Day 4 - Give me a (New York) Minute

To say the last two days were jammed packed would be an understatement. We spent the last two days touring Manhattan, and trying to figure out why anyone would want to drive a car here. On the fourth day we went to Ellis Island, where a picture from 1903 Wild Rose is still proudly displayed. 

We the took the next ferry to see the Statue of Liberty, also arguably one of the most important symbols of freedom in the world. 

 From Emma Lazarus' famous poem "the New Colossus"

One of the comments overheard from several students was "I thought the Statue of Liberty was bigger."

After the statue, we took one last ferry ride to Battery Park in Lower Manhattan where we met up with the busses and headed up to Central Park West. The group then had about 90 minutes to explore the park,  many headed to Strawberry Fields, others to The Lake, some made it up to "Belvedere Tower/Castle" up by 81st street. After meeting up at Central Park South and 59th street we headed to Rockefeller Plaza where we took a few pictures and headed for the Top of the Rock to watch the lights come on over the city. 

(Top of the Rock Looking North at Central Park and beyond) 

(Top of the Rock looking south towards Lower Manhattan, the financial district and points beyond.)

We capped off the evening with dinner st Ellen's Stardust Diner and headed back to the hotel. Day four was an exhausting, but rewarding day. There was a lot of walking, but the group persevered. Day 5 begins early, but I will tell you more about that in my next post....stay tuned