John Lennon - We Remember...

Exactly two months ago, Kevin and I went to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Annex in SoHo to join a whole bunch of other people in celebrating John Lennon's life. It was supposed to be his 69th birthday, if he had not left this world so prematurely. I've been meaning to blog about this for quite a while but never got around to it. Since yesterday was the 29th anniversary of Lennon's death, I figured today would be a good day to do so.

We have always wanted to visit the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Annex since it opened it's doors in November last year. However, due to the steep ticket price ($26.50 per person and we were not even sure if it was worth it), we just never got around to it. The current special exhibit on display is "John Lennon - The New York City Years". Since it was Lennon's birthday, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Annex announced that they will be opening up the museum to the public for FREE, in celebration of his life! Since we are huge fans of the Beatles, we decided to go check it out. As you can see from the picture, the line to get in was really long. However, it wasn't that long of a wait and it was kinda fun, to stand in line with other John Lennon fans and just chill.

We are not allowed to take any photos inside the museum, so this is a stock photo that I stole off online. The museum on the whole is really not that big, it reminds me of a pimped up and bigger Hard Rock Cafe. Definitely not worth the $26.50! However, there were quite a few cool exhibits to check out. Among them were Modanna's pointy bra, Michael Jacksons hand written lyrics of Billie Jean, Elvis's bible (complete with little notes and highlights) and a whole of of other clothes, shoes, lyrics and memorabilia from other artist. The John Lennon special exhibit was cool though. I learnt that even though Lennon was originally from Liverpool, he always felt that New York was his home. There were all kinds of cool personal memorabilia from Yoko Ono's personal collection on display. His clothes in a hospital bag, still with the tag on, just like how Yoko got it back from them after his assassination. His famous New York City t shirt. All kinds of handwritten lyrics. His personal piano and guitars. All kinds of stuff from his life here in NYC. There was also a whole section displaying his immigration letters and green card petition (something I can identify with :P) as well as his original green card. I never knew that he took Yoko Ono's last name after they got married. The name listed on the green card was John Winston Ono Lennon. Hmmmm, maybe I should pitch this idea to Kev :P What do you guys think? Kevin Paul Wong Podany? Hahaha!

After visiting the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Annex, we took the C train up to Strawberry Fields in Central Park. Strawberry Fields was built in honor of Lennon and opened in 1985 on his birthday. The name of the site is taken from the Beatles’s song Strawberry Fields Forever and was also, for Lennon, an evocation of an orphanage in Liverpool by the same name. Lennon had taken many walks with his wife and young son through the friendly confines of Central Park, just a stone throw away from their apartment building. Every year, many Beatles fans from all over the would would flock to Strawberry Fields on his birthday, to just gather and celebrate his life.

Ahhh, here is the famous Imagine mosaic...donated by the city of Naples. This is also the central focus of the Strawberry Fields section of Central Park. Anytime you visit Strawberry Fields, be it in the summer or winter, there will be flowers from fans all over the world. Also, you can be sure to find a few hardcore Beatles fan band around the mosaic on the park benches, playing Beatles songs all day long.

Of course in every famous so called 'tourist attraction', there will be people trying to cash in. There were many stalls, just like this, set up everywhere near Strawberry Fields. There were selling all kinds of John Lennon stuff, from t shirts to posters and photographs.

Here it is. This is where it all ended. Just across the street from Strawberry Fields, is The Dakota (please excuse my crazy hair, it was a windy day :P). On the night of 8 December 1980, at around 10:50 pm, Mark David Chapman shot Lennon in the back four times in the entrance of The Dakota. He was brought to the Roosevelt Hospital but was pronounced dead on arrival. There was no funeral for Lennon and he was cremated Hartsdale, NY. Some people say Yoko scattered John's ashes in Strawberry Fields, some say she has it still in The Dakota (where she is still currently residing). Nobody knows, I guess it will remain as one of the many secrets of new York. With that, it concludes our day of remembering and celebrating John Lennon's life. RIP Mr Lennon...we remember.

