The Statue of Liberty! The iconic symbol for America.
Before I get to the good facts you should know the ferry ride over there was packed! People everywhere and so many people taking some good selfies. I took pictures of them because it was seriously entertaining.
One of my goals for this trip to New England was to continue learning and The Statue of Liberty provided the perfect opportunity. I had visited before but I didn't take the time to learn the history. This time our ticket purchase included an optional audio tour. I decided to take that audio tour and I'm so glad I did. The tour was about 30 minutes with an additional 15 minutes of history if you wanted more information.
The tour started at the back of the statue and walked you all the way around. Each little stop around the statue was 2 to 3 minutes of history. Like I mentioned before I feel like I learned a lot so I'm going to share some fun facts that I had no idea about. Maybe this is common knowledge to people but maybe it's not. Either way, I'm sharing it.
You can't see it but around Lady Liberty's feet are broken chains. It is symbolizing that she is breaking away from oppression and walking toward freedom
France! I think most people know France gave us the Statue of Liberty but what I didn't know is that France wasn't a free country when they gave us the Statue. They admired our freedom and hoped to one day have that for themselves.
The Statue of Liberty is facing Eastward, toward France, to symbolize hope that someday they might be free too.
The statue symbolizes freedom but when they dedicated the statue women weren't allowed to attend. How did the women react? Well they got in boats and protested around the statue during the dedication. I can't say I blame them because what an oxymoron!
The same man who designed the statue designed the Eiffel Tower.
France created the statue but America designed the pedestal.
The crown has 7 pieces and each one represents the 7 continents. By pieces, I mean the pokey things on the crown...what are those called? Someone help me out. =)
Last fact: I took entirely way too many pictures. I couldn't help myself but then when I went to edit them it was not fun. Lesson learned.
Did you know you can purchase tickets to go on the pedestal and tickets to go up into the crown? I think the crown would have been really neat. Tickets to visit Liberty Island can be purchased the day of but if you want to visit the pedestal or crown they must be booked in advance. All tickets for the ferry as well as pedestal and crown access can be purchased through State Cruises.
Along with seeing Lady Liberty you get some stunning views of New York City.
Did you learn anything new from the facts I shared?
If you have visited the Statue of Liberty what did you learn there?
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Over on my Facebook page I'm sharing some more pictures of NYC. If you click on the picture below it will take you to my page.
PS - A big congrats to Joy Chambers for winning the Chemex Coffee Giveaway. Check your e-mail =)
I had heard before that the same guy designed the Eiffel Tower and the Statue of Liberty, but I didn't know some of the other facts you mentioned! Interesting!
ReplyDeleteI had no idea the same guy designed the Eiffel Tower as well, so many interesting facts and beautiful pictures!
ReplyDeletelove it! i learned a lot :) i have taken the ferry ride past the island to see the statue, but never actually got to go on the island & see it up close!
ReplyDeletei did go to France a few years ago, and they have a sister statue in Paris that i got to see! how neat! :) they actually have a second smaller statue of liberty there also!
Great pictures! I love the black and white one of the statue from below. Very cool! You guys got to do so many fun things on your trip.
ReplyDeleteThose pictures are fabulous! I LOVED visiting the Statue of Liberty on our trip!
ReplyDeleteThanks a bunch. When did you get visit the Statue of Liberty? Did you do the audio tour by any chance?
ReplyDeleteThanks, I like the black and white too. We did do a lot of fun things. It was packed and busy but good.
ReplyDeleteThat's still really fun that you got to go on a ferry out by it. When did you do that?
ReplyDeleteI had no idea there was a sister statue in Paris. I wonder if we have a sister Eiffel Tower monument somewhere in the US?
Thanks, Kaelene. I had never heard of all of that either. I guess the designer also made The Statue look like his Mom. I thought that was fun too.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad I got to learn and pass it on. It was a really good learning experience.
ReplyDeleteNate and I went to DC and NYC this past spring. We definitely did the audio tour! It was so interesting to learn so much!
ReplyDeleteit was in 2010 when i took the ferry! my roommate and i drove up to NYC one weekend in college... a 14 hour drive! ha! oh to be young and have energy again!!
ReplyDeletehmm i wonder that too! i'm not sure!! i think the one in Paris was made at the same time as the one we have! kinda cool!!