I work 10 minutes from Rockefeller plaza by foot.
Silly me, I thought I would pop over to Rockefeller Plaza the night of the tree lighting ceremony to catch a glimpse of the spectacle.
Instead, I spent 15 minutes going through security, another 10 pushing my way through the crowds, and 20 minutes staring at Jumbotron waiting for the event to begin. After the first opening act, for which I could see only the televised rendition given my distance from the main event, I gave up and turned around, which led to a 40 minute exit.
The police had barricaded the area with metal grates. People were confused. The paths were created to be one-way, so many people--myself included--were in a position of having to walk several blocks out of the way just to go back in the direction we originally intended to walk. Disgruntled pedestrians started jumping over the grates in swarms, conjuring imagery from the second half of Titanic. People started yelling at the police. The police were getting snarky in return. People lost the "holiday spirit" rather quickly.
Though I viewed only a fraction of the Tree Lighting Ceremony and cursed myself for getting swept up in both the holiday zeal as well as the frantic crowds, it was still worth it. In future, I will avoid Rockefeller Plaza in coming tree-lighting ceremonies, but now I've at least witnessed the scene.
And make no mistake, the area is decked out for the holidays, indeed.
