Photo from Ellisisland.com

Some extended family came into town for the holiday last week. Since my cousins had never been to Ellis Island and my grandmother had actually come through there from Italy, we decided to visit it over the weekend.

I had gone to this historic site on a class field trip in third grade, but I really didn’t remember anything about it. Of course, it may be very different now. Possibly my favorite part of this landmark and museum were the interactive graphs and displays showing various immigration trends throughout the years. For example, you can select a particular ethnicity and it will digitally display the population trends of that ethnicity throughout the US on a huge map.

On our ferry ride back, the sun was setting and the city skyline, along with the Statue of Liberty, looked beautiful. As someone who lives in the city, I don’t often do such activities. But I have to admit, I enjoyed playing tourist for a day.