We didn’t look early enough for booking a trip to the Statue of Liberty from the Manhattan side, so we decided to go via the Liberty State Park in New Jersey as they still had ‘pedestal’ tickets available. As it turned out we are glad that we did.
The view across to Manhattan from the approach to Liberty State Park is through some green and slightly run-down boat yards, which gave a nice contrast:
Liberty State Park is huge, and well worth a visit. It includes what used to be the rail terminal where most immigrants would have come after being cleared at Ellis Island
The platforms are rather empty and abandoned, but the main building is rather good.
Between the rail terminal and the river is the remains of some of the old piers where the immigration boats would have docked
Also nearby is the official New Jersey memorial to the 9/11 attack, called ‘Empty Sky’ which is also quite impressive, focusing your eyes on the skyline where the twin towers used to stand:
The boat trip to Liberty Island goes via the Ellis Island where newly arrived immigrants would have been checked and processed. Again this is well worth a more prolonged visit than we had time for
Then back on the boat to Liberty Island itself:
If you get the chance, it is well worth getting at least ‘pedestal’ tickets as they allow you to get much closer (and higher) than the basic tickets that just allow access to the gardens just above the water. They also get you into the museum inside the pedestal – inside the entrance is the original illuminated flaming torch
Inside the pedestal you can take the lift (or 200+ stairs) to the base of the statue, where you can get some interesting views
At the top level of the pedestal there is a glass ceiling that allows you to look straight up inside the statue itself (yes, it is hollow), and you can clearly see the supporting structures and the staircase that would take you all the way up to the crown (only $3 extra, but there were no tickets left).
Then it was time to take the boat back to Manhattan
