Empire State Building - Valentine's Day-New York City

Who is this happy couple? Neither of them are me and they are appearing at the top of my blog entitled Piics of Me in Front of Stuff. They are clearly standing and kissing in front of stuff and here's their picture.

So what's the deal?

I spent Valentine's Day at a wedding...at the top of Empire State Building...which the bride and groom had won for free from brides.com. Here's a little backstory. Kevin and Heidi, the lucky contest winners and the newly married couple pictured above, are friends of a friend who were willing to welcome a total stranger, me, to one of the most special moments in their life. Maybe it was because they wished to be featured in a blog of such high integrity like Pics of Me in Front of Stuff or maybe they needed some butts in the seats and my butt just happened to be located in a convenient geographic proximity to the Empire State Building. Regardless of the reason I was invited and I was on top of the Empire State Building with them.

In case you did not know, the Empire State Building is a prime piece of New York City tourism. Completed in 1931 at the corner of Fifth Ave and West 34th Street, the skyskraper was the tallest building in the world until 1972 when it was outpaced by the North Tower of the World Trade Center. A disturbing connection between those two buildings was the fact that both had planes crash into them. The Empire State Building was crashed into by a B-25 Bomber but, clearly, did not suffer the same terrible fate as the North Tower. Amazingly, the elevator operator survived a 75 story plunge breaking world record for longest fall survived in an elevator. Maybe that was why it was not a free trip to the top.

In a previous attempt to reach the pinnacle, I was at the end of a line with a 2-hour wait. I did not reach the top that day though I did get the lovely picture to the left. But I feel the siren call of tourist attractions quite strongly and I would have to take the elevator to top when given another opportunity. King Kong could not resist the majesty of the Empire State Building. He climbed up it a few times. Am I any better than the giant ape? That may be a question better left unanswered. It may be hard to believe sometimes, I do have feelings. I am very sensitive regarding my back hair.

In the wee hours of the morning Pics of Me in Front of Stuff's chief photographer and I ventured into the City that Never Sleeps and worked our way to the Lower West Side. We witnessed the joining of two people in holy matrimony. The happy couple exchanged their vows on one of the upper floors and posed for the necessary pictures featured in advertisements for brides.com, the Empire State Builidng, and the US Coast Guard. Both are officers and graduates of the US Coast Guard Academy as were most of the invitees. Then the entire wedding moved up to the Observation Deck to take in views of Manhattan in the early morning as well as for the bride and groom to be photographed some more.

It will come as no surprise that it was cold and deserted at the top of that building. The wedding started around 7AM. How often do you see a tourist destination completely devoid of tourists? Considering there had been a two-hour wait for the elevator ride previously, this was probably an image rarely seen by non-employees. Thanks to Kevin and Heidi's invitation I was lucky enough to witness it. My wanderings often take me to unique pieces of scenery, but most of those are places people besides me have little desire to see. This trip to the top of the Empire State Building surpasses all of my other unusual wanderings in exclusivity by a mile. It was their special day, but I can not pretend that I did not feel a burning desire to do what I always do at landmarks - my narcistic need to get my picture with it in the background. And naturally, I did.

Congratulations Heidi and Kevin! Thanks for letting us be a part of your special day!