Visit to the Empire State Building, June 23, 1996, by Viktoriya Kravets

From MemoryArchive

Who:        Viktoriya Kravets
What:       Empire State Building
When:       June 23, 1996
Where:      Manhattan

I remember the first time my mother took me to the Empire State building. It was on June 23rd, 1996. We went to see all of Manhattan for my eleventh birthday. I remember the sky being a perfect blue, with only a few puffy clouds dotting the horizon. The Empire State Building is a centrifugal entity in New York City. Now for the first time I was going to go all the way to the top.

Visiting the Empire States building is an inherently tourist thing to do, so there is always a huge line to get inside the building. We waited on line for three hours, once we were finally in the elevator broke on the eighteeth floor. We had to take the stairs for another 20 or so floors left to the top . I did not mind at all. I was so excited to see everything from way up high. After the exhausting stair climb, we had finally reached the balcony.

I remember being nervous, because I was and still am a little nervous of heights. My mother gave me a soft smirk and remarked, “You did not climb all those stairs to stand in the hallway”. She was right; I slowly stepped towards the edge end of the balcony. Oh, man I do not think I could ever forget how magnificent it all looked from a hundred flights off the ground. The yellow sea of cabs appeared smaller than M&Ms.

From the Empire State building the big city of New York seemed like a land far away. It was at that point that I realized what it was to be a New Yorker. Being so far away in the quite and made me sort of miss the chaos of the city. That was one of my favorite birthdays and it was nice to share that moment with my mother. I now go to school in Washington D.C. but ever time I drive into Manhattan on my way home to Brooklyn. I feel right back in place. I feel right at home in my big, loud dirty city.