For 5 hours.
Bleary eyed, we roused ourselves and headed for the showers, as we were supposed to meet her friend, Alex, for dinner at Smith and Wollensky's. Tiffany's phone rang, and it was Alex, cancelling due to a family situation. As she chatted with him, he let her know that dinner was still on, for us at least, and that we should head to the restaurant for a 7:30 reservation. Upon arrival, we were told that everything was already taken care of and that we should order whatever we wanted.
"WHAT IS HAPPENING?" my mind screamed, unused to this kind of treatment. But we were there, all dressed up with a fantastic menu in front of us, so we took advantage. Soup, wine, filet mignon, and dessert filled us to brimming when Tiffany got a message letting her know that a car would be picking us up in 15 minutes. We stood by the bar, chatting with a couple of older gentlemen before a white gypsy cab pulled up to the curb outside. Dropping us off and telling us that the tab was "all taken care of" we headed into the house, changed into pajamas and watched Party Down for a little while before going to bed.
Day Four
Woke up at 5:45am to shower before Tiff and I headed to her morning work out at Crossfit. My intent had been to join her over the weekend to keep up with my personal fitness goals, but with the walking and walking and walking I decided to sit this one out. I headed to a local coffee shop, grabbed a latte and waited. After she picked me up, we started walking towards the subway, and quickly realized that my goal for the morning, the Empire State Building, was the opposite way. I hailed a cab (such a New Yorker!) and we zipped through the streets until the gigantic edifice was within site. Paying the cabbie and overtipping as I am wont, I headed in to the building, Express pass that I had pre-ordered clutched in my hand in anticipation of long lines.
There was no one there.
I got to skip in front of 5 people in the pre-screening line, and joined an elevator full of people after paying 8 smackers for an audio guide voiced by Tony, an older gentleman with a rich family history based in NYC. As we headed up the building, the elevator attendant asked where we all hailed from. "England,"said the family of three at the back. "Turkey,"said the handsome male duo next to me. "Denmark," from the young couple across from me. "Florida," I squeaked, shrugging my shoulders. We all laughed together, people from around the globe with one goal on this chilly Monday morning-to see the city spread out beneath us from a breathtaking height while freezing our asses off.
I spent about 2 hours at the Empire State, taking photos and learning which buildings were which from Tony. Factoids like, "Chrysler was in a battle to raise the tallest skyscraper, and hid the spire in the building until his competitor finished building" and other tidbits. He pointed out where Central Park was, and Bryant Park...and basically all the sites that I would be seeing later that day.
After photo after photo, I searched for a friendly face to take a shot of me with the amazing view behind me. In desperation, I perched the camera on a window sill, set the timer, and stepped back. Noticing a lady inside laughing at me, I looked up at her...just as the shutter clicked closed. Here's the result.
Class.
