independence day at 230 fifth Ave

walk in here. go all the way down the long hallway until you reach the elevators with 1 sliding door instead of 2. go in and hit 20. get off and walk up the stairs past the penthouse. arrive on rooftop bar/patio, no cover (usually. we paid a 2 drink minimum for independence day festivities)

enjoy yourself immensely and try not to get kicked out for sneaking into the VIP section during the 4th of July fireworks show

the penthouse

the patio

for a mere $250 you could reserve your very own table!

organic mint for my mojitos

my lilypond bag has the perfect cupholder

waiting for the sun to go down, and fireworks to begin

(2 mojitos and 2 pear martinis deep)

the empire state building and in the middle (itty-bitty) is the chrysler building

(luke's favorite building in the city)

rinky-dink bathroom

almost looks tropical, right? amazing sunset

a little underwhelming being higher than the actual fireworks. regardless, i only got this (and other) shots because when a security guy looked the other way, i darted right up in the VIP section and just started snapping away. a real paparazzi in training! i waved for luke to follow, and as soon as the guard turned again, luke was right up there with me. sadly, our victory was short-lived. luke had been spotted by a waitress and we got the boot. yep, we got kicked out immediately, but were relieved to go home anyway (we had been standing for 5 hours) so we got a cab and watched the recording on tv, which was a more spectacular range of views anyway :)

 this was only the second year they've done the fireworks on the hudson river between new jersey and manhattan. in years past it's always been on the east river between manhattan and queens/brooklyn (which would have been perfect since we live so close to carl shurz park) next year, we will opt for a VIP seat on one of the barges over the hudson and sit underneath the show

i hope everyone is having a whimsical summer and getting to play as much as possible