Tom and Diana: East Coast Life

Well, its cold here. Never in my life have I wanted a full head stocking hat (the type where there are just holes for your eyes) until today. With the wind-chill making it 7 degrees here--we are pretty much hunkering down inside and watching the football games. Go Giants!
Yesterday it was cold as well, low 30's, and we ventured to Liberty State Park in Jersey City. The view of the city is THE BEST from Jersey City and I never get tired of it. You are literally right across a narrow part of the Hudson River and you feel so close to Manhattan.
In one part of the park you can stand exactly across from where the World Trade Center was. Think about the hundreds of people that were at the park that morning waiting to get to Ellis Island. They would have had a nauseatingly close look at the planes hitting the towers.

The main reason we went to Liberty State Park was to ferry over to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty (about a 6 min ride). You can see the statue from the park and I was interested in it much more than I thought I would be. It seems smaller though...
We bought our tickets for the ferry and waited--in the cold for what seemed like forever--before we decided to ditch this idea and vow to return when the the temp was above freezing. We couldn't even have gone in the statue anyway as it was already to capacity so that sealed the deal.

We went into Hoboken instead and had a great lunch. Hoboken and Jersey City are the "in place" to live these days for those who want to be close to the city but don't want the expense or craziness of the city. Many college grads from NY move here where rent is a bit cheaper and they still feel like they are in the city as its about a 5 min drive or they can ferry in. I LOVE the Brownstones here (and in NY) and have planted the seed with Tom that I would LOVE to live in a brownstone (which of course he already knew). Future visitors: don't get your hopes up, Tom is not interested in the city living. So--I am resigned to visit A LOT! :-) Good thing we are so close. This summer we plan to boat up here a bunch as there are plenty of slips.

Attached are some pics. Tom and I on our way into Liberty Park--out of service, historic NY train station of which we are standing on the tracks (city in the background); the 9/11 memorial in Jersey City of some battered and burnt steel from the collapse of the World Trade Center and the statue--from a distance.