Top of the Rock

If you want to see a gorgeous, elevated view of New York, do yourself a favor and visit the Top of the Rock building at Rockefeller Center. On June 21 after visiting Brooklyn, I fortunately got to Top of the Rock just in time to witness the sun set.

This fancy chandelier hung in the foyer at the bottom of the building. We rode up 60-some floors to reach the top where 3 tiers of observation decks were open to the public.

There’s the infamous Empire State Building.

I think the H&M building does a good job of making itself seen.

And there’s the Chrysler peeking out behind Metlife (omg who cares about the Metlife building anyway??) to the left.

One of the things that Top of the Rock boasts is that you can see a 360 degree view of NYC. Yes…you can see in all four cardinal directions, but squeezing a photo in between was another story. Besides crowds of tourists clamoring over each other to take photos on their ipads, glass and concrete walls prevented me from capturing certain angles. For example, besides the photo previously shown, I did not get more views of the Chrysler. Taking photos up there was much harder than I expected!

All dem tourists…

Wahoo, city background without a green screen!

Here’s the view overlooking Central Park. This is facing east.

What’s crazy is how I can see the building where I work in this view. Good luck picking it out!

Here’s a hint.

And the most impressive part was watching the sun set minute by minute on the Hudson River to the west.

I really do love golden hour.

Finally, a twinkling Empire State at dusk:

Thanks for reading and happy fourth of July! I’ll try to be back after the weekend with more adventures to share.

P.S. Want to know what else you can do around this area? Read Highlights of Rockefeller Center for more!