During the holiday I regret taking a trip to the Statue of Liberty with the kids. I regret the trip because the security precautions to see the statue and the restrictions on not being able to climb the statue are so disheaterning that the whole expereince is very negative. I could remember the days of climbing to the crown and being free to expereince the statue. The bomb sniffing macines make Liberty Island the only place in NY Harbor where the nuclear weapon which will be destroy us will not be set off from, that is for sure. Regardless - here are some Statue of Liberty Coins This one is a 3 dollar "coin" made from the machine on the spot. Its actually quite nice I wonder what the copper value is. Not this is the 20 dollar Chinese Medal from the shop. Seems far shot of the $3 dollar vesions. It even looks like a Chinese knockoff or an original! BTW here is a reference from the US Mint http://www.mrbrklyn.com/coins/dsc00006.jpg http://www.mrbrklyn.com/coins/dsc00009.jpg Anyone interested in the family photo's you can see them here Aviva took the majority of the photos http://www.mrbrklyn.com/images/statue_of_liberty_and_coins/ Ruben
Isn't there supposed to be a restaurant up in the crown of the Statue of Liberty? How far can you climb up into the statue? Aidan.
There used to be a restaurant on top ot one of the Trade Towers but that is gone along with the people who worked in it. The Statue of Liberty Crown was a favorite site for school trips but is not big enough as far as I could remember to hold anything more then a hot dog vendor.
No restaurant (wouldn't be able to fit one in there); the closest thing are some snack vendors on the island. There are three points you can get to in the statue: The top of the pedestal, below the base of the statue, can reach this by elevator. The crown, once you get to the pedestal you have to take lots of stairs to get there. Get a good view from the crown but it's a pretty cramped space. (EDIT: Have learned that due to security concerns following 9/11 the interior of the statue is currently closed to the public.) The torch, from the crown there's a small spiral staircase that leads up to it. However since the renovation in 1986 this is no longer open to the public. (YET ANOTHER EDIT: Have learned that by 1917 it was already closed to the general public; only a handful of people under very limited circumstances would be allowed up there. In 1916 the torch was modified to be glass that could be illuminated from within; this allowed water to leak into the arm which caused corrosion that made the torch balcony unsafe. In 1986 the torch was repaced with a solid one again, the arm was strengthened, but access to the public was never reinstated. Even when it was open, only 11 people could go up there at once.) So today the highest you can go is the crown, unless you're a park ranger. (EDIT: Sorry, the highest you can go right now is the top of the pedestal. When I last visited it was possible to go as high as the crown.)
Pity it is so uptight with security! Freedom is only a word ya know...we are now prisoneers of our own society@@ing at everything as a potential threat! How free is that? Rickieb
Ruben,those are nice medals,but the reverse design of the Presidential $1 coin captures the Statue of Liberty in a very attractive profile. Here's an article; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statue_of_Liberty . Aidan.
The torch was closed off to the public for safety reasons, not security. It is a very tight, narrow, spiral staircase that was not designed for the high volume traffic that visits the Statue of Liberty. During the rennovation they determined there wasn't a feasible way to make it reasonably sdafe for the expected traffic within the confines of the structure, so they decided to close it off. If you go up to the crown, you can still see the stairway leading up to the torch... it is pretty scary to contemplate climbing up that thing, definitely not for people with a fear of heights and/or cramped enclosed spaces... you can see why they decided to close it off. However, security concerns since 9/11 have closed off the crown too (just learned this todat, reading the Wikipedia article, was not the case last time I visited)... now the highest you can go is the top of the pedestal. There's no definite time frame for reopening the interior of the statue itself. Unfortunately you have to expect that, should come as no suprise that the Statue of Liberty is potentially a desirable target of terrorism, because of its high profile and symbolic nature. Unrestricted freedom is not freedom at all; it is anarchy! True freedom means having to sacrifice a reasonable amount of freedom for a reasonable amount of security (laws, for example, are a restriction of freedom, but few would want to live in a lawless society!) It's always a tradeoff. Each society decides for itself how much of a tradeoff it considers reasonable and is willing to make. There are differing opinions on where to set that line of course, but only absolutists and anarchists would argue that no trade-off should be made at all. Don't want to get into a political debate though. Hopefully the world security situation will improve to the point they let people up to the crown again someday. I was up there myself on a school field trip (I believe in about 1992) and it was a great experience. According to Wikipedia: So there's hope still. Anyway to get back to coins, would mention that these are the US coins that depict or have depicted the Statue of Liberty: 1986 Statue of Liberty clad half dollar commemorative 1986 Statue of Liberty silver dollar commemorative 1986 Statue of Liberty gold five dollar commemorative 1997-present 1/10 oz, 1/4 oz, 1/2 oz, 1 oz American Platinum Eagles 2002 New York state quarter 2007-present Presidential dollar series of course...
<<However, security concerns since 9/11 have closed off the crown too (just learned this todat, reading the Wikipedia article, was not the case last time I visited)... now the highest you can go is the top of the pedestal. There's no definite time frame for reopening the interior of the statue itself. Unfortunately you have to expect that, should come as no suprise that the Statue of Liberty is potentially a desirable target of terrorism, because of its high profile and symbolic nature. Unrestricted freedom is not freedom at all; it is anarchy!>> I don't expect it at all and I think it makes no sense. Ruben
The Hutt River Province Principality issued a couple of medal-coins back in 1986 to commemorate the Centenary of the Statue of Liberty - a silver Proof $100 & a gold Proof Sovereign. Aidan.
No, we are not prisoners of our own society. The terrorists won. They did what they wanted to do. If you want more evidence, vist D.C. and see what security is like.
Well you wouldn't be the first person to think that too much freedom has been sacrificed for the sake of security. However in the government's defense, we've gone 5 years and counting without any buildings blowing up inside the US, so they must be doing something right.
I attribute that to 150,000 troops stomping around in the middle east taking on the brunt of the terrorists activities. Ruben
Ruben,you will be pleased to know that France also issued medal-coins to commemorate the Centenary of the Statue of Liberty,just like both the Hutt River Province Principality & the U.S. did. Aidan.
The French mint also issued four coins in 2004 commemorating the architect Bartholdi. One side shows his Belfort Lion, the other side has the Statue of Liberty. Christian
