5/27 New York Harbor and Lady Liberty

We left Great Kills Harbor and headed under the Verrazano Narrows bridge to cross into New York Harbor. 

Boats were everywhere, ferries, tankers, sightseeing boats, etc.  The most exciting part of the day was to cross in front of the Statue of Liberty.  John and I took our pictures. 

We then passed Ellis Island.  My family passed through Ellis Island as they immigrated to America.  I have copies of the Ellis Island paperwork that shows my grandmother and my aunt and uncle were on the boat and to be picked up by my grandfather who would come from Boston.  My dad was later born in this country.

New York Harbor was particularly busy because of fleet week and the upcoming Memorial Day.  Here is one of the many Staten Island Ferries.  I did not know they are free. 

We saw an Osprey Helicopter as it passed over the Statue of Liberty too.

Cruises out to the Statue of Liberty leave from the New Jersey side and the Manhattan side crisscrossing the harbor.  Here is one with the Manhattan skyline in the background.

Seeing the new One World Trade Center towering of Manhattan was another moving moment.  The angles make it a very visually interesting structure.

Here we passed the USS Intrepid.  Beside the Intrepid is the building that houses one of the NASA space shuttles.  Also one of the fleet week boats was docked nearby.

On the Jersey side, the old Erie Lackawanna train station serves Path trains and commuter boats nowadays.

One site on the Jersey shore was Troy Towers, my sister and her husband, and my nephew, George who works in New York City both have apartments there.  It is a quick bus and train ride into the city from there.

Under the George Washington Bridge we went to leave New York Harbor behind and enter the Hudson.

 The terrain changes dramatically as the Palisades tower on Jersey side.  The picture below does not do it justice as the wisteria was in full bloom and the lilac color was spectacular.

We cruised up the river with Croton on Hudson as our destination.  In no time, we were passing under the Tappan Zee bridge where they are building a new double span across the Hudson.

The Tarrytown light welcomed us north.

We entered Half Moon Bay where my sister, Barb, was delivered by her husband George, to spend a few days with us.  We will take her home to Poughkeepsie by boat.  We had a lovely dinner, thanks to George.  And welcomed Barb aboard.