The Medieval Festival at Fort Tyron Park

Last Sunday afternoon, Kevin and I took the A Train all the way uptown to 190th St to Fort Tyron Park. Fort Tryon Park is a public park located in the Washington Heights section of the NYC borough of Manhattan. It is situated on a 67 acre ridge, with an awesome view of the Hudson River, the George Washington Bridge, the New Jersey Palisades and the Harlem River. It is is also site of The Cloisters, a branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art devoted to medieval art and culture. It was the perfect setting for the 2009 Medieval Festival that we were there to check out.

The Medieval Festival at Fort Tyron is an annual event, with this being the 25th year running. Produced by the Washington Heights & Inwood Development Corporation and supported by The City of New York Department of Parks and Recreation, it is one of the largest and most popular event held in all NYC parks. They expect a total of 40,000 visitors this year and guess what? Admission is free!

So, what is the festival all about? Well, the purpose of the festival is an attempt to bring to life the customs and spirit of the Middle Ages. Fort Tryon Park is transformed into a Medieval market town decorated with bright banners and processional flags. Performers, guests and festival goers dress in medieval costumes. Visitors are greeted by authentic medieval music, dance, magic, minstrels, as well as jugglers and jesters.

The moment we stepped out from the subway station, we were greeted by girls dressed in Medieval costumes, dancing to Medieval music. How cool is that? Something tells me it's gonna be one cool festival.

Since admissions to the festival is free, the organizers have set up two wishing wells at the entrance. You can help out with the production cost by donating a couple of dollars to the wishing well. The suggested donation is $2, which I feel is reasonable - given the size and how elaborate the event was.

You can also help yourselves to a free festival program booklet at the entrance. It's loaded with all the information you would need to enjoy the festival - a map of the whole festival grounds, times and locations of events and performances as well as write ups about the events.

Our first stop was The South Lawn Village. Here at the South Lawn Village Square, you can check out and buy all sorts of Medieval weaponry as well as watch various types of combat demonstrations.

There are also all kinds of stalls selling Medieval craft, clothes, jewelry...just about anything you can think of. Heck, you can even get your own pet dragon here! :P

On the other side of South Lawn Village is where you can learn all about Medieval crafts and watch life demos. There were all kinds of demos, from weaving to spooling yarn! Pretty interesting actually.

From the South Lawn Village, we made our way Centercheap Market. This is where all the Artisans gather to sell their wares. Here is one lady making and selling clay mugs.

Here is another crowd favorite. The blacksmith, his wife and a few apprentice were out in full force, making swords, knives and other cool stuff. Business was brisk too...I sometimes wonder what all those people do with the swords and other weaponry they buy from festivals like this? Take it out when their friends come over to play Dungeons and Dragons? :P

You can also see many street performers all over Centercheap Market, be it juggling, playing music or just telling stories from the past.

We managed to catch the Majesta Chanters, performing the Gregorian Chant. Interesting but I guess we sorta lost interest after a while..haha!

We continued walking and ended up at Sir Stan Wichels Tournament Field of Honor. Guess what we saw there? Yup, a princess riding a unicorn!! See, I told you guys that unicorns are real...but noooo, nobody believed me! Who's the loony one now??? :P

We then entered the Tournament Field to grab a seat and waited for the Children's Costume Parade to begin.

Here they are. Look at all the cutie pies marching around the field. Aren't they just adorable? Not much of a parade, they just walked around the field and ended by giving everybody a bow :P However, they were just soooo cute, so who cares if they just walked around the field. They did a good job! :D

After the parade, it was the event everybody was waiting for all day. King Rene's Joust Tournament!! A thrilling joust between four knights on horseback. Very exciting!

Now it's time for some food. Just opposite the Tournament Field is the Triangle Pub. Here you can get all kinds of food like fried dough and turkey legs. Look at all those yummy turkey legs on the grill! You can buy beer in giant Medieval steins or wine in goblets too. We didn't manage to buy anything, cos the line was just too long. Just how long is long? Well, there were at least about 60-80 people in every line. I overheard a lady complaining that she has been in line for almost an hour and it's not even her turn yet!! I think I'll give those turkey legs a pass. I know that the smell of the turkey legs grilling on an open fire was just so good, but no way will I wait in line for an hour just to get some.

Ahhh the famous Cloisters. The Cloisters incorporates several Medieval buildings that were purchased in Europe, brought to the United States, and reassembled, often stone by stone. You could go up there and check out the museum but we didn't really have enough time to fully enjoy it. We will have to return another day, just for The Cloisters.

