Exploring Lower Manhattan, New York, New York

In 2021, when we visited the world’s tallest statue - the Statue of Unity in Gujarat, India - Yuven expressed his wish to see the Statue of Liberty someday. We never thought that wish would come true so soon, but here we were, ready to make it happen! He was super excited to visit Liberty Island, although I initially tried to convince him to just take a ferry ride and admire it from a distance. Eventually, we ended up visiting the island itself - and I’m glad we did.

After reading tips on several Facebook groups, I suggested to Mihir that we take the first ferry of the day to beat the crowd. We were a bit hesitant to book for Sunday, but pedestal-level early slots were available only on that day out of the six days of our visit, so we booked about three weeks in advance. You can also buy general entry tickets directly at Castle Clinton, but beware - there are many scammers in the area, so it’s best to purchase tickets online. If you want to visit the Crown, you’ll need to book at least six months in advance, as those tickets are limited and sell out quickly.

To arrive on time, instead of relying on public transport, we took a cab to Battery Park - the departure point for ferries to Liberty and Ellis Islands. We arrived at Battery Park around 8:15 a.m. for our 9:15 a.m. ferry. The park had clear signage directing visitors to the correct path. After ticket verification (pedestal and crown entries have separate lines from general admission), we went through an airport-style security check, which took just five minutes. Then, we joined the ferry boarding queue, with only about 30 people ahead of us. Within half an hour, over 200 people had lined up behind us! ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).