Galveston, Texas – Refurbished Heritage

Galveston in Texas is a beach town with regular trappings of water, tourists, food stalls, hotels, spas and clubs. But on this cool, windy April day (2011) the abiotic Confederate façade of a privileged historical past appears slightly misplaced. Galveston has a  scarred relationship with the sea and as we drive along the 32 mile drive-in nondescript beach the scars are visible.

Hurricane Ike keepsake – the Balinese Room

One hour drive from neighboring Houston through bland countryside of sparse vegetation and chemical works, no visible signs of Longhorns, and we are in Galveston showcasing remnants of Hurricane Ike, renovated residences and the shell of the Balinese Room pier, the once vibrant nightclub extending 600 feet into the Gulf, The Seawall Boulevard still displays signs of devastation wrought by the September 13, 2008 Hurricane Ike, the Category 2 hurricane with wind speed of 110 miles per hour (180 km/h) and waves about 14 feet that had crossed over the Galveston Seawall flooding the city via storm drains and unprotected bay side.

Galveston Art Center

‘Ike’ trophies preceded us to Downtown, particularly the Strand once referred to as the “Wall street of the South West’, with water markings preserved on building exteriors. During mid-nineteenth century Galveston was the crème of Texas and its main ‘cotton’ port attracting traders and tourists from different corners of the country and world till flattened by a hurricane in 1900. The town had taken its own  time to regain the lost stature, albeit with moniker ‘Sin City of the Gulf’, flaunting casinos and big name entertainment and clinging on to its diverse and quirky flavor of a laid back island city. In the meantime Houston with its modern infrastructure had leaped ahead and though Galveston floundered back into contention it was again subjected to natural foul play in 2008.

The stately buggy driver-cum-guide identified the important landmarks of the city such as the 1887 Bishop’s Palace (mentioned in top 100 architectural significant homes in the U.S.A.), the

1879 Edwardian Tremont House, the Ghost House and the Trumpet House, Moody Mansion Museum, the Cotton Exchange and Galveston Art Center building with Hurricane Ike’s water markings, the annual Mardi Gras (February 25) buntings, pubs, galleries and gift shops.

Mardi Gras Arch with Tremont House in background

Walking the Strand National Historic District turned out a better way to appreciate the Victorian hangover of the city. The Galveston Island Railroad Museum on 25^th Strand is a  must see and from here we headed towards the shopping area with more historic buildings converted into stores.

Purchased chocolates from the Rocky Mountain Chocolate factory and gifts from the Old Strand Emporium and  stopped at the Saengerfest Park, a place for touristy activities, to enjoy a father and son chess game on permanent giant chess set. The restaurants along the Seawall Boulevard and the Strand offer diverse cuisine from Greek, Mexican, Italian and fresh Gulf Coast seafood.

Permanent Chess board

The past and present mingles as tourists, locals and bikers search for evening entertainment in Downtown or the waterfront. Towards evening the parking spaces at the beach were fast filing up and cars downloading their barbeques and picnic paraphernalia on the raised seawall.

We strolled on the seawall, no wish to jump in the chilly murky waters of the Gulf, watching sea gulls swoop down on unsuspecting picnickers.

Other attractions:

1. Moody Gardens with its 10-storey rainforest, a 1.5-million-gallon pyramid aquarium, a 19th century-styled Colonel Paddle wheeler complete with hour-long narrative cruises, a Palm Beach and a memorial for Vietnam veterans.

2.The Great Storm multimedia presentation of the devastating 1900 Storm at the Pier 21 Theater.

3.The Cruise Ship Terminal for an opportunity to embark on a brief adventure.

4. Texas Seaport Museum and Tall Ship Elissa

San Antonio River Walk

The San Antonio River Walk or ‘Paseo del Rio’ along the banks of San Antonio River is a peek into the soul of a city peppered with a rich past. One can savor different time spans from the arrival of Spanish explorers and missionaries in 1691 to the present tourist town. The chief attraction is the RiverWalk meandering along with the San Antonio River through the Downtown and other historic areas.  The waters were harnessed as flood control measure and regulated to a natural stream before it empties in the Guadalupe River, near San Antonio Bay on the Gulf of Mexico.

The Cruise queue

We did not follow the River but drove down from Houston, took us nearly three hours, straight to the Rivercenter Mall on intersection of Commerce and Bowie streets. The Mall is one of the ticketing and boarding centers for the River Walk cruise ride* and possibly the shortest way to appreciate the tourist attractions. The entry points to the River Walk is either from Downtown, the North Channel and Bend River Walk or the River Walk Museum Reach connecting existing walk with the San Antonio Museum, Pearl Brewery and art installations along the bank. River taxis and cruise boats are other alternatives for a grand tour.

It was a Saturday and a long ticket queue for place in the cruise boat. Finally, we set off but not before our Guide executed a well-rehearsed cameo pushing the boat and telling us that he would wait for our return only to hop in the minute it left the bank. Seeing some worried faces, his take was that the river, in some places, is just 5 ft deep and one could could just jump in and walk out.

