It was the year 2008 when I celebrated the best Thanksgiving of my life in New York City. It is certainly one of the best times of the year to be in New York. I decided to throw a bash at my place and invited all my friends. We bought a huge turkey and cooked a delicious meal out of it for dinner. I arranged for the best possible wines and some unbelievable barbecues. There was live orchestra at my place and people were dancing to the grooves of the music. I had made arrangements for strobe lights at my place so that the guests could have fun to the fullest. After the hearty meal, the men played football in the nearby playground while the ladies were busy drinking and chatting at my apartment. We all headed towards the Statue of Liberty to get a glimpse of the beautiful view of the Manhattan skyline. The cool breeze and the entire ambiance at the venue was making the entire moment extremely romantic and therefore, memorable. At midnight, we cut a ten-pound cake, which was homemade and delicious. Basically it was one Thanksgiving that I, and probably all present at the party, will remember throughout our lives.
Posts Tagged ‘statue of liberty’
The Coolest Boat in Town
Here’s the thing about living in New York during the summer: it gets really hot and the air conditioner in your apartment is never good enough to keep you cool. Of course, when you go outside things get even worse with all that hot concrete and asphalt. Sure, you can travel around town on air-conditioned subways, but the platforms are always stuffy and steaming. So what can one do to escape the heat? Escape!
Now usually taking a trip of out of New York is a huge chore because of all the traffic, but if you take the subway down to the tip of Manhattan, there’s a cool and fun way out of the city: the Staten Island Ferry! While the city is always unbearably hot, the water surrounding it is always cool. Couple that with the fact that the Ferry is free and serves 24 oz cans of beer and what better way is there to escape the heat and have a cool, relaxing day. The Ferry’s path past the Statue of Liberty even lets you pretend that you are doing something worthwhile. If you have guests in town, it’s the best way to see the legendary statue: slowly cruising past it and enjoying a cold beer. True, you have to disembark when you reach Staten Island, but you can get right back on within a few minutes of arriving. Figure six or seven trips across the water, mixed with three or four beers and you have a cheap and cool way to beat the heat.
Boating Adventure
It was one of the first times we had been out in a romantic sense. We had been friends for a while but this was the only instance where things felt…more than that. We were scheduled to go to a work function on a boat departing from the docks at 23rd Street, meeting friends for dinner beforehand. It was a great, social setting with a lot of people so things wouldn’t get too awkward. We shared an intimate discussion over wine at an Italian restaurant in the Flatiron district. The food was delicious and perfect for the occasion. Afterward we hopped into the cab and took it down to the docks. The boat departed shortly after our arrival and we were treated to an open bar, starry skies and a view of the Statue of Liberty. it was a gorgeous setting and we were finally able to click on another level. We danced the night away and gazed out over the wonderful view – and smiled at each other as the boat returned to the dock three hours later. It was a perfect evening with a perfect person, and many photographs were taken to make sure it was a night we would never forget.
Race to the Top of Lady Liberty – Part II
…We weren’t even half way up the Statue of Liberty yet and I was ready to give in! At this point, I remember thinking “maybe I should have listened to how many flights of steps were actually in this thing!” Slowing climbing up the stairs one by one with my family now, I noticed the stairs were getting smaller, I was getting hotter, and we were catching up to a long line of people. After a while it opened up and we could see above us, going up was a tour of what appeared to be school age children about our age! They were all carrying sack lunches with them, and the funniest thing in the whole world (at that time anyway) happened, just as we looked up! One of the kids above us dropped an apple out of their sack lunch and it came barreling down straight at my dad’s head! My Dad did duck and it missed it, but we cracked up all the way to the top of the Statue of Liberty no less! Still to this day we chuckle about going all the way to the Statue of Liberty in New York from Michigan to almost get hit in the head with an apple. My Dad still laughs at us kids as well for actually thinking that we could run all the way to the top! Great memories for all of us in that trip to the Statue of Liberty, and now that I am a Mom myself, its something and someplace I would love to take my kids and create memories to share with them as well!
