A Break From Chess Today - NYC Photo Tour

I have lived in the NYC metropolitan area for over 30 years now. I rarely come into New York City to be a tourist. In my corporate life in the 80s and 90s I was just another one of those working stiffs making the daily commute into the city.Post corporate rat race, my trips to the city were for some culture, and lots of chess. I was down at the Marshall last night for my Thursday "cracktion" fix. (A post is in the works!) Today I played tourist with my husband and some friends from out of town. One who had never been to New York City before.

"Top of the Rock"
30 Rockefeller Center

The Empire City Building in the background. If you want a nice view of the skyline come to Rockefeller Center. Yes there are lots of tourists, but the staff seems to just do a better job of managing the crowds then they do the Empire State Building. I've lived here for 32 years and this was my first trip to the "Top of the Rock." My one and only trip to the top of the World Trade Center observation deck was for the Kasparov - Anand match on Sept 11, 1995.

Grand Central Terminal

Walking around Grand Central is its own little trip. It's an amazing building with magnificent architectural details. On the lower level there are lots of little restaurants. 5 of us ate lunch for $15 each. Not bad for midtown Manhattan.

Saint Patrick's Cathedral

I've photographed the inside of many churches on my travels. This was the first time I've taken a picture in St. Pat's. I would have like to have spent more time there, but we were trying to cram a lot of stuff in a short day.

Rockefeller Plaza
Outdoor cafe in spring summer and early fall
Skating rink in the winter.

Central Park
Somewhere down there, somebody was playing chess
at the chess & checkers house

I had to get one little chess plug in since this is a chess blog. :-)

Manhattan is an island and it takes a bridge or a tunnel to get in and out.

Times Square
Too many damn tourists!

Sometimes interesting things happen in Times Square.
This evoked memories of the Korean fan dancers I saw last summer.

Getting outta town on a Friday evening!
Traffic to the Holland Tunnel

As we ate dinner we watch a bunch of idiot drivers get stuck in the intersection when the light changed. There were three cops there ticketing people right on the spot for blocking the intersection. It takes the cops all of about a minute to issue a ticket. They have a machine that reads the bar code off the registration sticker, prints the tickets, the cop tears it off gives it to the motorist. He can do this all before the light changes again. There is a reason I avoid driving in Manhattan unless absolutely necessary.