I have been to New York City many times, but I have never seen it like this.
There are lights everywhere, no matter the time of day. Buildings get tall, small and tall again as you walk up avenues and blocks, miles covered underneath your feet. The Empire State Building looks huge from Hudson Street, a long 45-minute walk away.
But once we are entering its doors, the top of the building could no longer be seen. The tower lights could have been off for all we knew, but everyone knows that would never happen. The tower beams various colors every night, each shining its unique meanings. The night we reached the Empire State Building’s 86th floor the lights shone white.
It was colder 1,050 feet above the ground. The wind blew heavily and I felt like I was home in the city once again. A trumpet player blew jazz tunes into the quick-paced winds. Sound circulated the observatory floor that wrapped the building’s circumference.
Around the circle, we look out to the East River. Only a few steps away and we are now looking at the Hudson River, separating New York City and New Jersey’s perimeters. It was amazing, all you could see from up here, breathtaking.
The images that captured our memories do not do justice, although they come close. In some the buildings seem to pop, resembling 3-D visuals jumping out of a 2-D movie screen. Others blended the lights and shapes of every building; blurry due to my shaking, freezing arms. The panoramic view was by far the greatest: bringing the 360-degree view into a single rectangular photograph.
But nothing could completely replicate what you see from standing 86 stories high above the most populated city in the United States.