The boat took an about turn from the Rivercenter Mall gliding along boutiques, antiquated houses, dated stone and steel bridges, restaurants and hotels, the art and craft exhibition stalls, past city landmarks such as the towering 33 storey Tower Life Building constructed in 1928 and visible from different points across the city (the upper floors are said to be illuminated during Christmas), the King William district with its Victorian mansions, the Arneson River Theatre with its romantic, mission-bell backdrop and amphitheater featured in Sandra Bullock’s Miss Congeniality.

The theater serves as a river entrance to historic La Villita and the city’s first neighborhood of Spanish settlements followed by German and French pioneers. All this time the boat navigator cum Guide regaled us with anecdotes about the buildings and the city as we passed attractions such as the Hemisfair Park with the Tower of Americas in the foreground, the Hilton Hotel, the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center and the Lila Cockrell Theater of the Performing Arts.

The horseshoe bend of the River is a storehouse of antiquity with historical buildings that have been  converted into hotels and music clubs. The Hyatt Regency Hotel is a newer construction and starting point of the second River Walk extension, the Paseo del Alamo. One can walk through the hotel atrium and continue up a landscaped water way to the Alamo.The verdant setting of the River Way shaded by Cypresses, Oaks, Weeping Willows and mélange of multi-hued flora highlighted by waterfalls, patios and arty benches giving the entire boat journey a surreal touch.

In between there are areas of quietness and tranquility with only ducks for company weaving their way through water traffic, we missed one, as we cruised along the bank admiring old tree stumps resembling squatting mongoose.

From here it was an about turn towards the entertainment and funky segment of the River Walk.–the boisterous market sounds of music, Latin, German, American, Mexican and Asian flavors intermingling with equally varied languages. There is choice of food and eating places from The Iron Cactus, Hard Rock Café, Rainforest Café, Schilo’s as old as 1917, Casa Rio, a 60-year-old restaurant for Tex-Mex favorites, to name a few.

If spoiled for choice and unable to decide then easy way out is to walk into Rivercenter Mall’s food court or La Villita’s cafes or like us to Le Ole for the biggest/tallest Margaritas served with ample Mexican joie de vivre.

The 2 mile long and 45 minute ride culminates at the Rivercenter Mall and from here we retraced our steps along the River stopping at all the colorful booths displaying intricate stone jewelry, book holders, Friendship and name bands, paintings and candles. Lunched at Le Ole and later strolled to Starbucks in the Rivercenter Mall for refreshing Tea Latte. The area was getting crowded as the two-mile water system is a commercial project highlighted with lush greenery and page-book architecture.

The River Walk is incomplete without a visit to The Alamo also known as Mission San Antonio de Valero and dates back to 1724. It has a checkered war history and was home to missionaries and their converts. At present the Alamo is maintained by the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, an association dedicated to perpetuating the memories of Texas pioneer families and the soldiers of the Republic of Texas. The maintenance money is raised through donations and proceeds from the gift shop, which is really a treasure trove of old cookbooks, interest generated by success of Julie and Julia (blog book) and gift items. The entire atmosphere at the Alamo is reminiscently charged as one walks through the Shrine, the Long Barrack Museum, Chapel, the Cavalry Courtyard, Convento Courtyard with a ‘well’ dating to Mission period, strategically placed canons and enthusiastic children wanting to know more about the ancient rifles and women dressed in period costume showcasing various period crafts.

The crumbling structure of Alamo with nearly 300 year old history was witness to battles between Mexican and American solders with the historic Battle of Alamo taking place in 1836. A crowd had collected at the mock Courthouse witnessing a trail enacted by actors in period dresses. There were other weekend activities taking place in different corners of the complex.

Walked to Alamo Plaza, a shopper’s paradise. Picked up Mexican souvenirs from La Tienda and ambled towards Ripley’s Believe It Or Not store and Louis Tussaud Wax Works but being interested in neither returned to the River Walk for one last time. Evening time is fiesta time and already the atmosphere was ‘hotting up’ with live music and surging crowds but we had to return to Houston.

It would be another three-hour drive and left the city before the setting sun did. 

 

Beijing- A Contrasting Bouquet

Remembering Edgar Allan Poe

NEW YORK - October, 2009: Not much of an Edgar Allan Poe fan I took the   EDGAR ALLAN POE GREENWICH VILLAGE TOUR* more out of curiosity.  The writer was in news for his reburial in Baltimore with 2009 his 200th birth anniversary year. Another reason for renewed interest in Poe was the ‘Balloon Boy’ fiasco in Colorado reviving  images of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Balloon-Hoax” story published in 1844, complete with diagrams and specifications of the balloon.

Poe’s story was about Monck Mason’s journey across the Atlantic in three days and at a time when crossing the Atlantic by air was unheard of. The story was successful in increasing the circulation figures of the Daily, though it later turned out the saga was a fabrication. The present balloon saga supposedly undertaken by 6 years old Falcon Heene was similar in content with parents of the boy facing felony and deportation charges. Falcon was at home while the much publicized rescue drama was enacted.

The Greenwich Tour : Edgar Allan Poe had close links with New York and his house in the Bronx, ‘Poe Cottage’ ,a museum now, is where he penned “The Bells,” “Ulalume,” “Eureka,” “Annabel Lee” and “The Cask of Amontillado’ among other works (1846-49).