There was also two childrens section - The Kids Zone and The Little Theatre. In The Kids Zone, there were all kinds of arts and craft like puppet making and costumes. There were storytelling and magic shows by Merlin the Magician in The Little Theatre. Kids also had a chance to meet Robin Hood and the Sheriff of Nottingham at The Little Theatre.

Another cool thing about the festival was that there were just musicians and performers everywhere you go. You see them sitting on rocks by the cliff, by the walkways or even on bales of hay :P After spending almost the whole afternoon at the festival, it was time to go home. It was my first Medieval Festival and I really enjoyed it. Everybody was so into it (a lot of visitors were also in costumes), for a brief moment, it felt like I just walked back into time. I will most definitely return next year for the 2010 Medieval Festival (this time, maybe in costume :P)!!

South Street Seaport Museum

This is another backdated post. The Smithsonian magazine had their "Museum Day" on September 26, 2009. All we had to do was print out the "Museum Day" admission card from their website and we could enjoy free general admission (for 2 people) to hundreds of museums and cultural venues nationwide. There was quite an extensive list for the NJ/NYC region but we finally decided to go checkout the South Street Seaport Museum. Without the free Smithsonian admission card, it would have cost us $10 per person, just for general admission!

The South Street Seaport is a historical area located where Fulton Street meets the East River, just next to the Financial District. It features some of the oldest architecture in downtown Manhattan and includes the largest concentration of restored early 19th-century commercial buildings in the city. You can find renovated original mercantile buildings, renovated sailing ships, the former Fulton Fish Market, malls, nice restaurants, great nightlife and of course, the famous South Street Seaport Museum here. If you are looking to catch the NY Water Taxi or go on one of the many NY Harbour Cruise, this is the best place to go on one.

The whole South Street Seaport has a great concept. With the streets preserved in cobblestone, almost all buildings and the entire Seaport neighborhood are meant to transport the visitor back in time to New York's mid-1800s, to demonstrate what life in the commercial maritime trade was like. Here is a photo of me in front of the Museums main building as well as the ticket office and gift shop. There are currently two exhibitions going on here at the main building, the "New Amsterdam: Island At The Center Of The World" and "Treasures Of A President: FDR And The Sea". The FDR exhibit just opened 6 days ago, so it was cool to check it out. This row of buildings is called the Schermerhorn Row Galleries. The original intent of the Seaport development was the preservation of this block of buildings, which was threatened with destruction from neglect at a time when the history of New York City's sailing ship industry was not valued.

Opposite the Schermerhorn Row Galleries is the Fulton Market. Apart from housing some very nice restaurants, you can also check out the famous BODIES - The Exhibition. It features over 200 specimens consisting of whole-bodies and individual organs that have been meticulously dissected and preserved through an innovative process. Sounds gross but yet, many people flock to see it. Visiting the exhibition doesn't come cheap though, tickets cost $27.50 a person on weekends.

What I like about the South Street Seaport Museum is the layout. Unlike other museums, it's not constricted to one huge building but it's made up of smaller buildings and piers all over the Seaport area. We are not allowed to take photos inside the exhibits, so I can only show you the buildings from the outside. Here is Kevin outside the Galleries on Water St. This is where you can check out the "Monarchs of the Sea" exhibit. It's permanent exhibition that features plans, models and memorabilia that evoke the majesty and magic of a time when ocean liners were considered luxury travel. Since all the models are made in the same size ratio, it's pretty cool that you can compare the Titanic or the Queen Mary to one of the current day cruise ships, like the ever popular Carnival Cruises.

We also went in to checkout the Bowne & Co. Stationers. New York City was the center of the letterpress printing industry during the 19th century. Printing offices and "job shops" clustered between Park Row and Fulton Street. Bowne & Co. Stationers was one of those shops. Now, it is a part of the South Street Seaport Museum and it still resembles a typical job shop of the late 1870's. It really feels like walking back into time the moment you step into the shop. However, it is not just a museum display. In fact, it is still a working letterpress office and continues to take commissions for cards, announcements and other social stationery. All text is set and composed by hand using Bowne’s historic antique type collection and then printed on original 19th century treadle-powered platen presses. How cool is that?

