interviews of Ellis Island immigrants, but I guess I would probably have enjoyed it more if I paid for my own audio tour or if they had a tour guide. Also, I wanted to look up Jeff’s family in the library, but it closed at 4pm. It was sad, but I read that we can do all our research online anyway.

After taking our last ferry back to NYC, we headed to Jeff’s favorite pizza place, Lombardi’s. It was pretty early for dinner so there was no line. We ordered a large pizza for two. We’re probably the only couple who dares to order a large. I only eat about 2-3 slices and I think Jeff eats 3 too. We took the rest to go so Jeff could feast on the leftovers later. After our lovely dinner, we headed towards the Kips Bay movie theater to watch Shutter Island. We were still early so we stopped by Red Mango for a nice light dessert. Strawberries and blackberries are delicious!

I was under the impression that Shutter Island would be really scary. It wasn’t as scary as I expected. Also, I really enjoyed it. It was a bit confusing to follow, but I think I understood what happened at the end. It helped that Jeff already read the book so he could clarify some details after the movie. We of course shared a medium popcorn which just made the movie even better for me. All in all, it was a long and wonderful Friday. I was so lucky to spend it with my baby!