Memories at ESB – III

“Bruce Springsteen announced his latest tour – The River – to celebrate 40 years since its release. I’ve seen him all over the UK and Europe, but never in the USA. We’d never been to America, so with the wife’s blessing I bought myself a ticket for the show at MSG and then booked our holiday. We flew out on the Thursday for a seven day stay, the show being on the Sunday, which gave us a couple of days sightseeing. We woke up excited Friday morning in our hotel when we were informed by the media that the biggest snowstorm [on record] was due to hit overnight and everything would be shut down. [We] set off to explore as much as possible before the inevitable.  
 
Our first port of call was the Empire State Building, which is THE most iconic building in Manhattan. We wanted to experience the view before the snow arrived. We entered the ESB and swiftly made our way to the top. We stepped out onto the viewing platform to be greeted by the bluest, most gorgeous cloudless morning with a 360–degree view of Manhattan and beyond. Not often am I lost on words, but this was breathtaking. It was also cold – I mean bitterly cold to the extent that we could only stay outside for a few minutes before having to go back inside to warm up. All in all, we probably stayed there for a couple of hours just drinking in all of New York before heading down to take a boat ride on the Hudson. Due to adverse weather conditions, the [original] Springsteen show was cancelled. I bought another ticket [for Wednesday] and ended up front row.”