From Staten Island to Manhattan on the ferry takes about fifteen minutes. Crossing the harbor will take you past quite a few of the sights that New York City is famous for. Starting with the longest suspension bridge in the United States (as of 2001), the Verrazano Narrows. This bridge connects Staten Island on the right with Brooklyn (Long Island) on the left.

The most famous sight in the harbor is undoubtedly the Statue of Liberty, seen here with one of the Staten Island ferries crossing in the foreground. It was created by the French sculptor Bartholdi with help from Gustave Eiffel (of tower fame) and was given to the United States as a gift from France in 1886. The statue can normally be visited although it was closed during our visit due to the terrorist attacks on New York City some six weeks earlier.

It's always a little chilly in New York in October, particularly on a ferry cruising across the harbor. You might notice that in this picture. Incidentally, the actual name of the statue itself is "Liberty Enlightening the World."

This is Ellis Island, a little shaky perhaps due to ferry motion. Between 1892 and 1924 the vast majority of immigrants to the United States went through this complex (22 million in all). Ellis Island's buildings are remarkably well kept - if you look at old photos of the island they are basically sepia-toned versions of today's photographs.

Behind Liberty Island and Ellis Island, the west shore of New York Harbor is New Jersey. On the east side is Brooklyn (shown here) and a nearly infinite number of docks and warehouses, at least along the waterfront.

Brooklyn and Manhattan are separated by the East River. In lower Manhattan they are connected by a slew of bridges and a couple of tunnels for good measure. In the foreground is the Brooklyn Bridge which first opened in 1883 for a toll of 1 cent.

The skyline of lower Manhattan with the ferry terminal visible at the lower right corner of the picture. The lower section of Manhattan is primarily the financial district. The trees along the shoreline make up Battery Park.

These pictures were all taken about six weeks after the twin towers of the World Trade Center were destroyed. Without overly dwelling on it the cranes in this and the next picture mark the site of those buildings and are part of the clean up effort.