Single green female seeks huddled masses yearning to breathe free

This morning began with a quick banana and pastry in the hotel room, followed by a subway trip that took us to the end of the red line and the beginning of the quick ferry ride to see the Statue of Liberty.  We were on the top deck of an open-air vessel, looking as we drew ever closer to the statue.  She is really something to behold, and I hadn’t thought of the timing of this gift from the French until today.  She was presented to the US by the French as a gift to honor our enduring freedom just after the Civil War.  Maybe we were really happy we made it through that… 

The statue was a thing to behold, though. 

She is so iconic, and certainly, we could have spent the whole morning in the museum, at the monument itself, or just learning new things, but we had a ferry ticket that also took us to Ellis Island, and we had to check that out. There we saw what immigrants saw as they exited overseas steamer ships and came to America for the first time, and we quizzed each other on randomly chosen questions from the US Citizenship test.  Good news- we both passed.  I think that means we can stay. That’s a relief.  

Honestly, we could have stayed there all day, too, but a banana and a pastry will only carry you so far, and for us, it was time to grab a slice of New York pizza.  

Before we leave on any trip, we always ask folks who have been where we’re going what we can’t miss.  One of the what can’t we miss? questions was about which pizza we needed to try.  That led us to Bleecker Street Pizza in Greenwich Village.  Wow.  If you are in the neighborhood, head there and try a slice of Nonna Maria pizza.  It has mozzarella, basil and tomato, and a slice is bigger than your head.  

When we left there, I thought it would be nice to walk in the neighborhood for a moment and soak it in.  Cas is better at planning destinations on a map than I am, but I managed somehow to stumble into a beautiful park dedicated to the Stonewall Riots, right across from the Stonewall Inn.  These are kind of sacred places in the gay rights movement, and it was interesting to read the plaques, see the locations and understand a little of the struggle these folks went through.  

From Greenwich Village, we headed to another subway stop to get to a new park in Manhattan called Little Island.  I read about it in the Dallas newspaper when It was first opened at the end of May, and it’s really cool.  It is 2.4 acres of space, created atop platforms that rise up out of the water.  There are different sections to the park, but our exploration was cut short because they apparently evacuate that park when lightning strikes happen in the area.  We walked in, looked around for a few moments, then walked right back out and to a winery.  Seemed like the thing to do at the time.  

After that, it was nap time, and now, we’re off to dinner on the way to sunset at the Empire State Building.  This day is checking a lot of items off of our wish list.  More later. 

Here are our photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/2sYnZaQSheDb6sfJ6