Absolutely gorgeous sunny day so off to catch the Staten Island ferry and vistas of the Statue of Liberty and Wall St. The SOL was a gift from the people of France, and has stood as an image of the US immigrant heritage since 1886.  Edouard de Laboulaye first proposed the idea of a monument for the United States.

Born on January 18, 1811 in Paris, France, Laboulaye was a prominent and important political thinker in his time, a leading expert on the U.S. Constitution, and an abolitionist and supporter of President Abraham Lincoln during the American Civil War. He believed whole-heartedly in the “common law of free peoples,” an ideal in which every person was born with an inalienable, sacred right to freedom.

When the Union won the Civil War, Laboulaye argued that honoring the United States would strengthen the cause for democracy in France. As the president of the French Anti-Slavery Society, Laboulaye believed that the passage of the 13th Amendment (abolishing slavery in the U.S., 1865) was a milestone and it proved that justice and liberty for all was Ten years later, with the help of friend and sculptor Auguste Bartholdi, Laboulaye turned his proposal into a reality. In September 1875, he announced the project and the formation of the Franco-American Union as its fundraising arm. With the announcement, the statue was given a name, Liberty Enlightening the World. The French people would finance the statue; the American people would be expected to pay for the pedestal.

Then a walk to the new One World Trade Centre and associated memorial site for 9-11. Very moving design for where the south tower once stood – a waterfall cascading into the depths, with those who died remembered around the rim. A single rose is planted in tribute to each person on their birthday next to their inscribed name – gorgeous!!  A visit to Chelsea Market, a food hall, shopping mall, office building and television production facility located in the Chelsea neighbourhood of Manhattan. Built in the former National Biscuit Company factory complex where the Oreo cookie was invented and produced, this complex fills two entire blocks.

After dining on oysters and clams, the High Line called….(also known as the High Line Park), a 1.45-mile-long (2.33 km) New York City linear park built on a section of a disused New York Central Railroad spur called the West Side Line. Inspired by a similar project in Paris completed in 1993, the High Line has been redesigned and planted as an aerial greenway and rails-to-trails park. New Yorkers believe the NY version is the best!! Of course!! The project has spurred real estate development in the neighborhoods which lie along the line. The park is extremely popular; as of September 2014, the park gets nearly 5 million visitors annually, me being one!! Absolutely lovely urban planning and design example.