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24 October 1951
Today we landed in New York! I have never SEEN so many people. Papá was very anxious not to lose me. I buttoned my stuffed cat close to me inside my coat, with his head out so he could see too. The wind blew cold as we got off the ship. I waved goodbye to the Simonsons, who are going west on a train to visit Mrs Simonson’s father and brother, and we went to make sure Papá’s crates got unloaded and sent off to the right place.
We have a day before we board the ship that will take us the rest of the way to Buenos Aires: the SS Argentina. How funny, to ride on Argentina to Argentina!
Meanwhile Papá and I went to the Statue of Liberty. We walked all the way up. My legs were tired by the time we got to the top, and I had to take lots of rests so I wouldn’t start wheezing, and the very last bit was narrow and swirly and made me dizzy. But the view was magnificent and worth all 354 steps. (I counted them.) We could see all the tiny people moving about on the ground below us, and around us so much water, and for a long time we watched the ferries and other boats down there, and beyond all the water there is city, as far as the eye can see. So much city out there! I’ve never seen anything like it. London is big, but it doesn’t feel like this. It doesn’t look much like it, either. Anyway, after we did that, we found a place to eat dinner, and then we took a cab to our hotel for the night. I want to write more but I am getting sleepy and I can’t stop yawning so I am going to bed now.