New York City’s Rockefeller Center has recently re-opened revamped viewing decks on the 67th to 70th floors, called Top of the Rock. For those seeking a balancing respite from the clang and crowds of urban life, this is a perfect, new, still semi-secret idyll.

Last night we arrived in the crystal-chandeliered basement-level canyon at 10:30 pm, gave our tickets to a smiling woman (I bought ours online a week before—they’re open from 8:30 am to midnight) and were whisked into a shiny, chic elevator, got off to more smiling people, and had the friendliest (and perhaps most thorough) security check I’ve ever had. Then we saw a cheesy, very short film about the building before being ushered into another elevator. It took a second to realize the elevator was glass-topped. We watched through blinking lights as we ascended up and up, away and away. We reached a maze of quartz crystal-laden hallways (really! They have some sort of deal with Swarovski) and then: magic. A velvety, twinkling, far-away sea of lights. There was a tall glass barrier that didn’t interfere with the view. And after ascending another level––no glass, nothing but a low fence leaving you and the city breath-to-breath. It was cold and stunning. With rivers shimmering through the lights. It made me want to fly like Lois, over the only dark patch—Central Park. Low and steady, over the trees, the reservoir, the city’s green heart.