New York #2: Empire State Building

Everyone talks about how amazing the Empire State Building is, and I've seen lots of great photos of it, but I don't think you can appreciate its true grandeur until you experience it at first hand. It's one of the tallest buildings in the world, and the second tallest in New York at 381m high. It's visible for miles and is truly iconic. I kept staring at it whenever we were anywhere near it, just trying to take it all in and marvelling at  what a majestic building it is.

From the bottom!

From the river

We decided to visit the Empire State Building on our second evening as we wanted to see the view from the top when it was dark. It was all very grand inside the building, and going up in the lift to the 86th floor was quite an experience. We definitely didn't regret our decision to go in the dark as the view of the city at night from such a massive height was truly astounding. It was extremely windy at the top though, which might have been a bit disconcerting for people who aren't comfortable with heights! I could have stayed up there for hours looking down at the city and trying to take it all in, if it wasn't so freezing up there. New York really does look magnificent from that kind of height. 

Here are a few photos from the top:

The photos could never do it justice, but they do give a flavour of what kind of view you can expect. Has anyone else been at the top of the Empire State Building? What did you think?