title Liberty Island, A Helicopter Trip and Madison Square Basketball, New York, US - 27th March 2007 intro Today's trip is to head down to Battery Park and get a ferry out to see Liberty Island. It's not without its complexity as at first we end up with tickets to some sort of non-stopping cruise. Luckily, we manage to tout one of them off to a passing Swedish tourist before getting the correct ticket for the Liberty/Ellis circle. It's not like the old days (i.e. 1995) when you could turn up and visit the statue, as we discover when a park ranger informs us that we should have booked at least a day in advance if we wanted to go in to the statue. Meh. Nevertheless, it's still a nice wander around and a chance to look at Manhattan from across the river and to once more see "Lady Liberty" close up. Later, we take a helicopter trip around Manhattan to see some of the sights from the air, and then we go and see a college basketball game in Madison Square Garden. It's the final of college basketball's National Invitation Tournament (the NIT), between South Carolina's Clemson University - The Tigers - and West Virginia University - The Mountaineers. And because it's college basketball, and not some pro game, the camera is even allowed in. Isobel, meanwhile, gets to tick off another item on the "list of American Icons" as she orders us a couple of foot-long chilli and cheese dogs to eat whilst we watch. imgp3338 The bagel bar near to the Marriott hotel imgp3341 Isobel in the Upper East Side bagel bar imgp3342 Crowds in Battery Park imgp3343 A cluster of buildings in Battery Park imgp3350 A passing seagull imgp3355 A classic view of Manhattan imgp3357 The boroughs of New Jersey, Manhattan and Brooklyn imgp3359 Another seagull shot, and Manhattan in the distance imgp3368 The Statue of Liberty imgp3374 Liberty looks towards Manhattan imgp3379 In the ferry, bulkhead lights illuminate the way imgp3381 A tourist does a bizarre pose imgp3384 Isobel flakes out on a wall imgp3386 Liberty and Old Glory imgp3405 Isobel roams around with the old Pentax imgp3407 Isobel takes a photo of a gull imgp3411 A 25c telescope imgp3415 Isobel gives the peeper-scope a go imgp9858 A photo of a photo imgp9871 Peering over the Ray-bans imgp9898_01 Nosher does the binocular things imgp3425 Lady Liberty up close imgp3428 The Empire State in the distance imgp3430 A fish-eye view of the statue imgp3435 Isobel sits on the ground and giggles at stuff imgp3443 The 10mm fisheye provides interesting distortion imgp3452 Isobel walks along a wall imgp9937 Nosher with a camera back imgp3456 The Liberty Island Ferry imgp3457 A tourist waves goodbye imgp3459 Ellis Island's old immigration center imgp3465 The Ellis Island ferry's life belt imgp3466 A people-dressed-as-statue snares a passing tourist imgp3467 A break-dancing troupe perform in Battery Park imgp3470 Some impressive acrobatics imgp3482 One of the break-dance dudes goes around collecting imgp3487 Collecting money imgp3490 A dude limbos through a line of teenage girls imgp3620 Inside Katz's Deli imgp3622 Nosher takes a photo of his Pastrami Rueben imgp3629 Katz's Deli imgp3630 Newspaper boxes on Allen Street imgp3631 Ironwork artwork imgp3634 News boxes and an iPod advert imgp3635 Isobel reads the paper imgp3637 Fire escapes imgp3638 Inside a New York laundrette imgp3639 Isobel outside Engine Company No. 5 imgp3641 Downtown Manhattan imgp3644 Conspiracy theory in Union Square imgp3647 Two girls on a tower imgp3649 City life around Union Square imgp3651 A bizarre photoshoot occurs imgp3652 A dude sells maple syrup and honey imgp3656 An old guy does a demo with a vegetable peeler imgp3657 Plants for sale by the film academy imgp3660 Post no bills, except where there are bills posted imgp3665 Life in a bar, briefly imgp3666 Isobel looks at knock-off sunglasses imgp3670 Our helicopter awaits imgp3671 The pilot's view imgp3672 A back-lit Liberty Island imgp3679 The Statue of Liberty imgp3688 Governor's Island from the air imgp3690 Looking up to Midtown and the Empire State imgp3692 Battery Park and Brooklyn Bridge imgp3698 The World Trade Center site and Ground Zero imgp3704 Empire state imgp3707 The railway depot and the elevated railway imgp3711 Central Park imgp3714 The pilot again imgp3724 Interchange and road tunnel imgp3727 Isobel in the helicopter imgp3736 There's a nice view of the Empire State as we land imgp3741 Isobel on the landing pad imgp3744 The New Yorker building imgp3748 Madison Square Garden imgp3761 The basketballers warm up imgp3785 The cheerleaders do their thing imgp3791 West Virginia's cheerleaders do some acrobatics imgp3806 Basketball action imgp3846 There's a shot at goal imgp3880 There's a media scrum after the game imgp3890 The tradition of snipping bits off the net imgp3901 Nosher tries Isobel's hat on imgp3907 Outside the New York Public Library imgp3912 The library lions