For Day 19 we decided to play the proper tourist role by going down to Battery Park at the southern tip of Manhattan, to catch the ferry which stops at Liberty Island (the home of the Statue of Liberty) and Ellis Island (the home of the once infamous immigration centre, which is now a museum). Because this would be approximately 2 hours walk from our hotel we decided to bite the bullet and try out the various options for wheelchair accessible transport in New York. Being the unapologetic planner that I am, I had already researched the various options, which basically comprise the subway (with only a few accessible stations on only a few routes), buses (all of which are accessible), taxis (a handful of which are accessible with a central number to ring for dispatch), a dial-a-ride “paratransit” service (which are essentially minibuses organised by the city government that disabled people can book), and private paratransit companies.
So plenty of options, you might think. However, once you are here you realise it's not quite that simple. The number of subway stops is so limited to be of almost no value, the dial-a-ride system has a lengthy application process which is not set up for visitors outside the US, and the private paratransit companies quoted $265 for a round-trip to Battery Park (compare that to a $40 round-trip taxi ride). So that leaves us with buses and taxis. We opted for a taxi, and asked the concierge to ring 311 to get one dispatched. After about a half-hour wait a taxi turned up, which I managed to get into no problem, and a very nice and chatty taxi driver, who came from India but had lived in New York for 16 years, proceeded to give us his life history on the way. Despite the initial wait we were fairly satisfied with the process.
On the way back however the story was a bit different! With no helpful concierge we were on our own, and a call to 311 took 15 minutes, most of which was being put on hold, with all this on my very expensive UK mobile! At the end of the call they told us, with no concept that this might be anything out of the ordinary, that it would be between five minutes and an hour. After an hour and 20 of waiting there was still no sign, but we were lucky enough to spot an accessible cab which Dad hailed. Not an altogether exemplary performance!
Anyway, back to the day itself, arriving just after midday we decided to join the huge queue that snaked around Battery Park to catch the ferry to Liberty and Ellis Island. This turned out to be an hour-long wait but was not wholly unpleasant as it was another glorious day with some shade when needed, and some quite interesting street performers playing to the crowd. They were certainly quite adept at getting their cash - if you got drawn in by their routines, it was almost impossible not to donate! If you want to save your money I think the trick is to avoid all eye contact!!
Although the plan was to meet with Tubb & Helen in the queue, this never quite worked out so we ended up getting on the ferry by ourselves. Once we finally boarded the ferry, it was only a short trip to Liberty Island, the first stop. Having heard that there was very little to see beyond what you could see from the ferry (i.e. the Statue of Liberty), we decided not to get off at this point, and continued on to Ellis Island. Here we disembarked and entered the Immigration Museum, where we stopped to watch a talk and documentary on the island, to get a feel for what it was all about while giving Tubb & Helen a chance to catch up to us. Fortunately they did in the end, and we got lunch together and explored the museum.
The museum showed us some very interesting stuff, as millions of people passed through Ellis Island to migrate into the United States, each with their own story. Ellis Island was the place where would-be immigrants were checked to ensure they complied with the immigration laws of the time, which were primarily aimed at keeping criminals and people with long-term illnesses which would require social care out of the country. Because of the sheer number of people passing through here, the process resembled that of a factory line, with horror stories of families being separated. Although the worst of the process seemed to occur before immigrants had even left their home countries, where they were processed by the steamship companies and transported in truly awful conditions. Makes us immeasurably appreciative of our own luxurious transport on the Queen Mary 2 which couldn't even begin to compare.
Despite the lengthy waiting for the return taxi, our evening was also quite fruitful, as we found another lovely restaurant to visit, quite a small quaint little place full of farmyard ornaments and artwork, and some pretty decent food to boot. After some decent entrees, Marius and Dad finished off the evening with some huge pieces of carrot cake and devil's chocolate cake, which I had to pass on as I was already pretty stuffed!
The title of this blog, by the way, is the actual name of the Statue of Liberty - just thought I'd throw in that little factoid!
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