Christmas Eve has arrived!
It’s our Lady Liberty‘s day!
It seems strange to me to have left it for the end of the holiday; but Lower Manhattan I didn’t know where to put it except when all the other museums were closed.
Tomorrow, Christmas Day, this attraction will also be closed, so today is perfect!
So, with our beautiful and old metro we went down to the tip of the peninsula, and with a lot of calm we took the ferry to Battery Park.
Battery Park and Lower Manhattan
The Statue of Liberty is located on Liberty Island, what fantasy eh?
To get there of course you have to take the ferry and you can do it from Battery Park which is located near Castle Clinton.
Here you can buy tickets, or pick them up in case you have booked them in advance (as we did and as I advise you to do to save yourself a long and certain queue).
We tick off another entrance, but now all well spent!
You have several options to choose from:
- General Admission: with this basic ticket you will have included the ferry + the entrance to the Statue of Liberty Museum and the possibility of walking around the pedestal + entrance to the Ellis Island Immigration Museum + the Audio Tour (which I recommend keeping in mind that it is very long-winded though).
- Pedestal Reserve: everything in the General Admission + entrance to the Pedestal
- Crown Reserve: everything in the Pedestal Reserve + entrance to the Crown of the Statue.
Obviously this is the most coveted ticket and also the most difficult to obtain.
If you want you will have to constantly check the site waiting for them to activate the button to book it.
The places are few and disappear immediately, so get strong and months before, try to grab the prize! - Ellis Island Hard Hat Tour: It’s exactly like the base ticket + a 60 min guided tour of the south side of Ellis Island.
For the occasion I put on the multicolored hat of Copenhagen; even if it’s a bit uncomfortable I had a lot of fun wandering around like that.
It really takes a lifetime to get to the statue!
Despite being Christmas Eve the pier is crowded with tourists who evidently had the same idea as us.
The Statue of Liberty or: “The freedom that illuminates the world”
After collecting the tickets you have to queue for the security check (which is very slow …); wait for the ferry to dock, for everyone to get off and for everyone to get on; in short, a ball.
All the stress that the crowds arouse in us is repaid immediately.
Seeing the city from the river and the statue so close is magnificent, its grandeur you can appreciate only if you go close.
The statue, including the base, is 93 meters high; understand well that if you look for it with your eyes from afar it does not arouse so much amazement.
But when you’re down there, imagine you’re an immigrant who’s been at sea for weeks and finally sees her, the ambassador of freedom…
But, though… let’s say you would have been as happy as the protagonists of the Titanic if you were sure that you were accepted to immigration, which is not at all simple.
Once on the island we take the audio guide and start wandering around the statue.
Unfortunately we do not have much time so we go shipped but without burning anything; I enjoyed it!
History Tips: In 1865 Edouard Laboulaye, a supporter of the Union in the American Civil War, said: “If a monument is to rise in the United States as a reminder of their independence, I must believe that it is natural to realize it with joint efforts – a joint work of our two nations: France and America. “
This commentary instilled the idea of a great sculpture in the young French Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi.
Edouard thought of using Bartholdi’s idea to build a large lighthouse in the shape of an Egyptian commoner holding a torch at the entrance to the Suez Canal.
The project was never realized, but during his research Bartholdi deepened the construction of statues with copper plates.
Finally, in 1886, Bartholdi and Eiffel managed to make Lady Liberty.
“Keep yourselves, O ancient lands, your vain pomp – she [la statua] cries out with silent lips – Give me your tired, your poor, your cold masses eager to breathe free, the miserable waste of your crowded coasts. Send me them, the homeless, the shaken by the storms and I will lift my torch by the golden door.”
(The New Colossus- Emma Lazarus)
This incredible engineering work is made with an internal steel lattice structure, externally covered with 300 shaped and riveted copper sheets .
It depicts the goddess Ragione, with a beautiful finely shaped toga, holding a torch (symbol of the eternal fire of freedom) in the right and a table with the date of the Declaration of Independence in the left.
