New York City Girl at Heart: One of my favorites places to visit...The Statue of Liberty

In my book one of the absolute MUST SEE things in New York City is The Statue of Liberty!!!!! It is the very first thing I saw on my first trip to NYC and I will never forget it! We have been there each trip to date and have been fortunate to have crown access 2 of those times.

A few tips for visiting..... we went online each time and bought our tickets in advance from www.statuecruises.com. This way we had our tickets in advance but the bigger bonus was that you get to go to the front of the security lines. This could potentially save a whole lot of time depending when you go. The lines can be crazy long! Which another tip is GO EARLY!!!!! It's less crowded, and the nice part is when you are finished you can be on your way and wander off into NYC! If you have reservations for the afternoon you have that time hanging over your head that you have to get there by and always need to know how to get from your location to Battery Park or Liberty State Park in NJ. We left out of Battery Park each time so that is all I am personally familiar with. There are lockers for your use once you get to the island but again there are a limited number and during busier times you may not gain access to one.

The statue is currently under a year long renovation which includes making the statue more accessible to visitors. That's great news!!!! When we were there it was limited to 240 visitors to the crown per day. Tickets booked up months upon months in advance. But what an experience it was! There were 2 very tight spiral staircases - one going up and one coming down - and up top was a platform where you could look out the "windows" in her crown. It was quite an experience! Once you descended you could go in to the museum located in the base of the statue. Definitely recommend spending a little time here, lots of interesting information. The grounds are so pretty and it's a great walk around the island. And the trip would of course not be complete without a trip to the gift shop! =) If you want a fun picture of yourself in a foam "crown" visit the gift shop prior to walking the grounds or the snack counter on the ferry sells them too if I remember correct.

If you don't have the time to actually go out to visit the island - you can get a great view and nice photos by taking a free trip on the Staten Island Ferry. We have done this and it's a neat little ride in itself. It takes about 25 minutes each way, you can de-board and make a loop and re-board the same ferry and head right back if you wish (that's what we did) and did I mention it's free??