NEW YORK — Erica Breder, a first-generation American, stood mesmerized inside the Statue of Liberty's crown. Out one window, the statue's massive arm and golden torch rose above her. Hundreds of feet below early Saturday, the blue, sparkling waters of New York Harbor stretched to infinity. On the floor beside Breder, was her . . . boyfriend?
"Will you be my wife?" Aaron Weisinger of Danville, Calif., asked softly, sweat beading on his head as he balanced on one knee in the uncomfortably narrow space. "Yes," a stunned Breder whispered without hesitation. They kissed. A lot.
Only then did Breder notice that the couple was alone in the crown, which had reopened to visitors just minutes earlier after being shuttered since the Sept. 11 attacks.
In the annals of marriage proposals, Weisinger's must rank among the most hard-won. Like hundreds of thousands of other people, he tried desperately to score two of the limited tickets to visit the crown when they went on sale June 13, a few weeks after the secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar, announced plans to reopen it.
Only last week did Weisinger get his tickets, along with another two for a couple of friends who blocked the top of the winding stairway to give him the time -- and space -- to kneel properly and ask Breder for her hand.
"It's a very small spot," Weisinger said later as he and Breder emerged from the statue hand in hand after being in the first group of 30 visitors to climb all 354 steps to the crown. All 30 were given green foam Statue of Liberty crowns to wear as they made the laborious climb. All bore cameras. Some toted children. One woman brought her inhaler, and used it. Weisinger carried a diamond ring.
Advocates of the reopening and visitors said it was a sign of the United States' and New York's efforts to put behind fears of the past and celebrate a new era by making it possible once again for people to go up the country's most famous symbol of liberty. From the crown's small windows, people can look out at the pathway that carried immigrant-laden ships into America and unloaded 12 million people, including Weisinger's great grandparents, onto Ellis Island from 1892 to 1954.
"It really represents an inclusiveness, to be able to perceive the world through Miss Liberty's crown," said Jennifer Stewart, who was dressed as the Statue of Liberty, sporting green-painted skin and carrying green-tinged items in her green handbag.
