Monday 8th October

We left for SFO airport around 8am. We arrived and checked in our luggage and had some breakfast. It turns out our flight was delayed by an hour, however it went fairly quick. I watched Molly’s Game and Coco on the plane. We checked into our hotel, showered in the most amazing shower and headed to bed. Luckily we managed to get to sleep okay as we were three hours ahead of San Francisco.

Tuesday 9th October

Getting up however was a different story. We pulled ourselves out for breakfast around 8.30 and made our way out to explore. We began by getting a taxi to Battery Park, we then got the Staten Ferry across to Manhattan. This was free and had great views of the Statue of Liberty. It was extremely misty. So you couldn’t see all the high rise buildings but it was great all the same. After being approached about a $35 pp boat trip to the island, we were glad we took the free option.

The Statue of Liberty was really great, just as you see in all the pictures. A bright teal green statue made from copper which is 2.5mm thick, the same as two American pennies placed together. The internal structure is comprised of cast iron and stainless steel. The Statue’s copper has naturally oxidized to form the outer patina, or green, coating. Upon completion in 1886, the Statue of Liberty was more of a traditional brown color, like an American penny. It took about thirty years for the Statue of Liberty to fully oxidize and form the patina.

The Statue is 305 feet, 1 inch (about 93m) from the ground to the tip of the flame. It is the equivalent height of a 22-story building and was the tallest structure in New York in 1886.

The Statue’s current torch, added in 1986, is a copper flame covered in 24K gold. It is reflective of the sun’s rays in daytime and lighted by floodlights at night. The original torch was removed in 1984 and is now a display piece inside the Pedestal lobby. I thought the torch was lit with an LED or something so to find out it’s actually covered in 24k gold is very impressive.

The torch is a symbol of enlightenment. The Statue’s official name represents its most important symbol, “Liberty Enlightening the World.”

Classical images of Liberty are often depicted in a female form. The Statue of Liberty was modeled after the Roman Goddess of Liberty.

The tablet in the Statue’s left hand has the date of American Independence: July 4, 1776. The date is written in Roman numerals and reads July IV MDCCLXXVI.

We then took a short walk to the 9/11 memorial museum. This was a beautifully poignant tribute to the victims lost in the disaster. We looked at the South and North Pool and went into the museum.

I found myself with tears in my eyes and found it hard to believe the anguish that the people of America must have felt that day. The photographs taken fascinated me, and the remnants of the attack from the busted steel girders, to the aeroplane seatbelt really hit hard.

It made me angry, at the people who think it’s okay to take away the lives of innocent people, who have families or are someone’s family. It was beautifully set out and displayed. The fountains outside, represent the tears lost, and each of the lives lost had their names engraved. With a white rose placed on a name on their birthdays. We saw a few roses, and this was incredibly sad.

Afterwards, we wondered through Westfield, then caught the subway to the Highline. This was the first time we used the subway and it was a success. I managed to navigate us all the way their – women can read maps after all!

The Highline had some amazing street art and views of the city with the most gorgeous sunset. I really enjoyed this, a must see.

We couldn’t come to New York and not try a burger, so hunted out a good place to go. We headed back towards our hotel and stopped for dinner at Bar Sardine. We had their Fedora Burger, named after their sister restaurant Fedora. I loved the atmosphere in this place, sat by the open windows with the gentle breeze cooling us down. The burger was out of this world.

We practically rolled back to our hotel. After over 17,000 steps I was well and truly broken. My bed was officially calling.