Before the American Revolution, New York had more enslaved Africans – its most valuable commodity – than any other colony in the North. There were also free Africans, some descended from those freed by the Dutch West India Company. Men cleared farmland, filled swamps, and built structures and roads like Broadway and The Wall (today’s Wall Street). Women sewed, cooked, harvested, and cared for owners’ children as well as their own. From an early age, children carried water and firewood. The work was hard and death rates for Africans were disproportionately high. – National Park Service / US Department of the Interior
Between 1690-1794, approximately 15,000 enslaved and free Africans were buried in a 6.6-acre plot in Lower Manhattan near what is now Duane and Elk Streets. The area was identified on maps of the time as the Negros Burial Ground.
In 1991, an archeological team that was field-testing a construction site in Lower Manhattan (a requirement on any project which uses public funds that may have the potential to impact historic resources) made a surprising discovery – skeletal remains 24 feet below ground.
Monument
Monument closeup
Detail from the monument
They stopped excavation when it was determined that the remains were from the Negros Burial Ground. In all 419 bodies of men, women and children were unearthed. Bone fragments and other items uncovered at the site were sent to Howard University for examination.
The remains held a compelling narrative about the life of New York City’s African population. It showed that many were malnourished, suffered from delayed bone development and recurrent illnesses. Nine percent of those buried at the site were children 2 years of age and younger.
Many of the dead were adorned with beads, which were culturally significant, and shells that were believed to “enclose the soul’s immortal presence.” Some had their eyes covered with coins.
Lifesize installation of mourners, African Burial Ground National Monument
Installation depicting mourners, African Burial Ground Visitor Center
Photos of the remains
At first, the government wanted to exhume and preserve the remains and continue construction of the 34-story Ted Weiss federal building but the community was outraged. Months of protests led to an agreement. A third of an acre of the site was set aside for a memorial.
In 1993, the African Burial Ground was designated a National Historic Landmark, and a National Monument in 2006. In 2003, the remains were reinterred in seven raised mounds at the site.
Exhibits at the Visitor Center
Exhibits at the Visitor Center
Exhibits at the Visitor Center
A memorial, which was designed by Rodney Léon was completed in 2007. It features a sunken Libation Court, a gathering space for cultural ceremonies, and is surrounded by a Circle of the Diaspora that is inscribed with signs, symbols, and images from the African Diaspora.
There’s also an Ancestral Chamber that provides sacred space for contemplation, and a Wall of Remembrance that describes events that contributed to the creation of the African Burial Ground. The location where the remains were reburied are marked by Ancestral Pillars.
Exhibit at the Visitor Center
A visitor center, which is located on the ground floor of the Weiss Building, features a permanent exhibition which tells the story of the lives of Africans in New York through photos, scrapbooks and installations. Life-size and lifelike sculptures of men and women gathered around a coffin is the centerpiece of the exhibition.
African Burial Ground National Memorial Particulars
The African Burial Ground Memorial site, which is at the corner of Duane and Elk Streets, is closed during the winter. However, the African Burial Ground Visitor Center, located around at 290 Broadway at Duane Street is open Tuesday-Saturday 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Admission is free, but donations are accepted.
Further Reading:
Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898 [simpleazon-image align=”center” asin=”0195140494″ locale=”us” height=”160″ src=”http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51A0v0-vafL._SL160_.jpg” width=”108″]
Walking south from the Staples store on Broadway, I looked west down Vesey Street and saw the World Trade Center as if for the first time. With its solid-looking base tapering into a 400’ antenna, it looks as if it’s reaching to the sky.
Seen from Vesey and Broadway Streets
I stopped and stared for a few minutes before taking out my camera. I’ve taken other photos of the World Trade Center before from near the site and from the New Jersey side but I think this is probably one of the best views I’ve seen.
At 1,776 feet (the year the United States Declaration of Independence was signed), it is, at the moment, the tallest building in the U.S., and the fourth tallest in the world. And it does looks pretty attractive. Framed by surrounding buildings, softened a bit by a few leafless trees, it’s shiny, ultra modern exterior and clean lines makes me think of the narrow legged pants that seem to be the rage in men’s fashions.
