Nicole and I were so excited to finally be landing in New York. We had had been anticipating our trip for weeks and although it was going to be a working vacation we were hoping to see some tourist attractions. Once we arrived at our hotel room we looked out the window and saw a familiar site, one that we had seen in countless movies. We immediately pulled out our cameras and frantically started taking pictures. We were finally in New York and what a better welcome for us then the Empire State Building. When we looked out the window we felt like New Yorkers, we were so happy to be in the city and so excited to experience all it had to offer.
Wanting to continue this feeling we decided that a perfect dinner would be a slice of pie. As we walked outside there was a nice warm breeze and as honking horns serenaded us we made our way to a busy street, and there it was a pizza window filled with a variety slices. Our mouths watered with our first bites of ricotta and broccoli and fresh baked calzones we were absolutely content.
We decided to take the long way back to the hotel trying to soak in as much of the night as possible and as we were walking we looked up and saw the Empire State Building. We were a bit confused, this building, all lit up and larger then life was in the opposite direction of the other Empire State Building. Regardless we did what any other tourist might do and pulled out our cameras and started snapping as many photos as possible. We had to ask. How could we not know the Empire State Building and if it wasn’t the Empire State Building then what was it?
We decided to stop at the nearest market for some water and being a tourist in a strange town I asked the man helping us which building was the Empire State Building and pointed in both directions. He looked at me, scratched his head and said, “I don’t know.” Nicole and I walked out laughing at ourselves and at the local who had no idea the difference of the two amazing buildings.
We didn’t find out until the next day as we were walking downtown and saw a building that touched the heavens and written with gold on the front of the building were the words Empire State. We again started pulling out our cameras to capture this landmark continuing to laugh at ourselves and at our confusion. Learning later that the building we thought to be the Empire State building was actually the Chrysler Building, a building just as beautiful if not a wee bit less famous.
