Vacation Trip Part 5-NYC Empire State Building and Macy's

Our trip continues with two more must have stops.  Stop one was the Empire State Building.  We went there for our first stop Monday morning.  Looking up from the base of the building you can not see the top.

The traffic 

Looking up the Empire State Building

There was a line but based on the roped area we walked up and down, the line was relatively small.  You can pre purchase your tickets and miss a large portion of the line.  We bought our tickets when we got there, they are $32 to go to the 86th floor or $52 to go to the 102nd floor.  I was good with the 86th and would say that is was wonderful.  As we were standing in line to purchase our tickets I just got so thrilled.  David looked at my face and said "Are you excited?"  "Yes!!!"  I felt like a little kid getting to see Santa.  So very silly.

We rode the elevator to the 80th floor.  They have an exhibit there.  Then stood in line for the 86th floor.  A security guard invited anyone interested to walk the stairs to the 86th to save time.  We took her up on that and headed up six flights of stairs.  Several went but a few probably shouldn't have.  I was getting quite concerned about one lady ahead of us who finally stopped and stood against the wall.

Once to the top we took lots of pictures around the building and with each other.  So much fun.  I even asked one of the security guards if I could take a picture with him, I thought their uniforms were so cute.  He seemed pleasantly surprised, and said, "me?" He was adorable.

The statue of liberty looks so small in the back ground

The sweet security guard

It's a long way down

This was a yummy Stomboli for lunch!!!

From there we headed to 34th street.  Macy's is there, that is where the parade route is filmed, outside of Macy's.  Macy's is huge, 10 floors including the basement.  The store takes up the block.  I was having a hard time deciding which side is where they film and the performances are.  So I asked several employees.  I was quite surprised to find out none of them knew.  I did get a real good deal on an outfit.  We headed off and I was a bit disappointed but figured I probably could guess, where it was filmed. We turned the corner and some employees were standing in front of an entrance, I had to ask one more time.  This time I asked the right person.  The man was actually a security guard for the parade and was full of lots of information. I had a great time talking with him.

the corner where the floats turn.  

According to the security guard, this is where they perform!

From there we hopped back on our bus and headed to the North blue tour.  It took about three hours, but it was a good chance to see and learn about that area.  When we got back we were very hungry.  One of the tour guides gave us a suggestion to a bbq place.  We headed there got right in and got our order in.  Then we sat back and watched everyone else get their food.  Apparently our order got lost.  While waiting we had a nice conversation with a man next to us who was there on business.  He was a pastor and said that when he had taken his family to NYC recently, they actually saved a lot of money by staying in New Jersey and taking the ferry back and forth.  The food was good, we were tired but it was time to get to bed and prepare for our last full day in NYC.