The antenna at the World Trade Center Building
As I looked at it through the viewfinder, my camera lens bringing it closer, I could almost understand why a teenager from New Jersey took an elevator to the antenna a few weeks ago.
And I could almost imagine daredevil climbers pouring over every photo taken from every angle trying to figure out how to scale it.
I was about to move on when I noticed something else: a small plane flying away from the building. Once again, I stopped and quickly refocused so I could capture it.
Can you see that small plane?
I’ve yet to visit the museum. Truth be told, I’m a little nervous. Too many memories.
Linking up this week with Nancie’s Travel Photo Thursday at Budget Travelers Sandbox and Noel’s Travel Photo Monday at Travel Photo Discovery. Be sure to head over to view more photos from around the world.
Anchoring the corner of Mulberry and Grand Streets in New York City’s Little Italy is an attractive 19-century brick building that is the home of the Italian American Museum.
Exterior of the museum
The idea for a museum to document the history of the Italian community in New York came about after the highly acclaimed exhibition, The Italians of New York: Five Centuries of Struggle and Achievement, which opened at the New York Historical Society in October 1999.
The museum founder, Dr. Joseph Scelsa received its charter in 2001. It operated initially on W44 Street before moving in 2008 to its permanent home, 155 Mulberry Street, after museum officials bought the Banca Stabile building from Dr. Jerome Stabile III. Dr. Stabile’s family started the bank in 1882.
Banca Stabile, which was founded by Francesco Rosario Stabile, was a fixture in Little Italy at a time when Mulberry Street was described as the Italian Wall Street, for the number of banks that were there.
The bank became a one-stop community center, providing financial, translation, insurance, travel and money transfer services. It was a link between the immigrants in New York and their relatives and friends back home.
Papa Manteo
When Banca Stabile closed in 1932, the family kept the building, including its vault, tin ceiling, marble floor and counters, bronze grilles, and teller cages intact. They also retained items such as steam ship tickets, safe deposit boxes, bank books, passports, and deeds.
Francesco Serpico
Mario Lanza
Luigi del Bianco
Jerome Stabile
The 1,000 square foot museum is bursting at the seams with memorabilia from the bank and those that families have donated. Among the items on exhibit is the gun that retired NYPD police officer, Francesco “Frank” Serpico owned. Serpico was the cop who blew the whistle on police corruption in the 1960s and 70s.
There are also several marionettes from Miguel “Papa” Manteo, photos and other information about Luigi del Bianco, chief carver at Mount Rushmore, and assorted other items that illustrate the history of Italians in New York.
The Italian American Museum, at 155 Mulberry Street, is opened on Saturdays 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., on Sundays from noon to 6:00 p.m., and by appointment during the week. For a $5.00 suggested donation, visitors to the small storefront museum are shown a short film and are able to see these memorabilia up close.
Linking to Travel Photo Thursday, which Nancie at Budget Travelers Sandbox organizes. Be sure to head over and check out more photos from locations around the world.
One of the perks of living in a city the size of New York is the diversity it offers, not only in things to do but also in culinary offerings. Food from almost every nation is represented here.
Last weekend, my friend Joan and I joined Ahoy New York for their Food Tasting and Cultural Walking Tour of Chinatown and Little Italy. We started in Little Italy and ended the tour in Chinatown.
New York City’s Chinatown is a bustling neighborhood that is home to the largest population of Chinese outside of China – approximately 100,000. The neighborhood now occupies an area of about 2 miles stretching south roughly to Chambers Street, east to the Lower East Side, north to Little Italy and west to Broadway/Tribeca.
A Short History of Chinatown
In the mid-1800s, Chinese immigrants, men mostly, headed west to California, Gold Mountain as they called it, lured by dreams of striking it rich. Instead of gold, they found limited opportunities for work. Their dreams evaporated and with no money to return home or to send for their families their dreams they moved east.
