Rockefeller Center

My first real New  York sight I wanted to check out was Rockefeller Center.  All my  other meanderings were to get to this place and check out the view from the Top of the Rock.

The whole of the block is over run with crazy tourists, especially this time of year checking out all the wonderful holiday decorations. Approaching the building, my lens was nowhere near wide enough to get capture all 70 stories of the GE Building.   The christmas tree was a site to behold, but they actually had it all blocked off & you could only get close access by paying for a professional picture in front of it.

I grabbed a quick peek at all the people skating in the shadow of history & headed inside to grab my ticket to the top.

There was an amazing crystal art display hanging in the atrium that was simply stunning.

I had about 45 minutes to kill before my ticket time, so I headed to the Sea Grill where I could watch the ice skaters on the rink & eat lunch at the bar.  Once inside, you have to go through security & get your bags checked and walk through a metal detector before watching a few short movies on the history of various aspects of the building, NBC and Swarovski.

But the views from the top sure were worth it!  I loved the view of central park & being able to look all around the island of Manhattan.

Looking east towards the East River, lots of beautiful and amazing buildings- so much diversity and creativity in the architectures for the eyes to explore and enjoy.

The lower level has a glass wall, with occassional breaks in the panes to stick a lens through.  Using the zoom lens & seeing building after building as far as the eye could see was impressive reminder of how truly big and expansive the city is.

The views toward the south were just as spectacular of the Empire State Building.  The sun was already setting in the early afternoon & the thin layer of clouds produced a cool haze on the lower end of the island.

I went up to the upper level, which was more interior, but didn’t have the glass.

The George Washington bridge in front of all the western building bathed in sunlight was one of my favorite shots of my trip to the top.

Looking east, the RFK and Hell’s Gate bridges span the East River.

I peeked into Central Park & see the horse drawn carriages.  I glimpsed of a neon corner of Times Square. I lusted after all the apartments lined up along 5th Avenue with gorgeous park views.

I arrived back down to the bottom just in time to learn Snookie would NOT be coming out of the ball & for that, I was eternally thankful. I worked my way through the crowds to capture a nice frontal shot of the ice skating rink & Christmas tree bringing a little pizazz to the gilded Prometheus statue.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: Happy Birthday John- here’s to many more years, beers and cigars!