Prior to this year, I'd been to New York twice and kind of lived there for a summer*, so I figured I had all the Must Sees covered. Because when it comes to going some place where half the experience is putting up with all the other slow-moving tourists, I always say one and done. Except for the High Line; I can't get enough of that park.
This time I came primarily to visit two particular friends who are both in their second year of medical school, i.e. crazy busy. And while I focused on newer and less popular attractions (the Cloisters, the Morbid Anatomy Museum, etc.), it quickly became apparent that no matter how much they wanted to partake in obscure NYC things, academics prevented them. Luckily, I tend to enjoy my own company.
On an overcast morning that kept one hand at the ready to grab an umbrella, I took the subway down to Battery Park, shouldered my way through the young men offering guidance to confused out-of-towners, and found my way to the ferry dock. Eschewing Liberty Island (the statue is overrated), I disembarked at Ellis Island. Whereas Angel Island feels more like sleepaway camp with its modest wooden buildings, Ellis Island's austere stone structures evoke an early twentieth century sanitarium.
A few photos below.
Main entrance.
Inside the registration room.
Departure.
More wanderings about the city here.
*Okay fine I lived in downtown Jersey City but I worked in Tribeca. That counts for something, right?