When we moved from rural New Hampshire to the Greater New York City area about a month ago, the idea of taking the kids into the city seemed a bit daunting.  But despite this, I’ve been determined to play tour guide to our four kids – ages 1, 2, 12, and 13 – to help them settle in and realize that the city really isn’t so scary after all.  After taking the kids into the city on two separate trips, I have to say that it seems as though it’s helped.  In fact, I think the older kids are actually beginning to enjoy their new home.  The exciting opportunities and many places for kids to visit in NYC make it hard to be homesick. 

Two weeks ago, we checked out the Statue of Liberty.  If you live west of Manhattan, do yourself a favor: take the ferry boat from Liberty State Park in Jersey City, NJ.  The ferry makes the same stops and costs the same as the Battery Park, NY ferry, but has about half as many people on it. 

Wherever you decide to depart from, make sure you pre-order your tickets online. That will save you a lot of time and disappointment during the busy summer months and throughout the upcoming renovations that begin in October, 2011. 

There are three different options:

- The “Reserve” ticket allows you to visit Ellis Island and the grounds of Liberty Island for $13 per adult (kids under four are free, ages 4-12 are $5, and adults over 62 are $10). 

- If you’re feeling adventurous, you may want to opt for the “Reserve Crown” ticket.  For $16 per adult (kids under four are free, $13 for seniors, $8 for kids 4-12), you can add a trip up 300+ stairs to the top of Lady Liberty’s crown. 

- There is also a “Reserve Pedestal” option which lets you take the elevator up to the pedestal and peruse the museum.  These tickets are $13 for adults ($10 for seniors, $5 kids 5-12).

*Adding the audio tour to any of the tickets options above will add another $7-$8 per person. 

Since we were bringing babies in a stroller, going during a busy weekend (Fourth of July), and visiting on a hot day, we decided to opt for Reserve ticket.  We booked a 9:00 AM passage and easily found our way to the ferry terminal, paid $7 to park, and then walked about ten minutes to the pier for departure.  Once there, we had to go through airport-type screening.  They even made us remove the babies out of the stroller and send it through the x-ray machine, so plan on arriving about an hour early to make sure you give yourself enough time to get through the parking lot and security.

Our ride for the day!

Once we got on the boat, we stayed on the bottom deck (stairs lead up to a top deck) and tried to grab one of the few available seats for the 20 minute ride to Ellis Island.  At Ellis Island, we disembarked and spent about an hour strolling around the former processing center turned Immigration Museum.  Admission to the museum is free, but there is an addition cost for audio tours or to research your family heritage.   

When you enter the Immigration Museum, a huge display of suitcases greets you.  Sadly, it reminded me of a similar display I saw at a Holocaust museum in Germany.  I’m not sure what the effect was supposed to be at Ellis Island, but I’m quite sure that wasn’t it. 

The museum offered a movie about the immigrant experience at Ellis Island that was about 45 minutes long and ran every hour.  We skipped it but plan on checking it out in the future.  Instead, we strolled through the processing center and checked out the many different exhibits.  The kids weren’t especially interested in most of these exhibits, but my personal favorite was “The Things They Brought With Them” – an exhibit which showcased different families from all over the world and the items they brought with them to their new homeland.  With such little space to bring their stuff, I was very interested to see what they cherished most.  Musical instruments, costumes, photographs, and religious icons were the most frequently seen items. 

There are shuttles every 20 minutes to Liberty Island, so when we were done, we hopped on the ferry and headed over the check out the Statue of Liberty.  From the boat, she’s impressive on approach.  In person, even more so!

Once we disembarked, we decided to grab an early lunch since there is nothing worse than a group of hungry, hot, and tired kids (or adults!).  We expected the choices on Liberty Island to be few, expensive, and not very good.  We were wrong!  The food wasn’t gourmet by any stretch of the imagination, but the selection of food ranged from salads to cheeseburgers to the ubiquitous chicken nuggets, and prices were relatively reasonable.  We paid about $45 for lunch.  We figured the view alone was worth it.

Once fed, we walked around the island, taking pictures and marveling at the line to get into the Statue of Liberty.  Another security line awaited guests there and it seemed to take about 20-30 minutes for ticketholders to pass through.  It was pleasant just touring the island, listening to the music from a live Dixieland band and learning about the statue from the various plaques scattered about.  Next time, I’ll go alone with the older kids in a cooler month and go to the crown!

Lady Liberty!

When we were done, we waited for the ferry to take us back to Jersey City.  Since the ferry runs about every 40 minutes, we didn’t have to wait long.  We decided to take a peek in the gift shop but it was so crowded we couldn’t get through it.  We headed back to pier and almost got on the ferry going to Battery Park by accident! 

Back in New Jersey, we had planned to check out the Liberty State Park Science Center, but we were too exhausted to even think about it!  I guess we’ll have to save that for the next trip we take with the kids into the city!

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