New York City ~ Day 2

Serious wind.
Seriously freezing wind.
We left the hotel early to head for Battery Park to catch the ferry to the Statue of Liberty.
We had to leave all of our bags in a locker and went through airport type security.
This is a city that is very cautious.
Our monuments are protected...

Next, the climb to the top of Lady Liberty's crown.
What an amazing view!!

This was the September verse that my students memorized every year.

"Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips.

"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
  ~~Emma Lazarus

Next was a trip to Ellis Island...

This place feels holy...

I thought the mechanism to operate the transoms on the windows was amazing...

And finally...
our trip home on the subway.
We stepped on,
and we saw the car was filled with students.
They were all reading.
Quietly.
Books.
Not just comic books, as pictured here,
but all kinds of books.
Diana sat down in the one empty seat,
and the young boy next to her looked up and asked if I would like to sit.
I looked around.
Finally I saw a young lady, and when I asked her,
she told me that she and the young man who was standing next to her were their teachers.
The students were all sixth graders in a public school.
They take them on public transportation to a field trip three times a week to teach them skills.
How to be polite on the subway.
No pushing.
No crowding.
"Use your manners".
When they got off at their stop,
they were as quiet as I have ever heard sixth grade students.

~Nancy ~ 72/365