At the feet there are broken chains, a symbol of liberation from the power of the despotic sovereign.
He wears a seven-pointed crown representing the seven seas and seven continents.
Inside the museum of the island there is the original torch, which was replaced in 1984 on the occasion of the 100th anniversary; it was corroded and the new one is gold plated!
All tickets purchased also include a ferry stop at Ellis Island, where the Immigration Museum is located.
The Immigration Museum on Ellis Island
The museum is really well done and I recommend you to spend a whole day between the Statue and here.
Millions of Americans can say they have ancestors who passed through the structures of Ellis Island.
Religious persecution, political conflicts, unemployment, the desire for adventure, the search for relatives: these are some of the reasons that gave rise to the largest migration in modern history.
On Ellis Island it all began in 1892 when the first building to welcome migrants was built.
Unfortunately this first building burned down in 1897 and many documents were lost; in 1900 they built a new one, the current one (with a fireproof roof this time!) in Fancese Renaissance style.
As the migrants entered the building, the doctors were ready to check for contagious diseases; they looked at the eyes, the throat and if for example you had tuberculosis or trachoma you were sent home.
It is estimated that the medical inspection lasted about 6 seconds per person, and if symptoms were present you were marked and sent for further medical examinations.
If the disease was of rapid healing you were kept in the hospital area for the necessary period and then you could enter.
The icy welcome at the Great Hall
The most important and iconic room is undoubtedly the Great Hall (the Recording Room) where inspectors asked immigrants: name, city of origin, occupation, destination and how much money they brought with them; in total there were 31 questions!
They also checked your criminal record, if you were a criminal you couldn’t get in.
But do not enter even if you were a mentally retarded or an unmarried and unaccompanied woman; in short, it was not easy at all.
We saw some of the tests they did to check the elementary logical skills, the writing tests to see if you knew English and if you knew how to translate.
After passing these checks, the migrants could finally change their money, buy supplies and the train ticket.
“An immigrant is someone who has lost nothing, because where he lived he had nothing. His only motivation is to survive a little better than before.”
(Jean Claude Izzo)
In the museum there are many registers where the names of immigrants with the work for which they were intended are found and where.
It was much easier to enter if you already had an employment contract and knowledge in the country.
About a third of the migrants remained in New York, the rest sought their fortune even further away.
While 20% were detained for medical examinations or legal reasons, 2% were denied the “American dream”.
Continuing you will find the old passports, even of some Italians; many images of work and various posters in two languages.
The Ellis Island building was finally closed in 1954.
Between 1901 and 1910, 8.8 million immigrants arrived in the United States, of whom 6 million were checked on Ellis Island.
At the end of our tour of this important chapter of New York (and American) history I put the photo of a very disturbing Teddy Bear, who belonged to an immigrant named Gertrud.
Gertrud Schneider received his from his uncle after his porcelain doll broke.
Morris and Rose Michtom (from Brooklyn) were the creators of these cartoon-inspired puppets.
The cartoon depicted the President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt, refusing to shoot a teddy bear during a hunting trip.
The couple obtained permission from the president to use his nickname “Teddy” for their teddy bears.
Finally you eat at Burger Joint, but shhhhh… it’s a secret!
After Ellis Island we return to Manhattan, and the stomach is felt.
It’s time to look for the Burger Joint, one of the “secret” restaurants in the city.
But “secret” in what sense?
This tiny restaurant has the particularity of having the entrance (hidden) in the lobby of a luxurious hotel.
Hidden behind a red curtain and in contrast to the marble hotel, we find 6 tables and wooden walls completely full of writings.
These few “survivors”, now frequented by tourists for their eccentricity, tell us something about New York’s past.
In the era of Prohibition (1920-1933) spoken villages developed, pubs and hidden restaurants where to enter it was necessary to know the exact location and passwords.
Alcohol was needed here when even its transport was forbidden throughout America.
