I completed a repeat visit to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island since, on my trip a year previous, I was unable to give either of them the time they really deserved in the cold and rain. Albeit a bit warm and muggy, it was a beautiful day to spend between the two islands to do a bit of exploring. I climbed to the top of the Statue of Liberty crown, sweating like I was in the gym for hours, and wandered through the museum, taking my time to admire one of America's best symbols of freedom. But, despite not having any family come through its halls, I was more interested in revisiting Ellis Island.

I enjoyed listening to the Ellis Island audio tour and people watching, imaginging we were all immigrants having just arrived from the Old World; I toured the Registry Room, the first stop for immigrants after having dropped off their luggage, on the second level:



From there I went back down to the lower level and read through the exhibits in the Peopling of America exhibit, which is just behind the main entrance in what is known as the Baggage Room:



I'll need to go back another time to get more from both islands as I know there's so much that I missed, but time was running short and I really wanted to see a bit of downtown New York City as well. I have very vague childhood memories from there, as I do at the Statue of Liberty, and I wanted to wander the streets a bit to see what I could find.

No sooner did I start wandering than I came across the famous New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) bull. I loved the moment I first set eyes on him since it was a total surprise, having assumed he was located right out from of the NYSE instead of down on Broadway at Morris. I think I stopped at a bad time of day though as the crowds were hording all over him, making it quite impossible to get a picture of just the bull unless it was on an extreme close up. I sighed at my annoyance and decided to continue walking north along Broadway.

I hadn't anticipated any special route, and tried to avoid following the signs pointing to tourist attractions, being content in just wandering around downtown. With my head in the air admiring the towering buildings on the sunny day, I came upon Trinity Church, which many people now associate with what happened to the World Trade Center on September 11th. Services were in progress though, so I wandered off down Wall Street, having seen the street sign as I admired the church exterior.

Before I could go too far though, I was inexplicably pulled back in the direction I had just come; wandering through a concrete park lined with various food carts. The smell of hot dogs was definitely in the air. A man in a suit stood nearby talking on the phone as he shoved a dog in his mouth, and I couldn't help but wonder if he was in one of the buildings on September 11th, and what he did when the attacks happened. And as I looked around the park, seeing many other people in business attire, I wondered where they were when it all happened as well. I knew where I was, far away in Denver, but where were these people that now lived here? Were they in another city as well, safe, or did they live through the experience, perhaps even being in one of the two towers?

I was somber, walking with my head down contemplating the horrid day that changed the world, and came to a street corner where I noticed a massive construction site kitty corner to where I was standing. Without even knowing it, I had come upon the World Trade Center site that is now under construction.

I was walking down Liberty Street, on the south side of the construction, without taking my eyes off an empty spot in the New York skyline, when my inner silence was shattered by the sound of laughter. I looked over and saw a group of women, smiling and laughing, posing for a picture outside the Tribute WTC Visitor Center. It was a photo in front of a photo of the destruction, and they were laughing and smiling as though they were at Disneyland.

I turned to see a fire truck from the famous Ladder 10 Company pull into the house, and decided that I just couldn't be there and listen to the laughter of others at such a difficult site. On one hand, yes, I agree that people died on that day so others have the right to laugh and smile, no matter where it is, but on the other hand I found it disturbingly inappropriate. And so, without spending any more than five minutes on Liberty Street, I turned back towards Wall Street to head east through downtown.

Easily enough, I found the NYSE and admired the hustle and bustle that was taking place out front of it during the mid afternoon, reporters perched up on the steps of nearby buildings giving reports as tourists wandered at street level snapping photos. I paused briefly to snap a few photos, having recalled when my father took us through the stock exchange on a family vacation, but could only definitely recall my boredom as I sat in a musty-smelling room in orange-colored movie theater chairs that were used in the 1980s.

My jaunt through downtown continued east and ended at the South Street Sea Port area, people relaxing on the various bar patios watching World Cup matches. I was inclined to stop for a pint, or four, with them, but was interested in continuing on first to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge, and experience that I missed out on my last visit, and was just intent on completing as I was in revisiting Liberty and Ellis Islands.

The Brooklyn Bridge towers over the area, making it easy to find, so I followed it like a beacon. I paused, coming to the waterfront path that leads under it, and took a moment to take it all in; I was there looking at one of the most famous and iconic bridges in the world. I loved what I was seeing and wondered if I was sharing this moment with anyone else. I looked over my left shoulder and was greeted with, not another smiling face like mine, but a homeless man who obviously wasn't wearing any underwear as his testicles hung from his shorts and over the edge of the park bench he was sitting on as he messed with a small shattered window frame.

There was no doubt it was time for me to leave, so I snapped a couple of quick photos of the bridge before taking a walk under it:



I looked for a way to get up on the bridge so I could walk across and head over to Brooklyn for a bit, but I quickly gave up as my feet were become too tired from all of the walking I had done already that day. So, sadly, my walk across the Brooklyn Bridge would have to wait for another day. But at least I was able to overall do what I wanted on the day, and that was go back and further explore Liberty and Ellis Islands, take a bit of a trip down that old memory lane from a family vacation to New York City so long ago, and see the Brooklyn Bridge up close - although it would've been much better had it not been for the sun tanning nuts.

Yeah, I really could've passed on that experience.