Island Hopping!! Not tropical but still fun!

So, I didn't waste any time getting back to the touristy things once I got back to NY. One of the things on my list was to go to the Statue of Liberty. Not long after we moved here the news reported that they were going to reopen the crown to visitors (it has been restricted since 9/11). I logged onto the website 2 days after they started selling tickets to the crown and the first available ticket was August 22nd (this was back in the beginning of June)! Sadly the Statue of Liberty is to New Yorkers what Graceland is to Memphians. Most locals haven't been, don't care to go, or haven't been since they were a child. Granted with all the green foam crowns and cheesy mini statues it does come across as a tourist trap but truthfully it is a massive piece of history and art. Come on, you could have a gaudy dead celebrity's mansion as your cities "crown jewel" and I use crown jewel very loosely. The climb to the top was an adventure in itself. To get to the top you had to climb 354 steps. Going up 2 flights to my apartment doesn't seem so bad now. If we stayed here I think that is where I would get a job. I could get in shape and get paid to do it (not to mention the views out of my "office" window)! The climb actually wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I thought I was going to need divine intervention when we climbed 320 steps to the top of St. Peter's basilica. Of course, we are both in much better shape than we were then. Not only is it a lot of steps, it is actually a very narrow spiral staircase in a small, hot unairconditioned area. If they really want to make money they need to put a spa in that crown so you can rest your feet and get a cool alcoholic beverage before going back down the 320 steps you just came up. I had a serious urge to just slide down the handrail on the way back down. I guess that is why they don't sell cool alcoholic beverages. Drats! The weather wasn't the best that day, it was rainy and cloudy. Also my camera had a spot mysteriously show up that I can't seem to get rid of. Most of my pictures look like a UFO is hovering around the statue. You can only go to the crown once in a 6 month period and the tickets are booked through the winter; lucky Blake or I would probably make him do it again on a sunnier day and when my camera was UFO less. The ferry to the statue also takes you to Ellis Island. It was neat to be there and see where our ancestors first came but I was expecting more of a museum with artifacts on display. Of course, we were so tired from the statue we did rush through it. The ferry to get to all this cool stuff takes off from Battery Park, which has the Sphere from the World Trade Centers. It remained surprisingly well intact, so they moved it to the park for now and will reinstall at the original site when it is completed.
In this weeks photo album, I'm including a couple of random pictures from around town. One was taken before we left to move. We were out and got caught in a storm that came out of nowhere. We were heading to Rockefeller Center to go to the top but had to take cover in a subway. We never made it and after you see the pictures, you will see why. Enjoy!