The trip to the top of the Empire State Building has changed since last Suzanne and I took the elevator up years ago. Back then I could see how someone could have a romantic rendezvous with long lost love, just like in the movies, but today . . . well, today we saw it had all changed. The line crawled to security and then folded back on itself over and over again just to buy tickets. And before we could get close enough to read the ticket prices we were hounded over and over by a series of barkers peppered around the line commanding us to buy the virtual tour and the special maps and all sorts of other Empire State branded this and that.
After we got our tickets, we had to wait again in a long line to the elevator, and then, after we flew up in the express elevator, there was yet another long and frozen line. This took us to another elevator that finally brought us to the observation area (there was another elevator that, for more money, would crawl up to a higher level, but from what I remember of this, both that elevator and level were cramped and old and slightly uncomfortable). Even once we were outside on the deck, looking over all of New York, pushed and jiggled and squeezed by all the other people who were all trying to snag pictures of the same view, there were Official Empire State Photographers who were loudly offering their services.
We escaped without too much financial damage (although the Official Staged Photo with the five of us in front of a green screen was a tempting purchase, mainly because the computer system had automatically replaced all green color, including my green shirt, with a evening cityscape, leaving my head floating mysteriously next to Megan, Alex, Colleen, and Suzanne, all of whom still had comfortably composed torsos).
We had begun this morning at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and then, around lunchtime, took the subway to Times Square where we slid through the massive crowd to get to one of our pre-planned high points of the week: the matinee of "The Lion King" on Broadway, which was truly an amazing show, a show I think we would all gladly see again and again.
Afterward, we looked around for some overpriced theater district-themed souvenirs the kids wanted to get for friends, and then we marched south, led by the compass on my phone. We ran across the NYC chess club that was holding a recruitment and playing drive on a part of the street that had been blocked off for pedestrian use (this was further south than the Broadway/Times Square area where pedestrians were walking freely in the street as well). I got a NYC chess t-shirt, which was great. Now I can wear that to "Wear your favorite sports team shirt day" at work.
Tomorrow: The Statue of Liberty.
