We took a cab down to Battery Park and on the way we passed those waterfall things, which was good because they're coming down soon. I'm working on making a website for pictures, so I'll link to that later since it's such a pain in the ass to upload to blogspot. But we get to the line on the dock for the Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island ferry and I realize that although I had all my nice camera equipment, I left my compact flash card in the card reader after uploading the Empire State Building photos! I was SO fucking pissed I practically pitched a hissy fit, which I recognize does not reflect well on me, and I went around to all these stands trying to find a new memory card. No one had one, since compact flash is a nicer type of memory card than most tourists would be using. So I got a shitty little disposable camera and it sucked. The statue was alright. The island is really peaceful and surprisingly bucolic. We walked around the base of the statue, but when we tried to go into the museum/observatory in the base of the statue (to the extent of my knowledge you can no longer go up to the crown in light of 9/11) they wouldn't let us in because apparently our tickets said "No Monument Access." I don't know why they said that. When we were buying the tickets there was nothing on the booth that either of us saw that would indicate we had to get a different kind of ticket. So that part was really lame.
Then we took the ferry to Ellis Island, which is part of the same ticket, and I'm really glad we got the audio tour because the museum isn't very exciting without it. I think it would be a lot more exciting and meaningful for people who have family that immigrated through Ellis Island, but both sides of my family came to the U.S. before Ellis Island was opened as the main immigration hub for the east coast. The building itself is really interesting architecturally though. It's a really pretty building, as are the hospital buildings across the island, which is odd for a government building. The main hall looks like the main hall of a train station, which is to say that it's really big with a really high tiled ceiling. I wish I had pictures aaah!
For dinner we went to a restaurant called "The View," which is this really fancy restaurant at the top of the Marriott Marquis hotel in Times Square. The thing that makes this restaurant special is that it rotates reeeeeeally slowly while you eat, so you get a 360-degree view of the Times Square area/generally of nearby Manhattan. That was really cool. And the food was DELICIOUS, although the dessert much less so.
Also, before going out to dinner I was putting on my coat and I felt something heavy in my pocket, so I reached in and found the preserved fetal mouse I made for anatomy class. So now at least my apartment here has SOMETHING to make me feel at home!
Anyway, that's about it for now. This week there are a lot of readings at The Public, so that should be good.
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