Arriving in New York City, these former residents of Canton, settled in the area around Mott, Pell and Doyers Streets and worked as cooks and launderers, jobs usually done by women. They brought their language, culture and culinary traditions like dim sum, bite-sized foods served steamed or fried. Dim Sum has its origins in the famous Silk Road when tea houses opened to accommodate weary travelers.
Liz pointing out pastries in a store on Mott Street
Our first stop was Pongrsi Thai Restaurant on Bayard Street, the oldest family-run and operated Thai restaurant in New York City. Started by Khun Pongrsi and her husband Khun Prasit Tangchakkrachai, Pongrsi has been serving authentic Thai food in the same place since 1972. It is credited with popularizing Thai food in the city.
Thai Orange Chicken
Pad Thai
Chicken with Peanuts
After walking around for the better part of the morning, the chance to sit and enjoy the meal was quite welcome. We sampled Orange Chicken, Chicken Pra Ramm (peanut sauce/curry dish) and a Pad See Ew.
My favorite, the Orange Chicken, was unlike any I’ve had. The orange was subtle enough to provide a delicious balance to the chicken. By the time the plate got to me, though, only a few pieces were left – it was that good. I really love Thai food so you can bet I’ll be back to Pongsri very soon.
Leaving Pongsri, we walked through Columbus Park, and made a brief stop on Mulberry in the Five Points section of Lower Manhattan. You might remember Five Points, that notorious section of the city that was the setting for the movie, [simpleazon-link asin=”B004SIP7TE” locale=”us”]Gangs Of New York[/simpleazon-link].
Five Points got its name from the five-pointed intersection created by Orange now Baxter Street, Cross now Mosco Street, Anthony now Worth Street and Little Water Street, which or no longer exists. Today, that part of Mulberry Street is lined with funeral homes that serve the community.
Soon we arrive at Tasty Dumpling, 54 Mulberry, for our first Chinese tasting. Can you guess what we sampled at Tasty Dumpling?Why, dumplings, of course!
Dig in!
Preparing dumplings for steaming
Stuffing the dumplings
Tasty Dumpling’s dumplings get rated consistently as the best dumplings in Chinatown – and at 5 for $1.25, are a tasty bargain. That probably explains why nearly all the tables in this small eatery were occupied when we arrived so we crowded into the only free space – at the left of the counter.
A woman was at the stove loading freshly made dumplings into a huge steamer while in the back two others were adding the filling to the dough.
Our dumplings were still warm when they arrived. Liz added a soy-white vinegar sauce and passed them around. The wrapper was nice and firm and so translucent I could see the filling, and when I took a bite, it was moist and tasty, the dipping sauce adding a nice kick.
Leaving Tasty Dumpling, we crossed over to Mott Street then to Doyers to Nom Wah Tea Parlor, our last stop on the tour. Nom Wah, the oldest dim sum restaurant in Chinatown has been around and on the same block of Doyers Street since the 1920s.
Nom Wah’s Original Egg Roll
Nom Wah’s Original Egg Roll
Waiting for a table
The Choy family owned the restaurant until they sold it in 1974 to Wally Tang, a longtime employee. Mr. Tang started working at Nom Wah in the 1950s when he was 16 and began managing it when he was 20.
Little has changed to the exterior of Nom Wah but Wilson Tang, the new manager and the next generation of Tangs, has upgraded the interior. Wally and his team of dim sum experts still keep an eye on things though.
It was about 1:00 pm when we arrived and diners were clustered outside in groups of twos and threes waiting for tables. Someone from the restaurant would come to the door and call the next name on the list as tables became free. Good thing Liz had placed our order ahead of time so we didn’t have to wait.
Nom Wah’s original egg rolls are round and fat. Stuffed with chicken and vegetables, they are rolled in egg crêpe then fried in homemade batter which makes them crisp and flaky. Despite being fried, they aren’t greasy. Each egg roll was cut in two and each of us got half but after all the food we’d sampled, one piece of this delicious treat was enough.
