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The Empire State Building – On Top of NYC

There were few attractions we wanted to do in New York City. We mostly wanted to discover Manhattan on foot and see all the famous landmarks scattered around the island. But climbing on top of an iconic skyscraper was high on my to-do list, despite the warnings regarding the legendary lines to make it to the observatory deck.

Our first choice was the mythic Empire State Building, the 102-story skyscraper located on Fifth Avenue (Plan B was the Rockefeller Centre). Following the September 11 attacks in 2001, the Empire State Building is again the tallest building in New York, and I couldn’t wait to see it up close.

With its antenna, the American cultural icon (King Kong, anyone?) is easy to spot in NYC’s skyline, but you don’t realize how tall it is until you reach the 86th floor. From street level, it doesn’t look that impressive.

We wandered inside the lobby. Much to our surprise, there was no line on the sidewalk. We started queuing after the first elevator and I asked one of the employees how long the wait was. “About fifteen minutes,” he replied. Feng and I looked at each other. “Let’s go now, then!” It was noon and we figured a lot of tourists were having lunch or enjoying their day outside.

We queued for tickets to the 86th floor, and then were taken through security—that took about twenty minutes. Then, we bumped into another queue—to the elevators, we assumed. It was moving quite fast but there were still a lot of people in front of us. Turned out that this queue was moving slowly because everyone “had” to have their picture taken, a pricey souvenir then sold $20. We declined, and so did a lot of people.

Eventually, we were packed into a small elevator. I looked at the numbers above the door as we climbed: “1, 2, 3…20…30…70…80.” With a loud “ping,” the doors opened at the 80th floor and I cleared the pressure in my ears.

From there, we were taken through a lobby (no view here, the windows were plate glass) and joined another queue. “Holy shit,” I complained. “This place is a maze, are we actually going to make it to the top?” It did feel claustrophobic inside, and I can’t imagine how long the wait can be when it’s actually busy! Now, the warnings about the lineups made sense.

Eventually, we were invited to step into an elevator that took us to the 86th floor, where we exited and stepped onto the observation deck. It offered impressive 360-degree views of the city… but we had to fight our way to it, it was jam-packed! I have never experienced such a large crowd on top of a building, including at the CN Tower in Toronto!

Nonetheless, it was worth the wait. The view was amazing despite the hazy day.

The Empire State Building on Fifth
In The Elevator… Up To The 80th Floor
Manhattan’s Skyline
Lobby of the Empire State Building
Flags on Top
Manhattan’s Skyline
Manhattan’s Skyline
The Statue of Liberty in the Distance
Macy’s
On Top
The Flatiron Building
Hudson River
Central Park
Central Park
Manhattan’s Skyline
Manhattan’s Skyline
Manhattan’s Skyline
People Down Below…
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Zhu

French woman in English Canada.

Exploring the world with my camera since 1999, translating sentences for a living, writing stories that may or may not get attention.

Firm believer that nobody is normal... and it’s better this way.

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