NY trip part 4
So, where was I? Oh yeah, camillecarelli had just gotten to the hotel. She was sharing the room with us for the first night, and had her own on the 2nd. Getting to have time alone with her was something I was very much looking forward to during the trip. She ordered tickets for observation deck of the Empire State Building for us ahead of time so we theoretically had to wait in line less, regardless of the fact that the weather wasn't *quite* cooperating. We walked from the hotel to the Empire State Building, since both of us were of the attitude that we were in NYC, we had 2 legs, and we were doing good.
We stopped at Heartland Brewery for food before we went up to the top. The food ended up being REALLY good, and not pub grubbish at all. The atmosphere was my kind of place, but would have definitely have been a BAD choice for the big dinner then next day. (it had been suggested by multiple people) We talked, had a nice dinner, and decided to head upstairs to the endless lines to get to the elevators to get to the top. Everything about the building was awesome-- even the lobby, where they had this neat art/mural thing that was all shiny. The art deco style was very cool, and it was hard to believe it was over 70 years old and still so contemporary. They kept telling us "zero visibility" at every turn-- we couldn't say that we weren't completely and utterly forewarned, but we had tickets and limited time in NY, so we went anyways. After going through at LEAST 4 different lines (Am not kidding!) and 2 elevators, we finally made it to the top-- which was sitting completely in clouds. 2 floors below had a PERFECT view, but up there, we were in a giant swirling mass of cloud. Which, itself, was kinda cool. And hey, we were 80+ stories up in the sky looking down at the world around us. I tried to get some pictures when the clouds moved-- wasn't always successful, but what you COULD see was pretty neat. And you could see a lot more than what you could see in the pictures. Shot 1 Shot 2 Shot 3 We had a lot of fun though, lots of chatting while waiting in the endless lines.
Once we left the Empire State Building, we started walking back to the hotel with the intent to stop in Times Square since it was dark out to get to see all the craziness of the billboards and ads. It was SO bright! More than I even could have imagined. And they're stacked so high-- some of them are easily as tall as 20 stories up. It was really cool, looking at them all. There even was one for The Colbert Report! :-) We went into the Toys 'R' Us because it had a 60-foot INDOOR ferris wheel that you could ride. We didn't have time, but it was still REALLY cool to go see. Endless, endless, bright shiny ads. (yes, each WORD is a separate picture) On the way back, we passed by where they tape The Late Show with David Letterman-- the Ed Sullivan Theatre.
We walked back to the hotel, and were just going to bed (she and I had to share) when michellann68 and vartansgirl came back from their show. They got to meet Bradley Cooper! I was *quite* jealous, but tired. I had an alarm going off in 6ish hours so that I could see more of the city for part of the next day before I had to be back for the afternoon show.
TBC