Decided to behave like a proper tourist yesterday with a trip on the ferry to see the Statue of Liberty and visit the immigrant museum at Ellis Island - what I hadn't bargained for was being treated like a suspected terrorist. Having purchased my ticket for the trip - sadly no tickets that would allow me to climb 340 steps to the crown of her head, oh dear how sad never mind, are you mad it's 90 degrees. I guess the taste of things to come was advertised neatly enough with the warning sign pictured. Now guns and pepper spray I can kind of understand, and explosives well yes - but cool boxes? Are the US government so hard up they have to make sure that all visitors eat in the venue canteen?
We are lead ushered into the security check queue, which snakes its way into a tented area, whereupon all metal items must be placed in a tray, coins watches, cameras, etc etc. Belts removed always gets me - I mean do they do that so that suspects can't run away without losing their pants?
Anyway having proved none of the party are carrying anything they shouldn´t and we are not posing a threat, we are allowed to board the ferry and take a pleasant breezy trip to Liberty. Once there we decide not to alight, on seeing the queues to get back on board to go to Ellis, but instead remain and head to the former immigration centre.
Once inside my eye is taken by a large pink BARBIE sign. (no opportunity for cross-selling missed here) 'Explore your heritage through Barbie' it proclaims - heaven forbid my heritage is in the slightest way connected to that pink plastic partner of Ken!
We collect our tickets fort the film show and duly arrive in cinema 1 to be informed of the basics of the history and the purpose of the centre by a no frills park warden. The film begins, but unfortunately only the sound and a very small percentage of the screen is working, as for some reason there's a clipboard in front of the projection inside the booth. I would be happy to just listen to the commentary, alas the 'locals' can't do this and start to get up to leave, talk loudly and generally behave like spoilt Barbies. After about five mins only foreign visitors remain, the problem is sorted, the film re-started, and an appreciation of the trials and tribulations of the early settlers to America imparted.
On return to Manhattan on the ferry, the first person that greets us is a street vendor, selling 'Obama Condoms', well you just have to smile, if only the parents of the hoodlums working in the security check area had used them eh.
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