NEW YORK/WASHINGTON: Tourists who came to Battery Park in lower Manhattanhoping to catch a ferry to the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor got anunpleasant surprise on Saturday, learning the must-see destination wasclosed because of the U.S. government shutdown.

The National Park Service announced on Friday afternoon that it would closethe historic statue and nearby Ellis Island to visitors if Congress failedto reach a funding deal by midnight.

Apparently, not everyone got the word.

“If they knew it was being shut down, they should have told us,” saidAmparo Mendez, 17.

The Argentine exchange student came to Battery Park at the southern tip ofManhattan with a friend, having purchased tickets online last week to visitthe statue and Ellis Island.

“We came with the notion to see the Statue of Liberty, and it’s not thesame to see it from here,” said her 16-year-old friend, Brunella Pettoroso,looking out at the majestic, green-tinged statue, a symbol of Americandemocracy.

Neither of them were aware of the government shutdown, and when theWashington deadlock was explained to them, Mendez rolled her eyes.

“We’re not coming back,” Pettoroso said.

In Washington, open-air parks and monuments remained open despite theshutdown. On the National Mall, thousands of protesters gathered for thesecond annual Women’s March, staged on the first anniversary of PresidentDonald Trump’s inauguration.

The Smithsonian Institution was open as well, but its museums and theNational Zoo will close on Monday if lawmakers still have not reached adeal, it said in a statement.

Dallas Kay, 26, a restaurant worker from Bend, Oregon, arrived at theLincoln Memorial just after dawn on Saturday. He said he hoped for a quickresolution of the dispute, especially to keep national monuments and parksopen.

“These monuments and parks belong to the people,” he said. “Them gettingshut down is a travesty.”

In Battery Park, where large groups of visitors often gather for ferry rideto the Statue of Liberty, it was unusually quiet for a Saturday.

“People have been a little bummed out but they’re not mad at us,” saidMatthew Rutter, an employee of Statue Cruises, which operates ferries tothe islands, among New York’s most popular tourist destinations. “They aremad at the government.”

Stephen O’Malley, a retired medical professional from Fort Lauderdale,Florida, bought tickets months ago, when he and his wife, accountant MaryHawks, began planning a trip to the statue and Ellis Island, the gatewayfor millions of U.S. immigrants in the late 19th and 20th centuries. Thecouple both blamed Washington lawmakers.

“I have to put more blame on the Republicans because they have all thecontrol right now,” O’Malley said.

“But I don’t blame it all on them. They should have been able to make adeal,” he said of both Republicans and Democrats, before heading off towalk across the Brooklyn Bridge.

Andrew Riano, 25, of New York City’s Staten Island borough, was in BatteryPark dressed as the Statue of Liberty. He said he gets tips from touristswho pose for pictures with him. But the regular crowds he sees on sunnyweekend days were nowhere to be found.

“A lot of people are disappointed,” he said, taking a break on a parkbench. “They pay to go to the statue and they can’t go.”

That was the case with Ateeb Iftikhar, 31, and his wife, Komal, 26, fromKarachi, Pakistan. The couple brought their 5-month-old baby to BatteryPark, hoping to visit Lady Liberty.

“I was wanting so much to get married and come here with my husband and seethe Statue of Liberty,” the young mother said. “I‘m a little sad.”