NYC - Statue of Liberty

I had wanted to go to Ellis island in addition to the boat trip to Statue of Liberty. But too bad, the long wait to buy the tickets took away 1 hour. And then another frustrating 1 hour to queue up for security check wiped out my hopes of going to the island.

Everywhere we go, there are so many security checkpoints. Other than the airports, we faced a lot of these checks at the many attraction spots. I can only say, its messy. WF commented that they do these everyday, why can't they "perfect" the queuing system?. Its so messy that everybody don't know where to queue and there, you eventually run into a confusion. And these loud mouth New Yorkers will just yell at anybody everywhere to get in line. Hell, where does the line starts anyway. Ask him, you won't get an answer because he doesn't know it himself. That's how frustrating (or idiotic?) it can be.

Fyi, when I meant security checks, its really security checks. Take off your shoes, take off your belts, take off your coat etc. I cannot imagine how tedious it will be during winter time. And I wonder if those officers seated behind the screen are really checking? Because most of the time, I see an obese person sitting on an almost breaking swivel chair, chewing a gum or worse, talking with another colleague.

Enough of complaints (yah, this trip, WF had so many compalaints about the people and system that towards the last day, we were dying to leave). Some information about Statue of Liberty:
- Its not entirely a gift from France. The Americans had to raise money to build the pedestal and the assembly works.
- If you've watched National Treasures: Book of Secrets (I watched this on the flight), Laboulaye was mentioned. He was guy who decided to sent America a gift that signifies freedom.
- Bartholdi was the guy who designed it. Eiffel, the guy who designed and built Eiffel Tower in Paris, came up with the interior structure to hold the statue.
- Pulitzer, a newspaper mogul at that time (and linked to the Pulitzer Book Prize), help raise funds in NY to build the pedestal.
- Emma Lazarus wrote a poem with reference to the statue.
- Due to security reasons, you can climb up the statue anymore. The highest point you can go is the pedestal. And there are limited number of tickets give out each day.