Tag: empire state building

New York City: Manhattan – Part III – Empire State Building

After lunch, Tim and I walked to the Empire State Building. We were immediately greeted by a man that was trying to sell up some tickets to go up to the observation deck of the Empire State Building. The tickets entitle us to go for some sort of ride and then skip the queue to the observation deck. According to the man, there is usually a 45 minutes queue up to the deck.

Sensing that it was all bullshit, we asked the man to F off and we headed straight to the building.


The lobby of the Empire State Building.

There’s a special lift up to the observation deck. There’s a US$20 entrance fee. Farking expensive.

We also found out that there was no 45 minutes queue. It took us less than 45 minutes to get to the deck. Perhaps it was not crowded because it was a weekday.


Concrete Jungle alll thee wayyyyyyyyy!


Somehow reminds me of SimCity 2000. Awesome game. Give me a pleasant feeling whenever I think of that game!


And the view was awessooomeeeeeeeeeeeeee

The observation deck doesn’t have a roof. All they have is some metal barricades. Good place to jump off to commit suicide. Die in style yo.

There’s a small souvenir shop which you can visit after the visit to the observation deck. Plenty of Empire State Building merchandises. I remember Dad bought me a small metal Empire State Building with a thermometer next to it when I was small – which I still keep until today. Unfortunately, I broke the thermometer a week after getting it.


Empire State Building made of Lego.

After Empire State Building, we made a long long journey to a place…stay tuned for updates!

New York City: Manhattan – Part II – Wall Street & WTC Memorial

On our way to the World Trade Centre (WTC – when typing WTC, I kept typing WTF) memorial, we passed by the famous Wall Street.


Lunch in a park

The Tribute WTC Visitor Centre is located in a small building next to the site where WTC use to be.

It is quite small but yet very interesting. Upon entering the memorial, we were greeted with a wall full of posters. The posters were posters made by people who were looking for those lost during 9/11. There were also numerous billboards containing quotes of those involved in the 9/11 attack. The one which caught my attention was the quote of Brian D. Sweeney, who died in the the ill fated United Airlines Flight 175 which crashed into one of the Twin Towers of WTC.


Imagine hearing this from a loved one 🙁 And then it gets deleted automatically. GAAHH

United Airlines Flight 175 departed from Boston before crashing into South Tower of WTC – 18 minutes after the first attack. The hijackers took 30 minutes to breach the cockpit of the flight and killed the pilots thereafter. Coincidentally, my flight from Boston to NYC flew from the same airport as Flight 175. It only took me an hour to get to NYC. I always wonder why didn’t the passengers of Flight 175 fought off the hijackers just like United Airlines Flight 93. I guess there were nothing much they could do because Flight 175 crashed into WTC about 20 minutes after the hijacking.

The most interesting bit of the memorial is the collage of pictures of those who died in WTC. A lady gathered the visitors including Tim and I and told us about WTC before the crash and after the crash. She also revealed that one of the victims was her son, who was a fireman who went to safe those in WTC. The impact of the collapse of WTC was so great until many bodies were shredded into pieces. The body of the lady’s son was never found except for his pendant. His picture is placed among the collage. It was a heart wrenching story. I guess this is one of the ways for the lady to heal herself from the pain of losing her son.


The site where WTC used to stand is now barricaded and being rebuild.

After visiting the Tribute Centre, Tim and I went to search for a place recommended by Lonely Planet for lunch. When we arrived, we found that the place no longer exists -_-

We ended up eating in a typical American diner – burgers and coffee.


DIY Coffee.

Next stop, Empire State Building!