New York – First Stop Empire State Building!
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We made it safe and sound! The flight from Dubai to NYC was similar to the one we take to Melbourne – 14 hours straight… a long trip, but I got some sleep at least…
I didn’t bring my computer, so I’m doing this on my iPad – let’s see how it goes!
We caught a taxi from the airport with a nice Indian driver and it had that middle partition just like the movies…. 🙂
Our hotel is in the middle of Manhattan somewhere, with a view of sorts:
My thoughts on this car park is that I am sooo glad I don’t have to park there everyday… and do individuals own those cars or do they belong to companies…??? They are huge!!
We got to the hotel at around 5pm… and then went out for a quick bite to eat.. and then bedtime…. it was early morning Dubai time so we were ready for a nice long sleep!
Next day we headed off to be tourists – and went straight to the Empire State Building on the subway… without getting lost – amazing!
It’s rather cold here in NYC at the moment.. That is DH on the left all rugged up.. and I even had to go find a beanie to keep my ears warm…
Getting off at Penn Station we hunted around JC Penney’s for a beanie, but they only had summer stuff.. thankfully there was a guy selling some on the side of the road… so I was set… Off to the tall building in the photo above…
Be warned. If you are in New York and decide to go up the Empire State Building, which you will, because you are in New York and you should…. get a VIP pass, it is worth every penny… at least I think it would be. We didn’t get one and stood in queue after queue for 2 hours… just to look at the view for 10 min 🙂
When we turned up outside, there were maybe 50 people in the queue.. and we thought, wow, that’s a lot… but oh well, it will be worth it… good thing we didn’t know there were hundreds of people ahead of us in more than four queues in the building itself!!!
The following photo is blurry, but you get the idea.. this is the second queue:
After almost two hours we finally caught sight of THE ELEVATOR!!
And a cool one it was too… it went so quickly, and there was a video playing in the ceiling making it look like we were there when they were building the tower..
And then finally… the view…
If you zoom in you can see the Statue of Liberty way in the distance… but taking pics with your mobile phone isn’t the best… Still it was a beautiful day with clear skies, so perfect for viewing NYC…
It wasn’t too busy on the 86th floor, they do a good job of regulating how many people are up there at a time.. hence the long wait to get there! So we were able to take photos without an issue, and look through the view finders as well without having to wait too long…
Here’s a selfie to prove we were actually there 🙂
It’s a looooong way down!!
See that red sign on the building below? This is what it is at ground level:
It’s so cool to see all the shops with names that you’ve heard of in the movies or in books….
We took lots of photos up the top…
But we decided to only do the open air observatory, not go up to the higher level…
Going back down was a heck of a lot quicker 🙂
I checked for an Empire State Building thimble to add to my collection, but sadly they didn’t have one…
Back down the bottom and walking back to the subway we realized we were on Broadway…
But we didn’t go further than that sign because next stop on our list was Central Park….. more about that tomorrow 🙂
It’s interesting to hear your impressions as you come visit my home country. FYI: New York City is one of my least favorite places I’ve visited. But I’m told it has improved some since I was there in the ’80s.
You two looked sooo cold!!!! But it sounds like you are having an adventure for sure and this month’s bom you did–Patience–it seems you are practicing that one–with the long waits!!!
enjoy, di
So glad you’re enjoying your visit to NYC!! Hubby and I served in the U.S.Army in NYC in the mid-70’s, and loved our time there. If you think the view from the top of the Empire State building is high, you should have seen it from the Twin Towers when they were there!! We were actually still inside the building, and looked out to see helicopters flying LOWER than we were! Talk about WOW!!! If you get a chance to see the Radio City Music Hall Rockettes, that’s a great remembrance of the city as well. Because we were in the service, we could go to the USO and get free tickets to see the Rockettes and some off-Broadway shows. Great fun! Of course, that was 45+ years ago, so I’m sure lots has changed, but probably a lot is the same. Enjoy yourself!!!
Living here in the US it was fun to read your view of things. I don’t like big cities or crowds so have not been there. I would like to see it without the crowds! LOL Nancy
Wow what an adventure – thanks for sharing it with us!
Your cheeks in the photo said it all Joy, bitterly cold. What a great adventure. Look forward to seeing more photos. X
Glad you are enjoying your adventure/holiday Joy. What fabulous views from up there. Looking forward to reading about your trip to Central Park. Hugs,xx
wow amazing Joy,have fun my friend xx
What fun Joy, the weather must be a shock. Great to see these places
Hugz
Love your photos, and comments, look forward to reading more about your trip. Hope I can do as well in, well in not so long now.
Wow, the view is amazing & glad to see you went up & took some photos. Somewhere I’ll never get to, so thanks for taking us along. Look forward to seeing Central Park. At least that’s at ground level. (lol). Enjoy & take care.
How exciting to visit NYC and see all the famous places for real. I’m enjoying tagging along with you from my arm armchair in Oz.
Lived outside of DC for 23 years and never made it up to the top of the Washington Monument and waved at family who were at the top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Pretty sure that I will never make it to the top of the Empire State Building.
I will enjoy your photos!!!!!!!!
looks like you are having a great time…………