I've never really been able to tell who the tourists are here in Los Angeles, but LA is spread out, and the tourist areas are kind of all over the place (or in the theme parks, which are crowded no matter what, and you know what to expect).

I imagine it's a little easier to detect the tourists in Manhattan -- they're the ones looking *up* at everything, instead of where they're going.

In Ann Arbor, it wasn't the tourists, so much as the U of M students who could be obnoxious (Buffista U of M alum notwithstanding). Many of them acted like they owned the place, when they were the temporary residents.

I would like to report that the brunch place (Big Jones) was pretty awesome.

What did you end up ordering?

Tourists in New York *are* very often looking up, and very often have heavy, expensive cameras hanging around their necks, just like in the movies.

You can also spot them since they're usually in big groups -- unless it's a pair of coworkers heading out for lunch, New Yorkers are usually alone on the streets, you know?

I've never really been able to tell who the tourists are here in Los Angeles, but LA is spread out, and the tourist areas are kind of all over the place (or in the theme parks, which are crowded no matter what, and you know what to expect).

I'm not sure there's another major US city where people commute by walking to the extent that we do in NYC. The LA equivalent of stopping in the middle of a busy sidewalk to take a picture of the Chrysler building would be stopping your car on the 101 to take a picture of the Hollywood sign. (Or whatever example you can think of that would actually be physically possible. My LA geography is crap.) And most people coming to NYC from within the US are coming from a car culture, not a pedestrian one, so it's understandable that they wouldn't get that intuitively. But still. Get out of my way or I will have to hurt you. You can take the exact same picture from right over there.

(Though I do have to say, working near GCT isn't nearly as annoying on that front as working in Times Square was. One of the many things I don't miss about working for MTV is elbowing my way through throngs of teenagers outside the TRL studio at lunchtime.)

The car culture thing is totally true.

Now that I am wayyyyy more into photography, and often have a huge D80 hanging off a shoulder, I am a little bit more understanding of that, too. I am often taking photos, but never from in the middle of a bustling commuting crowd. Also, I am more likely to be taking photos of interesting graffiti that is sort of out of the way, than I am to be of the statue of liberty.

Here's the thing. People advise about the stopping in the sidewalk/getting in the way thing ALL THE TIME. If you've made it to the city without learning that, I feel justified in being annoyed. I'm not expecting people to know to be in the first five cars of the 1 train. I'm expecting them to know rule #1.

And also, being annoyed, mocking, or checking with my shoulder or umbrella? Not a death sentence. The punishment fits the crime, and I feel zero guilt about it. I've been in other places where I've certainly been mocked for my ignorance, and I deserved it. It's not a huge deal.

You would expect that people coming to NY would have learned the difference between an express and a local train, but no.

In Chicago the annoyance is very localized. Every time I walk up Michigan ave north of the river I remember why I never ever do that. Outside of that stretch, it's a lot less traumatic. In DC, it was mostly around the metro that got tough. Which all goes to reinforce Jessica's point, that it's the areas where a busy local scene intersect with masses of tourists, and where they impact your mobility, that are the sore points. Outside of that I don't much care one way or another.

The other place that the tourist slagging comes up, I think, is when you see the masses all lined up and blocking the sidewalk in order to get into something like the Cheesecake Factory. Which is probably still unfair, but I think most locals wherever you are more welcoming to people who seem to have some interest in things that make the city unique, or are at least aware that mega-chains aren't it.

I had two people ask me about the trains in NYC. I'll take that as a sign that I blended.

Heh. The times I've been asked directions (as opposed to seeing people look confused, and taking pity, which I've done many times as a resident of DC), I've never been sure if I look like a native, or just like a tourist who knows what she's doing/has maps. I mean...I got asked by a nun, in Paris, where the library was. But I doubt I looked Parisian...

I got asked by a nun, in Paris, where the library was.

She was hitting on you.