Here are some of them:
- at Apotheke you have to book by email, in this way you will receive a password to use on arrival;
- The Back Room is located behind a toy store and drinks are served just like in the twenties, inside tea cups and with bottles hidden by the famous cardboard bags;
- please Don’t Tell will only be found if you enter the Crif Dogs fast food restaurant (in the East Village). But that’s not enough, you will have to go to the bottom of the room where there is a telephone booth, pick up the phone and press 1!
Magically it will open the door for you.
We had a good half hour queue with a bit of excitement given by not knowing what to expect, in fact I had not found images of the interior so we went completely blind.
Although the costs are not contained (as well as nothing in this damn city) we ate a good burger with meat cooked well and tasty chips, in the company of 90s music and posters of friends and movies of the same period.
I’m coming Santa!!!!
After the original lunch we go to Macy’s.
I booked our visit as a Santa (short for Santa Claus, ie Santa Claus) and this, I would like to emphasize VERY IMPORTANT, appointment is what has conditioned a bit ‘all the tour of this Christmas Eve.
It’s an absurd thing I know, I’m 25 years old, from Santa Claus go there children who believe that he is really there in a New York shopping center just for them.
However, after having seen the children sit on the lap of a fake Santa Claus countless times, I want to do it too!
Over time I have learned that I do not care if one thing: it is commercial, if everyone does it, if it does not make sense, if it is fake; if I want to do it, I do it.
There is no common philosophy of how to deal with a holiday; there is only our, personal, choice of how to appreciate it to the fullest.
Unfortunately I had not considered a detail; New York is full of kids who want to go to Santa Claus on Christmas Eve!
Let’s do more than an hour in a row, a little ‘sorry to have dragged Matthew into this madness poor!
On the other hand, we took the whole holiday in the name of tranquility, so even this time, heart in peace and we queue with the enthusiastic children (some more or less) and with the sempathetic elves who show us the way.
Santa Claus Village
After about forty minutes of external row we enter the real Village of Santa, where an equally long line awaits us.
This time, however, we walk inside an area all decorated; we enter from the train after Mrs. Claus (also called Mary Christmas) welcomes us with a warm welcome.
From the train we pass to a forest, with elves sculpting toys and some animals with mechanical movements, such as seals and polar bears.
I did it! I took the picture with a Santa a little surprised to see two adults.
Matteo, however, has ruined everything uffa!
At a certain point he tells me that there is not only one Saint but there are many, all behind various panels so as not to make it clear to the children.
It ruined the magic!
Well, I still manage to have my nostalgia moment when Santa asks me what I want for Christmas.
I tell him that I would like Matthew to marry me; he then passes to Matthew and asks him why he does not want to marry me.
Matthew replies that he does not know!
I laugh so much to see him scolded by an elf and by Santa Claus himself.
Return to Lower Manhattan: The Bull of Wall Street
We decide to end the day with a walk through the neighborhoods of TriBeCa and Wall Street.
Right next to the Battery Park, seen this morning, is the Hugh L. Carey Tunnel Ventilation Building; name that I think won’t tell you anything.
But if you take a look at the photo, the most nerdy among you I think it will take less than a second to realize that this is the façade of the Man in Black headquarters!
A few steps further we find the famous Charging Bull, the undisputed symbol of Wall Street.
The Bull of Wall Street, made by Arturo di Modica (Italian sculptor naturalized American, who died in 2021) caused a sensation because, on December 16, 1989, the Wall Street Stock Exchange woke up with this cute bull in the street.
Arturo had installed it without asking permission from anyone and had made it at his own expense (about $ 360,000!).
Taurus symbolizes the strength, power, and hope of the American people for the future that had allowed America to recover after the 1987 financial crisis.
But how did Arturo “stealthily” place a 3.2-ton bronze sculpture?
Well, this story is funny!
The day before the “blow” he went to make an inspection; he observed that the police passed in the area where they intended to place the sculpture every 5-6 minutes.
He then had to arrive, place the sculpture and escape in about 4 minutes!
Everything was ready, Arturo would have transported the bull with a truck with the platform.
The next day, however, he found a surprise, the city had put a Christmas tree right where he had to leave the bull!
