Top of the World: Empire State Building

By Kin Enriquez -

Being in the city that epitomized skyscrapers, it would be hard to resist not to go up in any of the countless high rise buildings dotting New York. And as it became a tradition for me to visit the highest building of the city I am in, it's a low-brainer for me not to go up New York's tallest - the 102-story Empire State Building.



Like I did with the Museum of Modern Art ticket, I purchased one online too to avoid the long line. After going through security checks worthy of TSA, it took me about 30 minutes to get to the elevators, which whisk passengers 80 floors up in seconds.


Upon reaching the 80th floor we took another elevator to the observation deck at the 86th floor, which is open air. A throng of people were milling around, taking snapshots of the New York skyline. Walking around the perimeter of the observation deck affords one a 360-degree view of the city.

Empire State was completed in 1931 and was the world's tallest building until 1972. It became New York's tallest building again when the World Trade Center was destroyed in 2001. ESB is 15th tallest in the world today.


How to Get There: Empire State Building is located at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and West 34th Street in Manhattan. If taking the subway, you may get off 33rd Street station then walk from there.


Useful Info:
Empire State Building website: esbnyc.com

by Kin Enriquez

Comments

  1. Franc RamonNovember 2, 2012 at 9:05 PM

    This is an exciting activity as empire state building is one of the tallest structures in the world. I was able to go up several tall structures too like Taipei 101, Eiffel Tower, TV Tower in Shanghai and Macau Tower and it looks real nice on top of such a high structure.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Kin EnriquezNovember 13, 2012 at 4:58 AM

    I'd love to visit the Eiffel Tower

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Golden Tara of Agusan

By Kin Enriquez -
Image
One of the main reasons why I am always drawn to museums when I travel is that I would want to see, in real life, the fascinating things that I've only read in books or have seen in the films, such as archaeological artifacts or the paintings of Van Gogh and Dali . Museums give you access to all that. I majored in History when I was an undergraduate in the University of the Philippines. As such, I am always excited to see artifacts and historical curiosities that I encounter during my travels. But sometimes, they also make me sad, like when I saw the Golden Tara of Agusan in the Field Museum in Chicago.  The reverse of the Golden Tara The Golden Tara is a gold statue of a Hindu-Malayan deity discovered in 1917 in Esperanza, Agusan del Sur, in southern Philippines. Weighing about four pounds, the 21-karat gold statue depicts a woman deity sitting cross-legged, ornamented with a headdress and various accruements in the arms and legs....
Read more

Off the Beaten Track: Mapun, Tawi-Tawi

By Kin Enriquez -
Image
Guest post by Mara Ione Sarail Mapun? Where is that?” I get this question a lot when people ask me about my hometown. I’d ramble on and on the island (its location and the culture and the pretty spots...) but since the place is not really in any of the Philippines tourist spots and is in the middle of nowhere, I might as well talk about Atlantis instead. But the island does exist.  Mapun Tawi-Tawi or Cagayan de Sulu) is an island municipality in the Sulu Sea on the southwestern extreme of the Philippines, located very close to Sabah. Or from the way I see it on the Philippine map, the island is located on the Philippine’s “armpit”. Mapun is a volcanic island. The picture above shows Mt. Nanggoy, an inactive volcano near the Sapah Lake. The most popular tourist attraction in Mapun would be the three crater lakes on the west part of the island. Legend says that the three lakes were once volcanoes that erupted together. The first two, Danao and Singuwang, b...
Read more

How To Track Your Travels with Google Location History

By Kin Enriquez -
Image
Ever traveled to a place then forgot the name of that small shop that sells the best tasting cronuts you've ever had? Or have you ever wanted to retrace your steps in your travels, down to the smallest alleyways you passed along the way but couldn't? Here's a travel tool that enables you to do that - so well that it's cool and scary at the same time: the Google Location History. I use the service - which you need to enable on your mobile phone and Google account - to look back at my travels and generate some cool maps that retrace my steps during my trips. Google Maps, by itself, is an incredibly useful app already; I cannot count how many times I've used it when traveling to find my hostel, the nearest subway station, that cronut place. Having location history enable, made it cooler and more useful. Take a look at these examples: The top photo shows my movements around Singapore during my trip there in September, It basically showed my movements in t...
Read more