New York - Manhattan Day 4 Part 2 (Photo Spam)
It took us a while to actually get up the Empire State Building because of the queues. We also went to watch some simulator thingy that was really boring but that's another thing. We had to queue for the elevators to go up to the 80th floor (?) and then queue again to take a second elevator up to the 85th floor.
It was quite crowded but enough for us to still move around and actually squeeze into spots to get front views. Generally people go around the entire building to see all the different views so once someone leaves, we fill in their spots.
That's the Flat Iron building we were at a few days before. Interesting story: Andrew actually managed to connect to the wifi from our breakfast spot so far away from it for about a minute or so and all his whatsapp messages came in. It disconnected before we could get a picture of the moment.
That is the top of the Empire State Building. It looks like the machine in Avengers when it lights up later in the night.
The sun was setting so we started to camp in one area to take shots of the sky. I think I spammed too many.
I have to admit though - it looks better on camera than in real. The contrasts in real wasn't as strong.
Slowly the sky got dark and darker and even the Empire State Building turned on its own lighting.
The Blue makes it look like the reactor in Avengers, doesn't it?
I'm so glad my camera can take nice night light pictures. Some of the above pictures has a blue saturated color in it but that is not part of my settings. There was actually a blue light shining upwards right where I was standing so my pictures came up blue if I was taking them at a certain angle.
These are my assisstant blue lights directly below us.
Well, I think the night view was nice than the day view on the whole; but it was great being able to see both plus a sunset at the same time. It was getting rather cold because it was breezy up there so we started to head down. By then, it was already past 9, closer to 10pm. Imagine we spent 2+ hours up there just snapping pictures and they are all documented here.
We went on a mission to search for the famous Shake Shack as per introduced by a book and other friends as well. We googled it and found that there was an outlet near the Flat Iron Building that was closing at 12am. But it wasn't that close so we took our 2nd option - the Grand Central Terminal. It took us quite a fair bit of walking, and knowing that it was closing at 11pm (this branch closes earlier), we couldn't afford to wander especially since this is our dinner (Wendy's earlier was like a snack since our lunch was so light.)
We did not even realize that the outlet was in the Grand Central Terminal because the address was written as a street. So we walked down thinking we would see a small restaurant, but instead, we arrived at the Grand Central Terminal looking like lost little tourist.
Luckily, this directory was placed outside of the terminal so I spotted Shake Shack on the list and we headed in.
And the place is gorgeous. Its really huge with different restaurants around. It did not take us much longer to find the place.
Even when it was close to 11pm, we actually couldn't find seats. We had to wait for other people to leave before we could get seats.
We ordered, not really knowing what to expect, nor knowing what was the best around here. Mike and I got the Stack Shacks and Andrew took the Smoke Shack. We topped that order off with cheese fries and normal fries.
Waiting for our order to come~
The ones on the right are Mike's and mine and the one on the left is Andrew's. All I can say is, Mike and I chose well.
These are definitely the best burgers I have ever eaten. The was melted cheese in that brown patty that would flow out hot and nice and there was crispy deep fried whole portobello mushroom added with a beef patty, lettuce and tomatos.
It's a must-try if you come to New York. It's available in other cities in New York (not just Manhattan) but I'm not too sure if there are any in other states. There isn't a branch in Buffalo and writing this makes me want to eat it so bad. It was really really good and Andrew went for a 2nd round after his own burger because he saw us eating ours. He ordered a black/white milkshake, and that too was delicious but very heavy. Drinking half a cup would make you full, and it is almost like ice-cream because it is so thick.
So after our very satisfying meal, we decided to take a look around the Grand Central Terminal.
It was way late, so we hopped up and cab and headed back to the apartment especially since my parents were not with me. The boys were scared they might be worried about me but they didn't really say anything about us arriving back so late.
Well, school is going to start tomorrow (nooooooo!). Let's hope all goes well xD
Labels: Empire State Building, food, Manhattan, NY, Pictures, Shake Shack, sun, sunset, travel, USA
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