New York City has been known as a gateway to the United States. Millions of immigrants have "discovered America" and begun their new life in New York City. Today many tourists make New York their first and often the only destination in the United States. Hence, they judge about America based on what they have seen in New York City. While some of it is true, New York City is very different from the rest of the country. Here, people of different cultures, races and backgrounds coexist in a relatively peaceful way. You can see millionaires and homeless people together on the city streets. It's a tough yet rewarding place to live where everyone has an opportunity to succeed. New York City is very rough, busy and hardworking where beauty yields to practicality. Because of these and thousands of other reasons, New York has been attracting new immigrants as a magnet.

Central Railroad of New Jersey Terminal at the Liberty State Park. Many new immigrants who arrived between 1892 to 1954 began their journey across America here after they had passed immigration on Ellis Island.

New immigrants used to arrive at Ellis Island exactly the same way as these tourists did on a cruise ship. Interesting fact: Ellis Island is just a few hundred meters off the coast of New Jersey, and is connected to a mainland by a bridge. This bridge was built and used by trucks during the reconstruction of Ellis Island's historical facilities in the 1980s - 1990s. After the reconstruction had been completed, some people suggested that the bridge be used by pedestrians to get to the island. But the two cruise ship companies, that own exclusive rights to bring tourists to the island, have voted against it. So the bridge has never been open to the public. These companies' argument was that if tourists came on foot to the island, they were not going to experience the same feelings the new immigrants did when they first arrived in New York City.

Five years later after the immigration centre was opened here, the old wooden building burned down. The new one in the French Renaissance style was built from the money collected from immigrants.

Today the main building houses the Museum of Immigration. The evacuation followed Hurricane Sandy in 2012, left almost no historical artifacts here. Whatever you can see in the picture, is apparently not worth protecting.

Today the Great Hall, where immigrants would be registered, is almost empty. Back in the old days, immigrants often had to stay overnight because of long lines. This hall is on the second floor. While immigrants were going upstairs, doctors who were standing to the side, would perform an initial visual medical check and identify those who could potentially be sick or unfit for work. They specifically looked at how people walked, if they had any trouble breathing, limped, etc. About 20% would be sent to an additional medical examination. However, those new immigrants who were denied to enter the United States because of their health made no more than 2%.

During the Civil War of 1861-1865, only about 5,000 immigrants a year came. At the beginning of the 1900s, this number rocketed to more than 10,000 a day. The majority of the people arriving in the United States were from Europe. Many of them - are from Western Ukraine.

The museum has a lot of fascinating facts and stories. For example, did you know that immigrants of Asian origin (from China, India, Japan, etc. and even native Indians) were not eligible to get US citizenship up until 1952? However, their children born in the United States were able to get it since 1898. Gay were considered mentally ill until 1979, and they simply would not be allowed to enter the United States if they identified themselves as gay. Mexicans living in the lands that were taken by the United States after the peace treaty in 1848, in fact, had no rights and freedoms until the early 20th century. They lived in so-called limbo. This museum has many other interesting facts and stories about immigration, so take your time to explore it.

For a modest price of $7 per half an hour, you can have a chance to find your old relatives in the museum's archives.

A cruise ship makes the next stop at Liberty Island with its famous Statue of Liberty. In this picture: Jersey City (far left), Ellis Island (in the middle) and Manhattan (right).

Like the Eiffel Tower in Paris or Tower Bridge in London, the Statue of Liberty is the hallmark of New York City. The fact that it is named in honour of freedom, is not accidental. The concept of freedom was often associated with the United States in the 19th century, so the French decided to make a symbolic gift to America. Of course, every apocalyptic movie with the United States has to culminate at the Statue of Liberty which is always hit by a natural or an artificial disaster: a fallen meteorite, tsunami, earthquake or a monster from an unknown planet.

Downtown Manhattan and its famous financial district.

With all its mesmerizing beauty of high-tech architecture, this place reminds me of the tragedy which happened on September 11, 2001. Americans simply call it "Nine-Eleven".

Park at the 9/11 Memorial.

Two identical pools are part of the 9/11 Memorial. They are located precisely where there used to be the old towers 1 and 2 of the World Trade Center. Pools make two-stage waterfalls. The lower waterfall looks like an abyss, so you can't actually see the bottom. The waterfalls deafen the noise of the city and make you think about what happened there more than 14 years ago. Next to it is the new One World Trade Center - the highest building in North America and the 4th highest in the world. For those who like 360-degree rooftop views, there is a new observation deck up there that opened in 2015.