Midnight At The Empire State Building, Part II

If at first you don’t succeed, get some beer, have a Papaya dog and then try, try again! Last week I tried to go to the Empire State Building and it was closed due to fog, which I’ve never heard of and it surprised a lot of commenters as well. So I thought I’d retrun tonight at midnight tonight and try it all again.

First stop on the way there was to get a Mega-Millions ticket. It's up to over 300 million dollars! Let's hope this is the winner and I'll be taking some real trips if it is!

Deja view. Straight up Sixth Avenue, just like we did last week.

And as we cross over to Fifth Avenue, there she is. It's a clear night tonight, so there shouldn't be any problems.

And here we are, the Empire State Building on a clear night.

There's quite a few people here, considering it's kind of late.

I thought there'd be a long wait, but you get zipped through fairly quickly. Here we are boarding the elevator already.

They really jam a crowd into the elevators here. My claustrophobia has kicked in big time.

And as we approach the 86th floor, I realized one crucial mistake. I was stone-cold sober. And I have a quaking fear of heights. I was thinking so much about the possibility of it being closed again I forgot to drink to calm my nerves for this. As I realized this, I even said aloud, "Motherfucker, I forgot to drink!" The woman who's looking at me in this photo like I'm nuts, looked at me like I was even nuttier. I kind of felt like throwing up at this moment.

The Observation Deck. The moment of truth. I really thought about taking the elevator back down and going to a bar and trying to salvage this post somehow, but I knew it would be disappointing if I did. I was up here and I had to get photos and be a professional about it. Onwards and upwards...well, we're already upwards, so onwards we go.

It was a little freaky just being on the inside of the Observation Deck, but I thought maybe I could get some decent pictures without going outside. I was wrong, I kept getting reflections and they looked like shit, so it's outside I go.

Oh fuck. As soon as I got outside and snapped this photo I felt dizzy, started sweating. and kind of had a mini anxiety attack I couldn't move for a few minutes and the building felt like it was swaying. They really should have a bar up here, it's just not fair!

I decided to focus on other people taking photos so I wouldn't have to look directly down over the fenced in ledge.

Okay, I'm a little more at ease, time to get some official shots from up here.

Here's a shot I took while about a foot from the ledge, but you can see the ledge in the bottom, so I sucked it up and went all the way to the fence.

Okay, here's one shot and I'm sweating bullets up here.

And another, I'm starting to feel dizzy here.

Okay, I think you get the picture, everything's bright and shiny down there. I gotta get outta here.

Aaahhhh!

Okay, back to sweet ground level.

And it comes full circle as I see this in a souvenir store on the way home.

The Empire State Building
350 Fifth Ave. (Near 33rd St.)
212-736-3100

Further Reading: essortment, Great Buildings and Wired New York.

Empire State Building

Surprise link, click on it...I dare you!