The Bridges of New York City

On each of my visits to New York City, I have made a point of getting out on the water and examining the city from a different perspective than most visitors enjoy.

This has involved joining Circle Line Cruises that either circumnavigate the whole island of Manhattan, or by joining the wonderful Hidden Harbor Tours that explore parts of  the lower New York harbor that very few people, visitors or New Yorkers, ever get to see up close. The three cruises/tours listed below are all aboard the beautiful replica 1920s style yacht, Manhattan. The tours are run by Classic Harbor Line, and depart from Pier 62, at the Chelsea Piers.

New York City Bridges, Infrastructure and Architecture tour

This weekend sees one of those on water excursions taking place under the auspices of the New York chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIANY): the New York City Bridges, Infrastructure and Architecture tour.

           

On Saturday, March 29th, 2014, the AIANY will be sailing under all 18 bridges that link Manhattan to each of the other four city boroughs. John Kriskiewicz, a professor of Architecture and City Planning, will provide informed and relevant historical details and information about each of the 18 bridges, as well as other commentary throughout the tour. To quote from the email I received:

“Step aboard the luxurious yacht Manhattan for a full round-Manhattan cruise that takes an in depth look at the engineering marvels of New York City's fantastic, historic and wildly different bridges, tunnels, infrastructure and mass transit feats!  Tour includes content on city planning, Robert Moses, housing and architecture as well! 

Being low to the water and designed for comfort and small groups, guests are sure to have excellent views and photo opportunities. There is room for all in our elegantly appointed, cushioned and climate-controlled observatory, or guests may enjoy the outer teak decks when weather permits.”

If you are unable to make it to this weekend’s tour, don’t despair, the tours will continue right through until December 28, 2014. You can view the full list of available dates and make your bookings here…

When: Saturday March 29th

$76 per person | Buy Tickets

DISCOUNT CODE: Use the online code EBLAST10 to receive a $10 discount off the price of each ticket! NOTE: This code is only good for the AIANY bridges tour this weekend (March 29, 2014). It does not apply to the two tours listed below.

AIANY Lower Manhattan Boat Tour

The 1920s style yacht, Manhattan.

If you can’t make it to one of the New York City Bridges, Infrastructure and Architecture tours, you might want to join one of the Lower Manhattan Architecture Tours which begin in April. Again, informed commentary is provided by members of the American Institute of Architects' (AIA) New York Chapter.

The information provided is general enough for the casual visitor, yet detailed enough for the locals, design students and professionals! Again, your craft will be the elegant 1920s style yacht, the Manhattan. Tour participant will experience a comfortable and unique tour through the Hudson and East Rivers from the climate-controlled and enclosed back-deck observatory or (weather permitting), you can promenade on the outer decks for fresh air and unobstructed views of the lower Manhattan skyline.

When: April 20-October 30, 2014.

$46 per person | Buy Tickets

           

NYC Sunset Cruise Champagne Sunset Cruise

For the romantically inclined, why not get out on the water and experience a beautiful New York City sunset. You will also have a chance to enjoy the illuminated cityscape during a comfortable and unique NYC Harbor cruise along the Hudson and East Rivers. A full bar and specialty NY State wines by the bottle are available for purchase aboard the Yacht Manhattan, and one complimentary drink is also included.

Currently, tours are scheduled to take place from March 28-May 28, 2014. I would assume that more date will be added for the summer and autumn months.

$52 per person | Buy Tickets.

Paris In The Snow

Some people love Paris in spring, others in the hot, tourist crowded months of summer, and still more in the quieter, cooler weeks of autumn. Of course, I would be happy to see Paris during any of those seasons, but as it happens, on my return to the City of Lights―after an absence of more than 30 years―I went in the midst of a cold, windswept, snowy December. And I loved every minute of my ten days there. Well, almost every minute (see an earlier post One Ring to Scam Us All.

Living as I do in Adelaide, Australia’s ‘Athens of the South’, the only time I have ever seen snow in quantity was when I lived and worked in London during the early 1970s; again on one brief road trip through Australia’s Snowy Mountains (and that was well after the snow season had ended); and during my 2010 visit to Paris.

While I had no personal issues dealing with the cold and heavy snow falls, my camera certainly did. From time to time the mechanism would freeze up, and the lens would refuse to adjust its focal length which proved frustrating, especially when I was trying to capture images and video footage of interest. However, I was more than happy with most of the material I eventually got.

This very brief video and photo compilation documents several hours spent on the streets of Paris during that visit in 2010.

Sedona, Arizona

Welcome to Sedona — "Arizona's Little Hollywood". Sedona was the location for more than sixty Hollywood productions from the first years of movie making through to the 1970s.

Aficionado’s of B-Grade Westerns (and a fair smattering of A-Grade shoot-em-ups), will recognise Sedona’s signature red rocks which featured prominently in dozens of Hollywood productions including Johnny Guitar, Angel and the Badman, Desert Fury, Blood on the Moon, and 3:10 to Yuma. Mind you, in these and many other movies the locations masqueraded variously as Texas, California, Nevada, and even the Canadian border territory.

When John Ford’s production of Stagecoach pulled into town in 1938, it kicked off thirty years of A-picture activity—some forty-four features through 1973. During those years, many of Hollywood’s biggest names were photographed in front of Sedona’s signature landscape, including Errol Flynn and John Wayne, and James Stewart, Robert Mitchum and Elvis Presley―to name just a handful.

Located up and down both sides of Sedona’s main street are numerous tributes to the many well known actors and actresses who came to town to appear in the Westerns that helped make them famous. Each of these memorials features an image of the actor and a list of all the movies he or she appeared in.

If you are a movie buff, and especially if you like Westerns, a visit the Sedona Motion Picture Museum (in the town’s main street), is an absolute must if you want to learn more about this fascinating period in Sedona and Hollywood history.

By the by, Sedona was named to honor Sedona Arabella Miller Schnebly (1877–1950), the wife of Theodore Carlton Schnebly, the city's first postmaster. Sedona, the woman, was apparently celebrated for her hospitality and industriousness.

I also stopped by Slide Rock State Park. Originally the Homestead of Frank L. Pendley, who arrived in the canyon in 1907, Slide Rock State Park is a 43-acre historic apple farm located in Oak Creek Canyon. 

Penley’s pioneering innovation saw him create a unique irrigation system still in use by the park today. The park is named after the famous Slide Rock, a stretch of slippery creek bottom adjacent to the homestead. Visitors can slide down a slick natural water chute or wade or relax along the creek.

Native American History

Of course, long before Frank L. Pendley, arrived in the canyon, and long before Sedona Arabella Miller Schnebly, and the many Hollywood A-listers turned up, the first documented human presence in the Sedona area dated back to between 11500 to 9000 B.C., which by any measure makes these modern visitors (especially myself), Johnny-come-lately’s.

However, even native tribes were supplanted and replaced by a succession of other native peoples over these thousands of years. Paleo-Indians by the Sinagua people, who were in turn replaced by the Yavapai and Apache peoples. Thankfully, descendants of the Yavapai and the Apache are still with us today. Despite being forcibly removed from the Verde Valley in 1876, to the San Carlos Indian Reservation, 180 miles (290 km) southeast, about 200 Yavapai and Apache people returned to the Verde Valley in 1900. Today their descendants comprise the culturally distinct―but single political entity―now living in the Yavapai-Apache Nation.

More Information

City of Sedona Official website…

Sedona on Wikipedia…

Slide Rock State Park...