Race to the Top of Lady Liberty – Part I
When I was a young child, my family would go on summer vacations every single year. One year, my dad decided that he wanted to take our family to New York to see the Statue of Liberty. He had always wanted to go there as a child, but never had the chance. So off we went to New York. We rode the boat up to the island where the Statue of Liberty stands, and I was in awe at how large it really was compared to in pictures or seeing it from a distance. It really was a totally awesome experience as a child to look up and see her standing there. My dad took a few minutes to tell us kids about her history and what not, but honestly I don’t remember much of that! All I remember thinking while I was standing there was “I bet I can get to the top of this thing before the rest of them”, and as I stood there pretending to listen to my dad, I was getting a game plan together in my head. When my Dad was done talking, I remember telling everyone my plan to beat them all to the top. My cousins who went with us said I was nuts, and that they would beat me to the top. So, off all of us kids went running at full speed up the first flight of stairs! I remember I was taking the stairs two at a time and thinking to myself “no sweat, piece of cake, I can do this!” Up another flight of stairs I went, and another, and then another realizing that I was starting to slow down! Oh no! I looked back, everyone else was slowing down too! How could this be?
Statue of Liberty in the Summer
My favorite sightseeing spot in New York is the Statue of Liberty. The best part about it was learning about our country’s history of immigration with Ellis island, which is where the statue is located. The highlight of the statue itself was climbing up towards the top and looking out over the harbor. Don’t worry, there aren’t that many steps so even if you aren’t real mobile you can definitely get up. Be prepared for some security screening, nothing that takes long at all. I bought my tickets to New York online but I bought my ferry tickets in person. I would recommend spending at least a day viewing all that the Statue of Liberty and Ellis island has to offer. There are several other really neat attractions. There is a history museum built on the island, which is really interesting for visitors of all ages. My kids liked some of the historical documents and artifacts that they had. I first wanted to go to the Statue of Liberty ever since my friend told me he had a great time with his family there. My family had a great time too and the kids never got bored. There were some staff on the island and all of them were informative and friendly. There was a gift shop that I enjoyed, which had reasonable prices, too. There isn’t much in the way of food or anything else like that on Ellis island, so if you are going to go just be advised. Overall the whole experience is enjoyable, you will appreciate the ferry ride, the immigration museum and of course the shining beacon of liberty her self, the Statue of Liberty. I will visit the Statue of Liberty again as it is a reminder to me of our countries proud historical legacy of immigration and openness.
Twenty-Five Cents of Happiness
My favorite time in New York City was every Sunday morning, when I would get up and head down to the Battery and the Staten Island Ferry. In the early seventies, I was living in an illegal loft in the SOHO district and money was in short supply…so any entertainment I could find had to be cheap. Walking down Broadway past all of the shops and restaurants, some of which were no more than three stools and a counter, gave me a sense of freedom from the 9 to 5 routine that I was stuck in during the week. When I got to Battery Park, depending on the season at the time, there were vendors selling roasted chestnuts in the fall or big soft pretzels and hot dogs the rest of the year. My greatest enjoyment came when I could board the Staten Island Ferry. There’s a line in a Bob Dylan song that goes “If you got a lot of money you can make yourself merry, if you only got a nickel it’s the Staten Island Ferry.” Well, prices have gone up since then, but to me that twenty-five cent ride was best deal any where. It’s cheaper than a New York water taxi, but just as good. It didn’t take long to get out into the harbor and to start taking in the scenery. There was the Statute of Liberty on the right and so was Ellis Island. As the ferry boat approached Staten Island, you could see the Verrazano bridge. It didn’t matter what time of year it was or what the weather was like the sight of the New York skyline from the ferry boat brought me twenty five cents of happiness, every time.
Winning a Trip to the Big Apple
After all of the events leading up to it, I will never forget my favorite moment in New York City…
My daughter had won a trip for two to NYC. This included round-trip air fare and a stay of three nights in a top-rated New York hotel. Unfortunately, being from the country in North Carolina, we did not realize the hotel would freeze her bank account for incidentals. We had just a little over $100 cash for eating and sightseeing. After initial disappointment and grouchiness, we decided to make the best of it. We had to walk almost everywhere so we would have enough money to eat and do one thing that would be very special to both of us. We decided to take a cruise to see the Statue of Liberty.
It was early in July&mdashvery hot. We walked to the pier, stood in line to purchase our tickets; then, on to another line to wait for our cruise. By this time we were parched and thirsty. A man rolled up his cart of 16 ounce water bottles on ice and said, “In New York, it is all about the location.” He was selling life for $3.00 a bottle! We passed.
We started our cruise. Unbelievable. The water sprayed in our faces. It was so welcome. Our captain was pointing out the sights, and then came my favorite moment in New York City. We were coming up on Lady Liberty. Wow. She was so much bigger than I had imagined—beautiful. Nothing left to do but immortalize the moment for my lifetime, photographing every detail. Surely, it’s a trip I will never forget.