We had come to the end of our three hour tour and it was time to say goodbye to Liz, our very enthusiastic tour guide. I’m sure all of Ahoy New York’s tour guides are knowledgeable, warm and sociable but Liz makes you feel like she’s giving a tour with long time friends.
To recap, we visited Alleva Diary, DiPalo’s Fine Foods, Grand Appetito and Ferrara Bakery & Cafe in Little Italy, and Pongsri Thai Restaurant, Tasty Dumpling and Nom Wah Tea Parlor in Chinatown. We did a quick stop at the Italian American Museum, which I’ll cover in another post.
Joan and I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening in Chinatown. We had dinner at one of the cellar restaurants on Mott Street that Liz had pointed out then ended up at a wine tasting at Enoteca DiPalo’s. (More about these later.)
One thing I forgot to mention: my friend Joan has severe allergies to shellfish and Ahoy was able to arrange other dishes for her to sample on the Chinatown part of the tour.
Please note: I found this recipe for Thai Orange Chicken at Allrecipes.com.
2 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cut into small pieces
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup peanuts
1/3 cup orange juice
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons ketchup
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons cornstarch
Instructions
Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat; cook and stir carrots, ginger, and garlic until carrots are slightly softened, about 5 minutes. Transfer carrot mixture to a bowl. Add remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil to the same skillet.
Cook and stir chicken in the hot olive oil until no longer pink in the center, about 10 minutes. Add carrot mixture, water, peanuts, orange juice, soy sauce, brown sugar, ketchup, and red pepper flakes to chicken; stir to combine. Cover and simmer until sugar has dissolved, about 5 minutes.
Remove about 1/4 cup sauce from the skillet; whisk in cornstarch until dissolved and sauce is smooth. Pour cornstarch mixture back into chicken and sauce; cook until sauce is slightly thickened, about 5 more minutes.
InsideJourneys https://insidejourneys.com/
Disclosure: We were guests of Ahoy New York on this Chinatown and Little Italy Food Tasting and Cultural Walking Tour, but as usual, the opinions expressed here are our own. Thanks to Ray and Alana, and Liz, our very knowledgeable, very entertaining and very enthusiastic tour guide.
Recommended Reading
[simpleazon-link asin=”0738550183″ locale=”us”]New York City’s Chinese Community (Images of America: New York)[/simpleazon-link], Josephine Tsui Yueh Lee
Can you name one popular Chinese dish that you won’t find in China?
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If the temperature here in New York had remained as cold as it was during the week, I would not have gone to the Chinese New Year Parade in Chinatown on Sunday.
As it turned out, it was a welcome 53 degrees around the 1:00 p.m. start time for the parade, and a still balmy 43 degrees – warmer that it was in Denver (21) and Seattle (41) – when Super Bowl 48 kicked off in the evening. (Snow started late Sunday night and continued into Monday and we got snow overnight last night. As one of my friends said, God is a Super Bowl fan! That was her explanation for the wacky weather we’ve had.)
But before I show you those, let’s take a look at some of the ones I took the day before.
We were in Chinatown for a morning food tour and after the tour, we followed the sounds of firecrackers to a side street off Mott. About a block long, it was so crowded with people that drivers took other streets. At one point, a police car cruised through, the officer using his loudspeaker to tell everyone that the street was not closed. Some minutes later, someone put up yellow tape, effectively creating a pedestrian-only block.
Almost everyone was setting off these long, colorful cardboard tubes that you see. They pop when you twist them and shoot confetti. It looked like too much fun not to get involved. So we bought 4 for $10 and joined in. Soon we had confetti in our hair, on our clothes. I’m still cleaning up bits of it at home.
Parade Eve
Parade Eve
Parade Eve
Parade Eve
Parade Eve
Parade Eve
Chinese New Year Parade Day
I arrived at the intersection of Canal and Mott Street around 11:30 a.m. and was surprised to see this group had already assembled there. My first thought was to watch the Parade from here but eventually it got crowded and the police officers put up barricades. You can’t move once you get behind the barricade, so I continued on Mott and looked for a spot that had fewer people. It was also near to one of the restaurants I wanted to try.
