Thursday was a special day! Early afternoon we went to the Empire State Building which was amazing! We had purchased tickets online for a double whammy, the 86th and 102nd floors! We got in line outside including only 5 people in front of us. When we entered the building, there were probably 10. Now, here’s a spoiler alert! If you plan on visiting one day, I don’t want you to go any further so it won’t ruin the surprises!
Here goes! We walked a path that showed the magnificent history of the construction and milestones. There were tremendous wall-length pictures of celebrities on the observation deck, really cool! We made it to the elevators that you see in all the movies - wow! Up we go! Or, are we? It’s so smooth, it feels like we’re not even moving! Oh, and the movie on the ceiling welcoming you to the construction of each floor was a very nice touch! I mean, we had 80 floors to travel! We exited the elevator and are met with an attendant directing us to a hallway which led to a museum-like area, a neat display of signs on the ceiling providing directional signs to major landmarks in the city - love it! It’s all such a blur, but I believe this is where we got our photo taken with the city background! What a wonderful momento!. Cool stuff! We ended up on an elevator again and headed to the 86th floor observation deck. We walked outside and took some pictures; it was amazing to see the East and Hudson Rivers on either side of us merging! The Chrysler building and Freedom Tower look so small from up here!! Central Park a small patch of green - wow is all I can say! We met a nice couple from San Diego who were enjoying the experience too - I helped by taking their picture overlooking the city. Tara had done it for two friends right before that! I know they appreciated it! So, off to the next ride - the 102nd floor. We ended up at the very tip of the Empire State Building, a small observation room that was encased in windows. An outstanding 360 degree panoramic view of the city and beyond! The attendant whose son is a NY firefighter told us which direction to look for New Jersey, the mountains of Pennsylvania and much much more! Breathtaking! We saw the engineers’ access to the outside and the stairs to walk all the way down to 5th Avenue! I bet you didn’t know there were 1,869 steps from the top of the Empire State Building to the bottom! I sure am glad the elevator didn’t fail!