NEW YORK CITY

I've been in New York visiting Nata since last Tuesday. It's been really great. Last week, Nata and I went to see RENT, a fabulous musical and haven't been able to get the music out of our heads. While waiting in line for the half price tickets I met a very nice, talkative New Jersian. She was very full of useful information and asked lot of questions about my stay so far. Then her father came along and met up with her. He supposedly was a museum buff and gave me the skinny on the museums in NYC. I told him I only had one day for museums and suggested the Met. I took his advice and pursued the Met yesterday.

I also went to see ground zero and the financial district. Ground zero is pretty much an abandoned looking construction site...nothing much is happening there right now. There is a somber feeling in the crowd, everyone is speaking in hushed voices and there were a few still placing flowers. A very large cross is standing in the center of the site which was made from two steel frame beams (most likely from the debris of the original towers). There is a large fence around the whole site with various signs about the Twin Towers, the people who lost their lives and so on. It was interesting information...there was also a sketched representation of the monument they intend to build. Looks very nice...

Today, I went to the Liberty and Ellis Island. I arrived early in Battery Park and got a free access pass to the Statue's base. You can't go up to the crown anymore (since 9/11), but you can venture within the museum in the base. It was such a perfect day to see the Statue...sunny, and clear. Fortunately, it was also not that crowded. The museum had a nice exhibit discussing the Statue's significance (gift from the French, etc.) and showed how she was engineered and put together. You could stand right below the statue and "look up her dress". A tiny winding staircase all the way up to the crown. One thing I learned is that until 1916 they allowed people to visit all the way up to the torch!

Then to Ellis Island where I purchased an Audio Tour and it was well worth it. The building is so big that it was a bit overwhelming and I don't think I would have known where to begin. They say half of the people living in the US can trace their ancenstry back to Ellis Island. By far, most immigrants came from Italy, followed by Russia...I thought that was interesting.

I've found New York quite nice once I got my bearings. The first few days were a bit overwhelming, but once I got the subway down and felt oriented in the city I've been feeling right at home :-)