NYC - Day 3

Sunday morning we woke up bright and early and took the Subway to Battery Park. From there we boarded the ferry to the Statue of Liberty. We had gotten tickets to go inside the monument, so we stood in line and went through security screening so we could go inside. The Statue was closed after 9/11. When it reopened, they only let you go to the top of the pedestal. You can no longer go into the actual statue and into the crown. That was just fine with me after I saw the very narrow winding staircase you had to climb all the way to the top! We spent some time at the top of the pedestal and then went back down to the ground level and walked all the way around the statue. Then we took the ferry back to NYC (with a quick stop at Ellis Island. Unfortunately, we didn't have enough time to get off and explore) and walked to Ground Zero. It has really changed since I was there 2 years ago and construction has begun on the new building/memorial. From there we took the subway back to our hotel, where we were greeted with lots of people and floats that were participating in the Puerto Rican Day parade. FUN! We quickly checked out and walked with our suitcase 3-4 blocks into the heart of Times Square to catch a cab to JFK.

Unfortunately, our trip home didn't go so smoothly. We boarded the plane a little late and then taxied to the runway....where we proceeded to sit and sit and sit! Apparently there were bad storms in Detroit, so we couldn't take off. Eventually we wasted enough fuel just sitting that we had to go back to the gate to refuel...and then we were told we were going to have to get off the plane because everything at Detroit was grounded....and then a storm hit JFK so we had to sit some more...and then we were told we could fly to Detroit....and then some passengers wanted off the plane....and then we had to wait while they got off....and then we had to wait while the pilot got new paperwork....and then we pushed back from the gate again....and then we finally headed back to the runway and sat in line...and then we finally took off. All that consisted of sitting on a hot, crowded plane for FIVE HOURS!! It was not a pleasant experience, especially since we had no food or drink. We finally took off at 9:15pm (instead of 4:10 like originally planned) and were told we were going to have to fly from JFK to Boston to Toronto to Detroit, making our flight 2.5 hours instead of 1 hour 15 minutes. Once we were up in the air, the pilot was told he could take a shorter route...but then we had too much fuel to land (they had extra fuel for the long flight) so we had to fly at low altitude to burn off fuel. We FINALLY got to Detroit around 11:30 pm and home to Van Wert at 2:30am.
Chris wrote a letter to Delta explaning our situation and they sent an email with "compensation" for our troubles - a $25 voucher per person. Ummm, thanks?!?!

OKay...on to day 3 photos. I am too lazy to do a collage today, so you'll just have to scroll through all the photos. Be sure to check back tomorrow. I have some bonus NYC photos of some of the interesting people we saw on our trip!


The Statue from the ground...

Family photo at the top of the pedestal...Chris didn't like being at the edge, so he stayed back against the wall. Look at the cracks on the wall- you can see the green from the statue that has washed off. Very cool!
View of Ellis Island from the top....

Family photo in front of the statue....very touristy! Back on the ferry....

Ellis Island....

NYC skyline
Ground Zero....

Last time I visited, this cross was in the middle of Ground Zero. It's been moved during construction....

Asking the friendly NYC fireman for subway directions!

Loved this firetruck....