ESB

Yesterday we went to The Empire State Building. I told Suzie that this is why I hate NYC. She was very confused and I told her that almost no where else in America are you charged $19 for riding up an elevator. After that, they wanted another $12 if we wanted to go the top 102^nd) floor. We could only get to the 86^th floor for $19. On top of that, we had to wait in 3 different lines to get our picture taken, ride up one elevator, and then since that was only to the 80^th floor, we had wait in line again to take the next elevator. Suzie said she felt right at home since we had to “queue” so much.

Four times in less than a minute my ears popped. The view was amazing from the “top” of the Empire State Building. I couldn’t imagine what else you would see if you went up another 16 floors and then I figured it out, that $12 was just so you could feel superior to all the puny people who only paid $19 ride an elevator; its kind of like first class on an airplane. We spent nearly 10 minutes on each side trying to figure out what each park was, every interesting building, the bridges, etc. It was well worth the price of admission (if there HAS to be an admission price.) The only downside was that because of the smog, we could barely see the Statue of Liberty. It was quite depressing to me that there was so much smog. I told Suzie how clear Phoenix becomes and how you can see for miles after the rain. Its like someone finally cleans a window that has not been cleaned in several months. You could see out of it before and you may not have noticed what you’ve been missing, but once someone DOES clean the window, you feel as though you’d only been getting have the picture before. I told her I wished it had just rained.

After waiting in 3 lines to get back down from the 86^th floor, we passed up the $27 picture of us standing in front of the green screened shot of the ESB. Again, I was made bitter by the commercialism that would cause someone who has a total of 31 cents (there was a CD with the picture too) invested to turn an 8600% profit. I left unsatisfied.

Once arriving outside, we saw that the hour it took to get back down the EBS had been enough time to bring in rain clouds. Being from Phoenix, I was very excited at the prospect of walking in the rain. This particular storm reminded me of the monsoons in Phoenix, as the Heavens opened up and were relentless with the amount of water that was emptied on the city in such a short time. We walked a few blocks in the rain, jumping in puddles, slashing around, causing quite a spectacle. Many of the patrons were huddled under store fronts or large table umbrellas were quite entertained at the two foreigners who didn’t have enough sense to get out of the rain. We got many smiles and “thumbs up” from people who had the desire to be where we were, but too much responsibility to let loose and enjoy God’s shower with us.

After a couple miles though, Suzie and I were properly cold and soaked to the bone. The appeal of taking a shower (that didn’t smell like a toilet) had worn off and now we just wanted to get back to the hostel. The subway was an option, but since we had come so far, it seemed like 2 more miles wouldn’t hurt and we had become quite stubborn during the 2 miles of rain walking already. The total trip yesterday was 11 miles walking (almost ½ of it in the rain).

A warm shower later and we were ready to go for dinner. The problem was that it was still raining and we didn’t want to get wet. We waited an hour or so for the rain to lighten up a bit and then set off to find dinner. A Chinese restaurant filled our stomachs while the comedy club we attended afterwards emptied our wallets. They told us it was a 2 drink minimum and we were happy to oblige, afterall, it was still relatively cheap to be there. We waited in the bar and when we went to sit down, we were told that drinks purchased at the bar did not count towards the 2 drinks. This was slightly upsetting because the Crown and Seven I had at the bar was very stiff and 2 more like that and I would not find my way back to the Hostel.

I found a nice girly drink while Suzie drank wine (every drink was at least $10). I also got made fun of properly because of my “Love” shirt I was wearing while drinking such a girly drink. I was comfortable enough though to laugh it off. The comedians were all fairly good, not amazing. We came home and slept in till 11:30 the next day.