Ellis Island in the Park

It has been several years since my trip to New York City yielded me a glimpse of:

La liberté éclairant le monde

And it's been even more years since my disappointing attempts to glimpse her French sister (who was on loan to Japan when I was in Paris...)

...so we decided to make a quick (and rather easy) trip to Ellis Island, temporarily relocated to Utah.

Here we had a taste of what it was like to immigrate to the US, complete with citizenship test (I did actually pass, whew!)

Of course we couldn't resist this excellent photo op

(she is looking a lot smaller than I remember...)

We enjoyed a little amateur production about different stages of our nation's history - the absolute highlight of which was the reenactment of Francis Scott Key's experience during the war of 1812. Personally I was ignorant of when our national anthem was first penned, and it is a moving story; it definitely gave greater meaning to the words. I also fell in love, again, with the other verses of this song; this line from the last verse strikes me particularly:

"may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation."

'Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!