Assembling before the Parade
There were still lots of empty places at that end of Mott to watch the Parade after I had lunch. My timing was perfect – the 15th Chinatown New Year Parade started about ten minutes after I found my spot. I took a lot of photos – over 200 – and it was really difficult to decide which ones to use for this post. Hope you like the ones I selected.
Parade Day
Parade day
Parade Day
Parade Day
Parade Day
Parade day
Parade day
Parade day
Parade day
Parade day
Everyone loves a parade…especially politicians.
Former city controller, John Liu
Parade day
Enter the dragon.
The dragon
The dragon
The dragon
The Year of the Horse began on January 31 and will end on February 18, 2015. It is thought to bring prosperity and wealth. People who are born in 1906, 1918, 1930, 1942, 1954, 1966, 1978, 1990, 2002 and 2014 are born in the Year of the Horse.
Linking to Travel Photo Thursday, which is organized by Nancie at Budget Travelers Sandbox. Be sure to head over and check out more photos from locations around the world.
It was the perfect day to be outside. The temperature that had stayed stuck in the 20s during the early part of the week had moved a full 20 degrees more – almost a heat wave. My friend, Joan, and I met Liz, our guide at the address Ahoy gave us. Liz was all smiles and greeted us as if we were old friends. We chatted for a while and as soon as the others arrived, we were off to Little Italy, the first leg of our tour.
Welcome to Little Italy
Little Italy, which once spread from Canal Street north to Houston Street, is the area where early immigrants from Italy made their first homes after coming through Ellis Island. At its peak, in the early 1900s, New York’s Italian population numbered about 390,000. Approximately 10,000 lived in Little Italy.
As newcomers in a strange land, they found comfort with others from the regions they’d left, others to who they were bound by dialect, culture and food. So you’d find former residents of Calabria on Mott Street, Silicians on Elizabeth Street and Neapolitans on Mulberry Street.
Our group in the courtyard of the Church of the Most Precious Blood
Life in the US wasn’t easy. They crowded into tenements and cold-water flats, did menial jobs to support their families here and back home. And as their economic situation improved, they spread out to Staten Island, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, New Jersey and Long Island.
Through gentrification, the movement outward of Italians, and the growing population of nearby Chinatown, Little Italy has shrunk. Today, the community takes up only four blocks on Mulberry between Broome and Canal Streets. But what it’s lost in geographic size, it’s more than made up for in heart and soul and good food in over 40 restaurants, cafes and bakeries, that draw thousands of New Yorkers and visitors each year.
In 2010, the National Park Service designated Little Italy and Chinatown a Historic District.
Little Italy Food Tasting and Cultural Walking Tour
Leaving our meeting place on Canal Street, we walked northeast on Mulberry Street, stopping briefly at the historic Most Precious Blood Church, a Roman Catholic Church that has served the community since its founding in 1891.
Continuing on Mulberry, we made our first stop Alleva Dairy at 188 Grand Street. Alleva was established in 1892, by Pina Alleva, the matriarch of the family, who came to the US from Benevento. Alleva, the oldest Italian cheese store in America and is still run by the family.
Alleva
Alleva does not use artificial flavors. They sell cheese as well as pasta, salami, sausages and imported olive oil, among other items.
Prosciutto and Mozzarella
At Alleva, we sampled prosciutto and homemade mozzarella. I’ve had mozzarella on pizza but never by itself – its blandness doesn’t make it very appetizing to me. But I was curious to see how the homemade tasted — not that I expected one tasting to change my mind — but I’ve always preferred to start with the best.
Di Palo’s
Continuing on Grand, our next stop was at Di Palo’s Fine Foods. Another family-run establishment, Di Palo’s has been serving Little Italy since 1910, when Savino Di Palo, a cheese maker, opened his latteria or dairy store.
