what's the most highly populated place you've ever been alone?

I’ve got you beat by over 20,000 seats on this one. I have on at least a couple of occasions been alone in Michigan Stadium, the home of the University of Michigan football team. Also known as “the Big House,” Michigan Stadium currently seats 107,501 and the game day attendance figures are often greater than that.

One time I was watching a Michigan game on TV, and they flashed a graphic showing that the attendance at that day’s game was greater than the population of Ann Arbor. The past few seasons, they will show the attendance on the scoreboard and thank everyone for being “part of the largest crowd at a fooball game anywhere in the United States!”

Oh, just in case anyone was wondering why the official capacity of Michigan Stadium ends in “1:” the “extra seat” belongs to the late Fritz Crisler, who coached Michigan football in the 1940s and was the athletic director until 1968. The basketball arena is named after him, although people unfamiliar with Michigan sports history have been known to assume that it is “Chrysler” as in the car company.

Downtown New York, Blizzard of 1996. Quite amazing. Much more abandoned than after 9/11. Even on the night of 9/11 itself, I saw so many people out in restaurants; no one wanted to be alone, I think (I was one of them).

Bondi Beach, Sydney.

It’s a kilometre long, and if you took an aerial photo of it on a summer weekend, you’d not be able to see the sand for people. I lived at Bondi, and used to go for walks along the beach in winter. It was beautiful, and I couldn’t believe I’d often be the only person on the entire beach.

Mongkok, called by some the most densely populated square kilometer in the world. BTW, it’s a district in Hong Kong. During a typhoon. Strange

Around 1AM, corner of Patrick Henry Drive & Washington Boulevard here in Arlington. Woke up that morning thinking it was 6 hours later than it really was, it wasn’t until I got outside and noticed the street was unusually empty that I realized I had made a mistake.

Mine’s a school thing too. I used to work in housing over the summer, and some times they’d send two of us to dorms that usually held 5-10,000 people. They were so empty we’d have to bring keys to let ourselves in.

I’ve been in South Station so late that there were only 20 or so people there (including staff!) on more than one ocassion, but I have no idea how many people are typically there.