Coming up out of the 34th Street/Herald Square station, we saw throngs of people lining 5th Avenue. We walked over and the Veterans Day Parade was in full swing. We stayed and watched for a few minutes (the whole parade lasted 4 hours), then continued around to the entrance of the building.
The Veterans Day parade
On our way to the entrance we were constantly accosted by Skyride employees on the street the street trying to "help us" if we were planning to go up to the top of the Empire State Building. The Skyride is a scam motion simulator film/ride inside the building operated by a 3rd party. The Skyride employees on the street, and there are multitudes of them, block your way, promise you they can save you money and waiting time if you're "going up", and practically berate you if you try to just walk past them or tell them no. I'm sure they sucker in buttloads of unsuspecting tourists every day, but we avoided them.
Amazingly tall
Once inside the building we were able to bypass the line since we had our CityPass tickets, but there wasn't a line to bypass. We must have come at the right time of year, time of month, time of day or something, because after the security check we were able to walk right through the queuing area to the elevator. The parade probably didn't hurt either.
Inside the lobby. The model to the left displays the current lighting configuration of the building.
I can't continue without saying something about the queue for the Empire State Building. Although it was empty, we still had quite a hike through the maze-like line areas to the elevator. I don't know how long it takes to get in when the massive line is full, but imagine it must be in the neighborhood of 2 hours or more. Of course they do offer a more expensive express ticket to get to the top faster.
We went up to the 86th floor observatory (there's an extra cost if you want to go to the 102nd floor) and had our look around. We could see the the parade still going on far, far below, and the sounds of the drums mixed with the city sounds of car horns and sirens drifted up to us, muted but clear.
A different view of 432 Park Avenue and the Chrysler building
Looking toward Rockefeller Center and Central Park
"Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows!" Follow the shadow to the ice skating rink in Bryant Park.
Looking down 5th Avenue toward downtown
A wider view. The Flatiron Building is in the center left, One World Trade Center is the tallest building in the background, and you can just make out the Statue of Liberty to it's right.
The Chrysler Building and the East River
The top of the Empire State Building
We headed back down and went around the corner to eat lunch at Chipotle. I ordered a bowl with brown rice, mixed chicken and steak, tomato salsa, sour cream, guacamole and letter. After washing it down with a glass of lemonade and another glass of water, I walked next door to Starbucks and ordered a venti decaf nonfat gingerbread latte. Nice.
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