Now run by the fourth generation, Di Palo’s sells select traditional products that are imported directly from Italy. They carry foods from every region. The staff is friendly and knowledgeable, the counters were designed low enough to give customers the feeling they’re in someone’s kitchen. Di Palo’s believes in educating their customers and has a chef in house and an enoteca (wine shop) next door. (More about this later.)
Di Palo’s
with Liz and Sal Di Palo
Food and History in Little Italy
Food and History in Little Italy
Cheese tasting at Di Palo
There were only a few people when we arrived but Liz, our tour guide, said it’s quite different later in the day and on Sundays. (Joan and I saw that when we returned around 5 p.m. to buy cheese. The store was crowded but it took about 20 minutes for us to fill our order.)
At Di Palo’s, we sampled two different cheeses – a piave and a moliterno (pecorino). Piave is made from cow’s milk while the moliterno is made from sheep’s milk with a small percentage of goat’s milk. To keep its moisture and flavor, olive oil is rubbed into the moliterno during the aging process.
Light yellow in color, almost like butter, the piave is hard and has a mild taste. It would be perfect with grapes and other fruits, or on its own. In contrast, the moliterno was sharp and slightly salty. It definitely woke up my tastebuds. I would use it in salads or add it to a cheese platter.
Grand Appetito
A slice of Grandma’s Pie
Leaving Di Palo’s, we crossed the street to Grand Appetito for a slice of pizza. As you can imagine, this isn’t any old pizza. Angelo, Grand Appetito’s owner, believes in making pizza the old-fashioned way and uses only homemade mozzarella in his pies.
Ferrara’s cannoli
Ferrara’s treats
Ferrara’s pastries
We made our final stop for cannoli next door at Ferrara Bakery & Café, another family run business. Ferrara has been a fixture in Little Italy since 1892 and is famous for its cannolis and Italian pastries. My cannolo was sweet and creamy. Thankfully, we were on a schedule as I could have easily gotten lost feeding my sweet tooth at Ferrara’s.
After we completed the Little Italy segment of the tour, we crossed Canal for the second half of our tour in Chinatown.
Thanks to Ahoy New York for hosting us on their Chinatown and Little Italy Food Tasting and Cultural Walking Tour, and to Liz, our very knowledgeable, very entertaining and very enthusiastic tour guide.
[simpleazon-image align=”left” asin=”0061288519″ locale=”us” height=”110″ src=”http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51z6LYIXhSL._SL110_.jpg” width=”73″]97 Orchard Street: An Edible History of Five Immigrant Families in One New York Tenement, Jane Ziegelman
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If you know New York City, you know it’s got energy and excitement all its own but with the first Super Bowl in 42 years just four days away, the buzz is even more palpable.
Broadway between 34th and 47th Streets has been transformed into a pedestrian-only thoroughfare, called Super Bowl Boulevard, where football fans who have registered, can join in the revelry which started on Wednesday.
Tents at Super Bowl Boulevard
Super Bowl Schedule
Workers at Super Bowl Boulevard
Street closure sign
Even though I love the parties and the commercials, I never got into American football. Learning 30-odd years ago that the football that I grew up watching in Jamaica, and playing recreationally, wasn’t the same game that’s played here made me lose interest, I think. But walking through midtown on Monday, I couldn’t dismiss the excitement in the air over the match up between two stellar teams – the Seattle Seahawks and the Denver Broncos.
So despite the cold – it was in the 20s when I left yesterday morning and with the wind chill, it felt like 8 F — I grabbed my camera, bundled up as warmly as I could and headed out to Super Bowl Boulevard.
The stage
Singers getting for rehearsal
Workers at Super Bowl Boulevard
CNN’s interview booth
Though it wasn’t as windy as the previous day, I knew I should limit the time I left my fingers exposed so I switched the settings on my I set my camera to automatic and started snapping quickly, trying to get in as many shots as possible. I did fine for about 10 minutes, then the cold began to chill my fingers. Note to self: need to find thin and warm gloves.
Toboggan
Sliding down the toboggan
At least I could move around or go into a store to get warm up. The crew that will be managing the Boulevard will be out in the open working 12-hour days. And the people who have to stand on line to register for all-access passes can’t move around or they’d lose their place. Still, it’s no fun when your fingers are so cold you can’t sense the shutter button.
