The empire state building is an artDeco skyscraper in New York City at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and West 34th Street. The construction was started in 1930, and finished the year later in 1931. At the time it was the tallest building in the world, but years later it has lost that claim. The only buildings taller in New York at the time was the Twin Towers, so this currently stands the tallest. The Empire State Building is 102 floors high, but that is measured to the bottom of the needle point in the picture, as that is the highest floor you can get to. It is 1250 feet high. After the collapse of the Twin Towers the Radio masts from the have been put onto the Empire State Building. At night the 86 floor level and 102 floor level is lit up which you can see from the outside.Its name is derived from the nickname for the state of New York, The Empire State. Obviously the ESB was one of the touristic attractions which our group visited during the stay in the Big Apple. We visited it in a grey, cold and cloudy November day . The lobby interior of the building is fabulous. With its Art Deco design, you can’t help but be impressed by the austerity of both the inside and outside of the ESB. The lobby incorporates rare marble imported from Italy, France and Germany. There are several entrances into the lobby although it is actually possible to miss the building at ground level because of the sheer size of the surrounding buildings! The visit was only possible after a lot of queues: we lined up for security( they don't mind you taking bags, rucksacks and that into the building, but they are scanned like at an airport and you have to walk through the body scanner as well)then lined up again for tickets and at last lined to go to the elevators, which for some reason takes you only up to the 80th floor. Next elevator brought us to the 86th floor (observatory). The outlook onto the city is absolutely impressive and makes you feel the pulse of life of this powerful and gigantic world metropolis. The views from the top are amazing, the true vastness of New York becomes apparent , all is unbelievable and from there you can take perfect post card pictures. Unfortunately on that day we weren’t so lucky because of the weather and you can see it from my pictures …. (((
But even so everyone was fighting to get the pictures….. It’s somewhat blasé to say that the ESB and New York are synonymous but it is true and no visit to New York would be the same without going up this. Simply everybody has to visit the Empire State Building if you are visiting New York. Sure, you’ll queue but you cannot replicate the feelings you’ll experience at the top. Just for a while, you’ll be quite literally on top of the world!!!!