Well, Arturo did not despair, he left the bull under the tree, right where a Christmas gift should be.
Wall Street and the Oculus
Greeting the bull we try to enter the Cunard Building (because I saw online that it has spectacular interiors).
Unfortunately it is already closed, we tried again another time but without the tickets of what seems to be a private exhibition you can not enter.
Then tell him right away that if he can’t see I’m Cunard!
We move to the area of the Wall Street buildings and try to understand if we can enter to visit the Trinity Church.
After a handful of conflicting information the only way was to queue for about two hours in view of the Christmas mass at 9, even not in short, but there are people who are already lining up!
Absurd (for me eh).
A bit disappointed that two things I planned went to the next stage, Ground Zero, were skipped.
Two black holes where the Twin Towers once stood, and really, I didn’t think it would touch me so much.
Really be there, and touch those hundreds of names engraved on the parapets and backlit; feel the slow dripping of water falling and being sucked into these bottomless cesspools; and to think of all those lives, perhaps cut short by their own country, is intense.
The term “Ground Zero” initially referred to the terrestrial-marine zone, perpendicular to the epicenter of an atomic explosion.
After the events of September 11, 2001 it was used for this place.
Then turn the corner and you find yourself at the Oculus of Calatrava.
A kind of skeletal white gull that is a metro station, but also an architectural work.
Inside I rode a white speedy cloud!
Inaugurated in 2016, this construction was also commissioned after the events of 2001, to redevelop another place, the scene of a tragedy.
Its plan is elliptical, as well as the vault; marked by a long window that brings a lot of light inside the station and is a reinterpretation of the photo present in the Roman Pantheon.
There is no lack of criticism as the final cost of the work, 3.9 billion dollars, was twice as much as budgeted.
We also pass by the City Hall of NY which, however, is nothing compared to that of Philly that we saw only yesterday.
Perhaps it would have made more if it had not been surrounded by immense skyscrapers in comparison to which it looked like a dollhouse.
Go Go Go Go!!!
But the real end of the day is yet to come, we miss dinner!
And so our Christmas Eve dinner is crowned by the fantastic, legendary, mythical, let’s put all the adjectives of this world ….Sandwich with Pastrami from Katz’s Delicatessen!
After hearing about pastrami a million times from Joey in Friends, I couldn’t leave the city without tasting it.
I believe that taking it there was the best choice of the whole trip, it is divine.
We paid 22$ but you can eat quietly in two.
We arrived not too far from closing, for a hair they did not let us in.
Slingshot into the gigantic room, with at least 4 or 5 lines of people preparing food, a bit like a canteen, I look at the sign that hangs from above and shows you the table where Sally pretends to have an orgasm in “Harry I introduce you to Sally”.
But the thing we will never forget, besides the sandwich, is the guy who screams like a crazy GO GO GO GO GO!
Slamming the knife on the counter, he evidently wants to go home, I think he has every reason. After seeing the prices we are a little scared, and when we see the huge piece of meat that is cutting we expect him to put some in the sandwich and off we go.
Instead he puts it all in!
It’s incredible, our faces are more than amazed and I get watery just writing about that moment.
At that, beautiful happy and with the expectation of a dinner as gentlemen in the hotel, we walk towards the hotel. In our small room Matteo devours his part, I am a little tired so I eat a few slices and keep the rest for tomorrow’s lunch.
A Christmas dinner worth remembering!
Goodnight pastrami mine!
History Tips: like many dishes of the cuisine served in America, even the pastrami was not invented here.
Its origins are European, to be precise of the Middle Eastern and Turkish countryside.
Later it became a gastronomic specialty of Romania and a typical dish of Jewish cuisine.
With the emigration of Jews to America in the early twentieth century, pastrami spread especially here in New York.
It is made using a cut called “brisket” that is the chest; it is pickled even for a whole day and then smoked and steamed.
In short, it is a dish that requires extreme care in the preparation.
If you do not know where we started and where we will end, click below!