Pocket Guide
Pocket Guide, open
Are you ready for some football?
Linking to Travel Photo Thursday, which is organized by Nancie at Budget Travelers Sandbox. Be sure to head over and check out more photos from locations around the world.
Elizabeth and I planned to meet uptown at The Cloisters Museum & Gardens a few days before I was scheduled to leave New York City. A friend from the blogging world, we’d read and commented on each other’s blogs for several months before we met and strengthened our connection offline.
Talk about six degrees of separation? About a year ago, I was on the phone with Elizabeth arranging our first meeting when friend of hers arrived. Accompanying her was a cousin of mine that I’d never met. I still shake my head when I think how unbelievable that was.
Entrance to the museum
So I was looking forward to catching up with Elizabeth again and excited to experience The Cloisters with her.
A branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Cloisters Museum & Gardens houses a fine collection of medieval art and manuscripts, illuminated books and Flemish tapestries.
The museum was created from an endowment from John D. Rockefeller, Jr. and built to resemble several European medieval abbeys. At least five buildings were taken apart, the bricks reassembled to create the museum which occupies its own campus north of Manhattan in Fort Tryon Park.
The Cloisters
Unicorn tapestry
Despite a light rain and dark, ominous skies, the museum was bustling with people and activity. In addition to the beautiful tapestries, stained glass, sculptures and paintings for which The Cloisters is well-known, there was a sound installation of the reworked forty-voice motet, Spem in alium numquam habui by Thomas Tallis, in the Fuentidueña Chapel.
The installation, by Canadian multimedia artist Janet Cardiff, is the first presentation of contemporary art at The Cloisters. Forty speakers, one for each voice, have been mounted throughout the chapel, filling the museum with haunting choral sounds that seemed to follow us where ever we went. The installation will be on display until December 8, 2013.
View of Manhattan from The Cloisters
Elizabeth and I had planned to have a bite in the cafe and sit in the garden but the rain changed that plan. That only means that we’ll return when the weather’s better.
Visiting The Cloisters
The Cloisters Museum & Gardens is located at 99 Margaret Corbin Drive, Fort Tryon Park, New York. The museum is open 7 days from 10:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Admission: Adults $25 (Recommended), free to members
Accessible to the M4 bus (The Cloisters/Fort Tryon Park), and ‘A’ train (190th Street station).
Free parking is available at Fort Tryon Park.
No flash photography allowed.
Linking up this week with Travel Photo Thursday, which Nancie at Budget Travelers Sandbox organizes. Be sure to head over and check out more photos from locations around the world.
Times Square is the heaviest populated tourist area in the world. It draws approximately 39 million visitors annually. Most come to gawk at the giant billboards and the neon and LED-lighted ads, but a lot more come to take their photos with one of the naked buskers who roam the area.
Times Square near rush hour on last Friday was a slow-moving sea of people who clogged the sidewalk making locals rushing to catch buses and subways do detours into the street just to get round them. That’s the Times Square I was prepared for. I wasn’t expecting to see so many street performers but I should have known. The unusually balmy October afternoon drew almost everyone outdoors.
I spotted Elmo, the giant Statue of Liberty, the Transformer Robot, and several naked buskers. Everyone knows about the Naked Cowboy, the granddaddy of the naked buskers who strolls around Times Square entertaining visitors and locals in his cowboy hat, cowboy boots, tidy whities, and his guitar placed strategically so that it gives the impression that he’s nude.
The Naked Cowboy also has his naked cowgirls, though I didn’t see any. Who I did see, and dubious pleasure of meeting, was $andy Kane, the Naked Cowgirl.
$andy Kane, The Naked Cowgirl
Tha Naked Cowgirl
The Naked Cowgirl
The Naked Cowgirl
Kane, a former stripper, who looks more like someone’s great-grandmother than a naked busker, has played the Naked Cowgirl for about 6 years. She parades around Times Square, her red cowboy hat covering flowing pink hair, the bottom half of black bikini, pasties affixed to her sagging breasts, garter belts, and flats. A gold-studded bra that looks like it supported someone far more buxom, hangs from her guitar. I don’t remember hearing her actually play.
