Good morning, fellow Americans and visitors from around the world, and welcome to the U.S.'s greatest symbol of freedom, the Statue of Liberty National Monument. (Accept no substitutions.)

As you probably know, the Statue of Liberty was a gift of friendship from France to the United States (in return we gave them Jerry Lewis and their own Disneyland...), and is one of the most universal symbols of political freedom and democracy. The Statue of Liberty was originally dedicated on October 28, 1886 and became a National Monument in October, 1924.

Now, in order to get out to the Statue, you have to hop on a ferry boat from Battery Park in Lower Manhattan. So the beans queued up with several thousand of their closest friends and stood in line, got frisked in ways you can't believe (you think airport security is tight? It's nothing compared to what you'll go through here...but they never did question why a can of beans was making the trip...), and then caught the boat across New York Harbor.

But before boarding, the beans did stop to take this photo of a maritime monument, which although it's supposed to look solemn, the beans had a hard time not snickering at the seagull sitting on the guy's head.

And there she is...Miss America!

Just so you know, about 5 million people a year make the trek out here to say hello in person. She's 305 feet tall from pedestal to torch, has a four foot long nose, and weighs in at a svelte 225 tons. Still, she looks pretty good for a 116-year-old girl, doesn't she?

Due to the heightened security precautions, visitors are no longer allowed inside the statue, but back in the olden days you could climb the inner staircase and look out from one of the windows in her crown. While the beans were disappointed that they couldn't go in for themselves, at least they didn't have to kill themselves hiking up several flights of stairs. So they'll take that as a small victory in itself.

As you know, this is actually the bean's second visit to the Statue, and like their first visit back in 1993, they stopped to pose for a picture with the view of lower Manhattan in the background. While in the first photo you can see the World Trade Center buildings in the background, obviously they're now gone, which still saddens the beans to no end. But from the ashes the Phoenix will arise, right? The beans hope so.

Here we see the "impolite" side of Lady Liberty, who would probably be embarrassed to know that BATW Ambassador Katie and the beans are photographing her backside, but we're proud to report that we didn't see any obvious cellulite -- not that we were intentionally looking, mind you.

So as the ferry sailed off into the sunset (okay, it was only Noon, but just go with it anyway...), the beans paused to reflect on what the Statue of Liberty has meant to millions of people over the years. May she forever stand tall and proud.

Oh, yeah. And may she never end up on some beach with Charlton Heston and a bunch of dirty apes...