Fate is a Funny Thing

He's A Keeper

Apparently, Rafael isn't satisfied with his apology, or my reaction, because of how little we spoke at Bryant park, so early on Sunday morning he's dragging me out of bed to go see the Empire State building.

"I've seen the Empire State building," I groan, making myself some breakfast.

"Really?" he asks in amazement.

"Yeah," I drawl, "it's like, one of the biggest buildings in the world. It's pretty hard to miss."

"Of course, you've seen it," he face-palms, "but I'm betting you've never been inside."

"You can go in?" I question, and his reaction makes me roll my eyes. He's clearly getting used to my lack of street knowledge, yet he still can't quite grasp how little I actually know. Nodding at me like a child, he laughs at my embarrassment as he washes up.

Jheez, Rafael, could you make me feel any more stupid.

On our way to the building, I quiz him about what we're actually going to do. First, he mentions the obvious three observatories, where you can see the city from different heights.

At least I know that much.

You can see it from the 80th, 86th, and 102nd floors. Other than the observatories, you can go to see different exhibits, on different floors. These exhibits showcase the history of the building and how the tourist facilities are available to us now.

When we arrive, the wait in the line is long, and I hold back a happy dance when we get to the ticket check. The blonde woman working at the desk blushes as Rafael sends her a polite smile and hands over our tickets. He notices her giddiness and grins wider, making me roll my eyes.

Wait, why do I care?

I don't.

On the second floor are many exhibits about the beginning of the building's time. It shows a hotel on the site, in the 1920s, that had to be knocked down for construction to begin. Following this exhibit is another about the building's construction, which it says, took just over a year. The next exhibit covers what happened on the opening day. The images really display the excitement of the people that attended. After this is an interactive exhibit called Modern Marvel, dedicated to showing sustainability and efficiency. There is an exhibit about the elevators and how they were constructed and another about the parts of the building that tourists don't get to see. Following on from these are exhibits about the building in different films, the most popular being King Kong. One of the exhibits shows what it would be like inside when Kong scales the building. Finally, towards the end, there is a Celebrity dedication exhibit where there are photographs of celebrities when they visited.

We get on the elevator and as we go up, a video of the building being built plays.

"You look like you enjoyed that," Rafael smiles down at me.

"I like learning new things," I nod, watching the video.

"Then why haven't you been here before?" he asks, but I remain silent. I don't really have an answer to that and thankfully he doesn't push.

Exiting the elevator, we come out on the 80th floor and head to the first observatory deck. Pausing at the window, we both take a few seconds to admire the view before continuing to see the exhibits.

The first asks you questions and then tells you other places to visit in the city. The next shows how they put together the music and light shows. Next is a landscape image of the city, drawn by a British artist. Lastly, there is an exhibit showing the viewfinders that the 86th floor is known for.

"Hey, can I ask you something?" Rafael breaks the silence.

"If I say no, you'll probably ask me anyway," I joke, earning a grin from him.