26. Up in the clouds at Rockefeller Center

You can't be in Manhattan and not feel like you want to climb into the clouds to look down on this great sprawling city - after all you spend most of the time on the ground looking skywards.

So for my second climb - after the Empire State Building - I decided to go a bit further up town to the Rockefeller Center - or Top of the Rock as it is called. This building is not quite as tall – just 70 stories high.
 

Built by John D. Rockefeller Jr. during the Great Depression’s worst years, the project employed over 40,000 people and was officially opened in 1933 – only a couple of years after the opening of the ESB.

 

 

Down in the basement and forecourt are the usual food halls - feeding the thousands of tourists and office workers that flock to this Centre each day.

 

 Prometheus - Paul Manship - USA - 1934

 

 

 
You have to run the security gauntlet but finally get to the lifts that fly up to the observation decks. From here is a 360 degree view of NYC and across the river to Jersey City and the other side to Brooklyn and further. Pretty spectacular.

 

 

 Central Park

 

note the tiny white specks on the lawn in the foreground ...

... sun-loving New Yorkers  

 

 

 Empire State Building and World Trade Centre in the background 

 

 

That's enough heights for this foot-sore tourist - tomorrow we'll go someplace that is a bit more down to earth ...