Visit New York - Day Five

I checked out of my hotel at about 9am ($192 in charges for one breakfast, one dinner and six international phone calls!) and put my baggage in store before catching the subway to Battery Park. I bought my ticket for the Circle Line Ferry at Castle Clinton and went through their thorough airport-style security checks, before boarding the boat.

The views of Manhattan, New Jersey and Brooklyn behind us were amazing and the sight of Statue of Liberty towering above us was pretty awe-inspiring. On Liberty Island I took an audio tour around the base of Lady Liberty, but the quota of passes for inside the statue had already run out.

I reboarded the ferry and went to Ellis Island. From 1892 to 1954, this immigrant depot processed the greatest tide of incoming humanity in the nation’s history. Nearly twelve million landed here in their search of freedom of speech and religion, and for economic opportunity. After it closed the buildings began falling apart, but a $160 million restoration project, begun in 1984, saved them and they were reopened as the Ellis Island Immigration Museum in 1990.

I took another fascinating audio tour around the Immigration Museum, following the footsteps of the immigrants as they arrived in the USA. Upon arrival in New York City, ships would dock at the Hudson or East River piers and passengers were transported by ferry to Ellis Island where everyone would undergo a medical and legal inspection lasting approximately three to five hours.

The inspections took place in the Registry Room, where doctors would briefly scan every immigrant for obvious physical ailments. The ship's manifest log contained the immigrant's name and his/her answers to twenty-nine questions. This document was used by the legal inspectors at Ellis Island to cross examine the immigrant during the legal inspection. Here they also had to prove they had $25 so they would be less likely to become a public charge. If all inspections were passed, they could buy train tickets at the depot before being ferried back to New York City. The sick were taken to the Island's hospital and those excluded from entry into the USA were deported back to their country of origin.

Back in Manhattan I caught the subway to Lexington Avenue and popped into Bloomingdales on the way to 5th Avenue. Again I was unimpressed - it was just an average department store. Far more impressive was Tiffany & Co - I've never seen diamonds so sparkly! I only had time to briefly look around the ground floor and the Wedding, Engagement and Statement Jewellery collection, which contained some pretty blinging rocks! Nothing had a price tag - I assume the shop works on the basis of "if you have to ask what it costs, you can't afford it".

The Museum of Modern Art was founded in 1929 as an educational institution and is dedicated to being the foremost museum of modern art in the world. It manifests this commitment through a permanent collection reflecting the vitality, complexity, and unfolding patterns of modern and contemporary art. The collection includes Architecture & Design, Drawings, Film & Media, Painting & Sculpture, Photography and Prints & Illustrated Books.

I found a lot of the design stuff a bit dull, and the most contemporary stuff was very pretentious, so had I not been able to get in free on Wiley's culture card I would have thought it was a bit of a waste of money. However, it was cool to see some famous works by Klimt, Lichtenstein, Warhol, etc.

Lichtenstein - "Drowning Girl"

Warhol - "Marilyn"

Wesselmann - "Still Life #30"

Wyeth - "Christina's World"

Back on 5th Avenue I did a whistle-stop dash past the shops and sights, taking in glimpses of Bergdorf Goodman, Louis Vuitton, Prada, De Beers, Pucci, Trump Tower, Gucci, Fortunoff, Fendi, Cartier, Saks Fifth Avenue, The Rockefeller Center, Sephora and Lord & Taylor.

I arrived back at my hotel in time to catch the shuttlebus to JFK. My flight left at 9.30pm, I transferred at Frankfurt at 10.50am, and arrived at Manchester at 12.30pm. This time unfortunately I didn't have a row to myself so I got little sleep before we landed. My train was waiting for me at the airport station and I got back to Sheffield at about 2.30pm.

All in all, an amazing time, but a shame that I was on my own - I'm going to have to go back with the boy for a romantic break and with some girlfriends for a shopping and clubbing break!

See my New York photos here