Kane offered to pose but I told her I only had $1 left. She did anyway. When I downloaded the photo, I noticed she’d given the finger, two actually. But it wasn’t personal, that’s part of Kane’s act, probably from her stripper days.
The Naked Indian and The Naked Cowboy share a moment
I must have picked the right place (Broadway and 45th Street) to sit as I saw not just one, but two Naked Cowboys. I also saw the Naked Indian, Adam David. David, who’s been operating as the Naked Indian for a little more than a year, recently settled a dispute with the Naked Cowboy over the name. Robert John Burck, aka the Naked Cowboy, holds a trademark and each cowboy pays a franchise fee.
Women were gladly lining up to have their photos taken with the Naked Indian and the Naked Cowboy, and get a chance to squeeze each of their buns. No, I took no photos of that silly spectacle.
The Showgirl
The Showgirl
The Showgirl
Taking a break
The most popular character on Friday was the Showgirl. Men followed her every provocative pose. For $5, you get to take a photo with her. I’ve forgotten now what she said her name is – but when I think of her, I think Jade. If you look closely, you’ll notice that her costume’s painted on. Two guys were with her, one collected the money – she’s got no pockets – and another stood close by, I guess as a bodyguard.
When I told my friends about the female naked buskers I’d seen in Times Square, they wanted to know how they were allowed to perform nearly nude. According to a New York law, full nudity in public is legal if it’s part of a performance or play.
Street performers are also protected under the First Amendment. They are free to stroll Times Square and to work for tips from $2 to $5 taking photos but they’re not allowed to demand money, sell merchandise or block traffic.
Buskers, naked and clothed, can take home $50-70 a day, others like the Naked Cowboy who’s considered the #1 tourist attraction in New York City, can take home much more.
Interestingly, according to Wikipedia, Times Square, which is 1% of New York City’s total land size, generates 11% of the city’s economic output and 10% of the jobs. Since 2007, economic growth in this iconic area that lies between Broadway and Seventh Avenue and stretches from 42nd to 47th Street, outpaced the city’s by 13% during the same period.
Each city has its own unique skyline and New York City is no different. With skyscrapers that soar to dizzying heights and in different colors and shapes, from a distance, they look almost like they were taken from a pop-up book.
I remember the first time I heard the word skyscrapers. I might have been about 11 then. I could never, not in my wildest dreams anyway, have imagined buildings so tall. When I saw them a few years later, my eyes searched the sky trying to find the top floors.
Pop-up-book-style view of Manhattan from Governors Island ferry
New York City has, a various times, had some of the tallest buildings in the US as well as the world. The Empire State Building, at 1,250 feet, was the tallest building in the US when it was completed in the 1930s.
The Trump Building or 40 Wall Street was the tallest building in the world for two months until the completion of the Chrysler Building.
The Art Deco style Chrysler Building, 1,046 feet, was the tallest man-made structure in the world from 1930-31. It is the 50th tallest building in the world.
It’s hard to imagine that the Metropolitan Life Tower, which is only 700 feet, was the tallest building in the world for 4 years until the Woolworth Building was built in 1913. It took a mere 92 feet for the Woolworth to claim the title of tallest building in the world. And it held on to it for 17 years.
All these skyscrapers in New York City and the country have now been eclipsed by One World Trade Center, which you can see on the left in the photo above. It stands at 1,776 feet and is the fourth tallest building in the world.
By far the best way to appreciate the height and beauty of New York City’s skyscrapers is from a distance. My favorite places to view them are from the waterways and islands around Manhattan. Some locations in Brooklyn and New Jersey, especially those that line the coastline, aren’t bad either.
Linking up with Travel Photo Thursday, that Nancie at Budget Travelers Sandbox organizes. Be sure to head over and check out more photos from locations around the world.
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