On our way to Pier 16, we passed by the Titanic Memorial Lighthouse. It is a memorial to the passengers, officers and crew who died as heroes when the steamship Titanic sank after collision with an iceberg on April 15, 1912. It was erected in 1913 and originally stood above the East River on the roof of the old Seamen's Church Institute at the corner of South Street and Coenties Slip. The time ball at the top of the Lighthouse would drop down the pole to signal twelve noon to the ships in the Harbor. This time ball mechanism was activated by a telegraphic signal from the National Observatory in Washington, D.C. How cool is that? When the Seamen's Church Institute moved its headquarters in 1968, the lighthouse was donated to the South Street Seaport Museum. It was erected on this corner at the entrance to the museum complex in May 1976 and continues to stand til today.

After checking out all of the buildings, we headed out of Pier 16 for the highlight of our museum outing - to check out Peking, a steel-hulled four-masted barque and the lightship, Ambrose.

First up, the Peking. It was launched in 1911 in Germany and was used to carry fuel and manufactured goods to the West Coast of South America, around Cape Horn and then return to European ports with nitrate mined in northern Chile.

All aboard! Let's go explore the Peking!

With her four masted bark rig, steel hull & masts and midship bridge deck, the Peking represents the final generation of sailing ships built for world trade. Though a product of the 20th century, she still sailed in the traditional way, with few labor saving devices or safety features. Her crew followed the standard sailing vessel routine of four hours on duty and four hours off duty, alternating around the clock, 7 days a week.

Check out the sailor boy with the giant wheel! Look at the big smile plastered on his face, I guess it brings back some good memories from his sailing days :P

The Peking was retired in 1933, when steamers using the Panama Canal took over what was left of the nitrate trade. She served as a nautical school for boys, moored in a British river until she was acquired by the museum in 1974.

Today, she is docked on Pier 16 as a permanent feature in the South Street Seaport Museum. You can get an awesome view of the Brooklyn Bridge, East River and the skyline of Brooklyn Heights from her stern.

You can also find the Living Harbour Wet Lab on board the Peking. It is a collection of live marine life that can be found in the Harbours of NYC. Small exhibit, but pretty interesting.

From the Peking, we will now head over to the lightship, Ambrose. The Ambrose lightship was built in 1908 to guide ships safely into the broad mouth of lower New York Bay, between Coney Island, NY and Sandy Hook, NJ - an area filled with sand bars and shoals invisible to approaching vessels. While a light house is normally used for this purpose, the water here was too deep and the bottom was too soft, so...this floating alternative was devised.

Up on the gangway we go!

Here am I in the pilot house. It's way smaller than Pekings but the Ambrose was swaying like crazy that day. I felt like I was drunk or something :P

Kevin down at the anchor windlass. Again, its really small and cramp. I would just die if I had to work in there!

What is a lightship without the light? This is the star of the whole tour. A vessel approaching the port would search the horizon for the lightship, identifying it at night by a pattern of light at the top of the mast and in daylight by it's distinctive hull color and name lettered on the side.

In rain or fog, the lightship will announce its location using powerful foghorns.

The Ambrose served as a lightship until 1963 and was given to the museum by the US Coast Guard in 1968. Today, it is docked permanently on Pier 16 and is still one of the best places to go to in Manhattan if you are looking for an awesome view of the skyline of Brooklyn Heights!

Our last stop before we headed out to lunch was the South Street Seaport Museum's Maritime Craft Center. The workshop was erected in 1983 and was made out of two ship containers joined together with the windows and doors cut out. Here wood carvers and model builders demonstrate their skills, showing that they are at home using traditional skills of the past as well as new techniques. With that, it concludes our day out to the South Street Seaport Museum. It's very well laid out and I safely can say that even though you are not really interested in all things related to ships and the maritime (Kevin loves anything to do with ships and the sea, but me...not really :P), you will not be bored and will still have loads of fun exploring this museum! Definitely one of the 'must see' museums if you are planning to visit NYC!

South Street Seaport Museum
12 Fulton Street,
New York, NY 10038
Tel: (212) 748.8786
Web: http://www.southstreetseaportmuseum.org/