The tour guide walked us to the clubs, theaters and coffee houses where  Edgar Allan Poe, Bob Dylan, Simon and Garfunkel, Barbara Streisand, Jackson Browne, Joan Baez, Jimi Hendrix, Bruce Springsteen began their careers.    

The walk started from Washington Square, formerly marsh land used as graveyard for slaves and yellow fever victims. It was a dueling and an execution place with the still sturdy Hangman’s Elm or Hanging Tree, the oldest Manhattan tree that in the past served as the hanging post for highwaymen and revolutionary traitors. We walked along New York University buildings, the Stonewall Inn, Our Lady of the Pompeii Church, the Bleecker Street with its bohemian flavored pubs, bars and music cafes, Rocco’s pastry Shop and Café Wha from where Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Bill Cosby and other creative artists started their careers. 

The  West Village, hemmed in by Broadway on the East, Hudson River on the West, SoHo on South and Chelsea on North, continues with the old street pattern instead of adopting the grid system of rest of New York City. The curved and mostly paved streets, lined with shops, ‘lower’ buildings and parks tucked in corners give the area a feeling of openness. The cobbled MacDougall Alley originally was stable place for  for houses on Washington Square North. Along the way we saw other  ‘Poe’ landmarks, the Northern Dispensary  at crossing of Waverly Place and Christopher Street, where he had gone for treatment , the house where he had recited his famous poem ‘Raven’ and his residences . Poe had lived in the Village during 1837.

From Poe we moved on to other important landmarks; Sheridan Square, the Jefferson Memorial Library and the Women’s House of Detention where legendary actress Mae West was detained for writing, producing and directing ‘Sex’. Far cry from the recent  ‘Sex and the City’ scenario and the Guide pointed out the scene of house of Carrie Bradshaw and the   building featured in sitcom ‘Friends’.

The Woman’s House of Detention was demolished in 1973 and replaced with a community garden, south of Jefferson Market and corner of Tenth Street and Sixth Avenue. The reason given was the noise level created by families and friends of detainees who would communicate or rather yell out news and greetings to each other. It must have been a raucous ‘party scene’ and with gawkers adding to the commotion, a disturbing element for residents.

The all white statues of gay couples, two men and two women, at Christopher Park  on Sheridan Street, appear real till you realize they are statues by George Segal to immortalize the Stonewall Gay riots. There is an old 130 year old iron fence around the Park which has two other monuments, the Flagpole commemorating the lives lost in the 1861 fire and a statue of General Philip H. Sheridan in the eastern end.

The tour personalized different chapters of ‘Village’ history.

*www.unclesamsnewyork.com

Central Park – A Welcome Escape

Ice Symphony

My first visit to Central Park, New York was in the winter of 2007. The blanket ban imposed by weather had restricted my entry to the skating rink ( South entrance); a buggy ride. The visit in October 2009 was a bonanza and I made full use of my 12 day stay in the city (October 12-24)

Green Cover

The ‘Park’  was in full bloom, dazzling and electrifying, a  package of nearly 25,000 trees landscaped into a nature retreat from 59^th Street East /West to 110 Street East/West Manhattan. The in-between swathes of green add to the openness of the Park and made full use by children and adults as personal fiefdoms.

I started from Bethesda Terrace, the Bow Bridge, the Conservancy, along the Lake and the Loeb Boathouse, stopped for a bite at the restaurant and headed towards Belvedere Castle, the Great Lawn, past the Metropolitan Museum of Art or The Met, entrance is from the street side and on to the East Meadow and Conservancy Garden.

Day Two:  The Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir, a 106-acre body of water constructed in 1862 feeding the Pool and Meer, for a fabulous view of New York skyline, weaving through assortment of joggers, pram-pushers, pet walkers, kids of all sizes and senior citizens.

Day 3:  From 96^th East it was Harlem Meer right on top E 110 and then turned back via the Great Hill on to the Summit rock, the Arthur Ross Pinetum, the Shakespeare Garden, Strawberry Fields, dedicated to John Lennon, on to the Tavern on the Green and the Rink, the starting point.

It was a phased-out walk to savor the serenity and the theatrical production of colors around me. The American Elms, in abundance throughout Central Park, are the color suppliers with their oblong, serrated  leaves dark green now a brilliant yellow. The reds and oranges are the Callary Pear heart-shaped leaves while the Norway Maples and Pin Oaks add to the symphony with deep yellow, russet and bronze. The Pine Oaks are found at Strawberry Fields, along the 59th Street Pond and the Dairy lawns. Spotted Red Oaks, the stately Silver Linden with symmetrical oval crowns and green and silver leaves and Willow Oaks along the Great Lawn, the Bow Bridge and Loeb Boathouse.  The russet glow belongs to the Cedar crowd on Cedar Hill above the Glade.  It is an identification parade of Ginkgo, the Beech trees, the nodding Eastern Hemlocks and the easily identifiable Weeping Willows casting their shadows in the algae green waters of the Pool.

In between, the watery clouds spoilt my fun of watching sunlight flirt with nature’s bounty.

A welcome escape.