New York: Day 3

After having such a late night the evening before, we decided not to set an alarm the next day.  The plan was that we would probably wake up by 7:30-8:00 all on our own.  Well, let me tell you.  Those black out shades do a little too good of a job.  We didn't wake up until noon!  I haven't slept until noon since I was a teenager!  I couldn't believe we had slept so long.  I guess we really needed it.

Anyway, on the agenda for day was a visit to the Empire State Building.

 

On the way to the Empire State Building.  One thing I noticed about Manhattan is there are American Flags hanging everywhere.  They were all over so many of the buildings.  I loved it!

 

 Here is the ESB from the outside.

The entrance.

 The first stop after security.  Luckily we didn't have to wait in any of the lines because the fabulous lady who booked this trip for us got us the Express Pass.  (Thank you Sharon!)  If you visit the ESB, you must get the Express Pass.  Only way to go.

 Some info about the construction of the ESB.

 Dates of when different levels of the building were completed.

 Trent and King Kong.  :)

Behind Trent is the view of the West side of Manhattan.  Across the river is New Jersey.

 The view of Lower Manhattan.  At the very end, you can see the new World Trade Center buildings that are being built.

 The east side.  That is the Queensboro bridge and that strip of land in the East River is Roosevelt Island.  The white and silver building with the big spire is the Chrysler Building.  These views were all from the first observation deck on the 80th floor.

This is a plaque that was on the first observation deck.

On the way up to the second observation deck which is 1250 feet tall.  My ears would get plugged about every 20 feet.

This picture was taken from the second observation deck on the 102nd floor.  The view of Midtown and Upper Manhattan.  That small patch of green at the front of the photo is Bryant Park, and the huge patch of green at the back is Central Park.

The views from the ESB were amazing!

The rest of the day was spent walking around the city.

 

We stopped at a cupcake place and had a super yummy, and huge, red velvet cupcake with cream cheese frosting.  I swear, I could have just eaten my way through New York and been super happy.  It's a good thing we walked absolutely everywhere or I would have come home with an extra 10 pounds!

 That night we ate at The View restaurant at the top of the Marriott.  And boy did we get a view!  The entire restaurant slowly (very slowly) spins, so by the time you are done eating, you have seen every side of Manhattan.  As we were spinning past a neighboring hotel, we noticed a very naked woman had forgotten to close the curtains to her room.  Eek!  The rest of the views were quite spectacular though!  And the food was incredible!  It was another wonderful day!