Introspection and a lot of honking and sirens and slamming doors

I have decided to take a personal retreat. Go away for a week. To think and be introspective. I wanted the time to myself, to be alone. That is, alone among millions. 

I landed yesterday afternoon at LaGuardia NYC.  Staying at a POD hotel in Midtown. I say that like I am a local. I am not, but I've done my research and now 24 hours later, also a ton of walking.  I know from Uptown to the Villages and from Eastside to Westside. I am concentrating this trip in Midtown with a side trip to the Westside for a film.

This POD hotel concept means my room is a tad larger than a closet but affordable.  AND, most important, it is within walking of places I want to go, such as Rockefeller Center and Central Park.  I was thinking this morning it feels like a dormitory. There are so many rooms on a floor.  Most don't have their own bathrooms. Mine does. The people staying here are diverse in age and ethnicity. There definitely is an international feel to this place.  Maybe that is NYC in general.  But we are close to the United Nations and there are several consulates in the neighborhood.  My hood for another two and a half days.

I don't really get why people think New Yorkers are assholes. Sure, there's a lot of honking. A lot. But my experience has always been positive. I like them and they make me feel as though they like me in return. I know they are trained to treat tourists kindly to earn a bigger tip. I still choose to think their kindness toward me is natural.  Like when I entered apparently a no-enter zone at the airport,

"Ma'am, where are you going?"

 "Baggage Claim F."

 "It's that way," he says. Smiling I might add. And he did not shoot me either.

Some photos so far:

 Is this a man or a woman?  Discuss. I say man with breasts.

Maybe the first recorded transgender person.  So much art deco.

 

Observatory at Rockefeller Center. Top of the Rock.  The view shows more of the city than

Empire State Building observatory.  My humble opinion. You get 360 degrees.  See it all.

 I chickened out taking a picture of all the cops in front of Rockefeller Center - at the
 entrance on the other side of the iconic gold statute. They were well armed I must say.
 I don't mean that as a double entendre. Assault rifles and everything.

The ole' Pod.