Statue of Liberty

One thing that Bryn wanted to do before leaving the East Coast is visit the Statue of Liberty.  So we met Maritess and her two daughters, Ava and Emma, on a beautiful Saturday in June.  I had never been to the Statue of Liberty before, and while we couldn't go inside the statue because it is still undergoing renovation, it was still really interesting.  We learned that it took about 30 years for the copper statue to turn its current green color as a result of oxidation, and that Pierre Eiffel designed that internal structure or frame for the statue.  The statue is much larger than you realize, and as you really study it, the folds in the robe are all the more impressive as you contemplate that the statue is made of metal.

Emma and Ava

From the Statue of Liberty we spent some time at the Ellis Island Museum, in the computer lab.  We tried looking up Aunt Jeanie's parents who both came to this country from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but the spelling of Sisak or Sziszak may have been changed.  We did, however, have luck finding the records for Ken's maternal grandmother's parents -- Maria Soltesz and Wasil Roszyc, also from the same region as Aunt Jeanie's relatives.  Maria and Wasil both came to this country as Russian refugees whose trip, in the steerage of their respective ships, was sponsored by the American Red Cross.  Maria had $12 on her when she arrived in this country.  Suddenly moving to California doesn't seem like such a big deal.  Imagine going to a country where you don't speak the language, know no one, and have little to no money to speak of.  As immigrants who didn't speak English upon entering the U.S., Aunt Jeanie's parents ended up establishing and running a very successful grocery store in Mahoney City, Pennsylvania.  I wish we had had more time at the immigration museum as it looked interesting.  All in all, a very worthwhile day trip.