Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free

Today I went out to liberty and Elise islands. This is truly one of those must do before you die trips. The Americans really do not have any sense of irony here and that is really easy to come over to that way of thinking (although I did could heat the Simpsons going in my brain whenever they mention that famous verse, which was often). Anyway the view of lower Manhattan is truly exceptional and it was such a lovely day it would have been worth it just for the trip on the harbor. But there is such a lot more than that, it is one of those places you go that you know it is actually impossible to take a photo that no one has taken before, but even so you do feel the need to take lots and lots of photos (while I’m on this why do people need to take photos of themselves in front of the great views of the world come on people we know you where hear this is simply the photo equivalent of the ‘ I waz here’ scribbling on the wall)

I got to go up the statue which is a pinch yourselves type moment there are moments when you have seen something literally a million times and then you found yourself there, I must say in this case yes it does actually live up to the hype. The symbolism of the place might not be totally lived up to by America (or France for that matter) but at least it set such a high ideal which is better than not having them. Americans tend to think that they contain the biggest and the best of everything. They call this the most powerful symbol in the world, my first though was ‘come on’ then I thought this though and really not sure I can disagree.

You then take a boat over to Elise island, which is where most American immigrants arrived during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. The most sticking thing here is the overriding belief in the American dream, that coming to America made life better for all from the problems from the old world. There was an acknowledgment of the trials of new immigrants including economic issues and the problems from people like the KKK. Even given this you really get the felling that these people were coming to a better life at least for their children. I have seen similar presentations in New Zealand and even Australia but the national confidence here is truly something to behold.