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I'm sure if we rewound time one hundred years people would find modern movements of people very odd. Previously, people would be desperate to escape Alcatraz, and hope never to be sent to Australia. Now there queues to go to both those places, and Ellis and Liberty Islands, off New York City are no different - with queues approaching two hours for the ferry. In the time of mass immigration from Europe, migrants would arrive first at Ellis Island where their fate was decided.
After the long queue, I'm on the way to Liberty Island. The green colossus is very impressive as it casts its imposing figure over the bay, and it is easy to see how she came to be regarded as a symbol of the city, hope and liberty. The weather today is stunning so there are magnificent views back over the New York skyline. I'm unable to go into the statue as the tickets had sold out, but I'm not the only one to be disappointed. In a transparent suggestions box I read: "Please build a boy statue and let people even if they don't have tickets."
The Rockefeller Centre is known well to pretty much every student in the UK even if they don't know it. At some stage many will have had the infamous poster of the construction workers smoking on a girder high above the city floor hanging on their wall. It was taken during the building of the Rockefeller during the depression of the 1930s. Now home to General Electric and NBC, the Rockefeller has an iconic design with blocks of the skyscraper overhanging the main structure. The 'Top of the Rock' offers great views over the city including its most famous tower - The Empire State Building.
Later in the day I'm on the way up that very tower. Located in midtown it is surrounded by more office space per square metre than anywhere else on the planet. The view from the top is majestic, with the city seeming to go on forever. The Financial District sits imposingly in the background, with Central Park like a black hole in the near distance. Times Square is obscured by the surrounding skyscrapers but its blinding light projects high into the night sky.
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