There are a few reasons not to visit the Empire State Building. But the view of the city is so moving that you just have to drive up.
“Fate is something we invented because we can’t stand the fact that everything that happens is random,” says lead actress Annie in the movie “Sleepless in Seattle”. For real? Anyone standing in front of the Empire State Building suspects that something so amazing was by no means accidental, but could only have come about as a result of collective strength and creativity. The 381 meter high structure (with the antenna even 443 meters) was built in just one year and 45 days from 1930 on 34th Street in the middle of Manhattan. And by sheer coincidence, hardly anyone visits the Empire State Building, not even in the romantic comedy starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, in which the romantic story culminates on the skyscraper’s observation deck.
There are a few reasons not to visit the Empire State Building. You have to queue in a line that stretches around the block, buy a ridiculously expensive ticket, endure an airport-style security check, and then struggle in single file to the elevators. Four million people a year want to go to the viewing platform. From an empirical point of view one has to say: it is still worth doing this at least once, because the view from the two “Observatories” is as moving as in a kitsch film about fate.
Most visitors head to the observation deck on the 86th floor. For $79 you can book an extra ticket that takes you through a glass shaft to the antenna. The Top Deck on the 102nd floor is 443 meters high. In 2019 it was reopened after a long renovation period. On a clear day, you can see all of New York and the five neighboring states through three-meter-high panoramic windows. Up there in this metal capsule you feel quite detached, remote from the world and weightless – as if you were in a spaceship or newly in love.