Our NYC Rock & Roll tour visits the site of the Grateful Dead’s first concert in New York, Tompkins Square Park. So, we asked our friends at The New-York Historical Society, which has been showing an amazing Grateful Dead retrospective (thru Sept 5th), to write a bit about the Dead in NYC. Wow!

Guest blogger - Nina Nazionale, co-curator of The Grateful Dead: Now Playing at the New-York Historical Society on view now through September 5, 2010.

People tend to associate the Grateful Dead with the San Francisco Bay Area, which makes sense because that’s where they first started playing, where individual band members lived, and where they spent a lot of their time. When people think of the Grateful Dead in New York City, besides hearing the lyrics to “Truckin” in their head (“New York got the ways and means, but just won’t let you be”), it’s often a memory of attending, or hearing about, a series of sold-out shows, either at Madison Square Garden/Felt Forum or the Meadowlands complex (Brendan Byrne Arena + Giants Stadium) in East Rutherford, NJ.

Dennis Larkins and Peter Barsotti, Radio City Music Hall poster Oct. 22-31, 1980. Special Collections, University of California, Santa Cruz. Grateful Dead Archive.

What most people don’t realize is the Grateful Dead first performed in New York City in 1967 and played at a lot of different small-to-medium sized venues well into the 1970s. Here’s a little background. Be sure to scroll down for a list of sources I consulted to write this post. And to those who were lucky enough to attend one of these early New York City concerts: Don’t be shy! Share the details! Post away!

The Grateful Dead first came to New York to play a 10-night run, beginning June 1, 1967, at the Café Au Go Go, located at 152 Bleecker Street in the Village. They played downstairs while Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention were playing upstairs. Others performing at the Café Au Go Go around the same time were Eric Anderson, Dave Van Ronk, and Richie Havens.

While playing the Café Au Go Go the Dead stayed at the Van Rensselear Hotel, at 15 East 11th Street. In his memoir, Searching for the Sound, Phil Lesh describes trying to sleep, in a room without air-conditioning, in New York City, in the summer: “Trying to sleep your first night in New York ain’t easy anytime, but having the windows open to the music of the city made it impossible. Layer upon layer of sound—cars, horns, shouts, rumbles, sirens, cries, laughter, gunshots, screams, sirens, bells, impacts, screeches, sirens—the whole urban symphony of Industrial Man, coming from near and far, high and low, finally weaving a shimmering web of discontinuous rhythm, and in the longest slow fade ever, subsiding over hours to a dull roar, felt rather than heard, only to rouse itself anew as the sky brightened with the light of another day. If I slept at all that night, I must have dreamed it.” And, according to Dennis McNally, Bob Weir “almost came to tears over the traces of broken dreams that he could imagine ‘humming and buzzing in the elevator cage’” at the Van Rensselear.

In keeping with how and where they had been playing in the Bay Area—a mix of free, impromptu, outdoor concerts and unrehearsed performances at intimate, indoor venues—the Grateful Dead played a free concert in Tompkins Square Park on Thursday, June 1, before taking the stage at Café Au Go Go. New York City park officials hoped that the concert would help lessen the growing friction between Puerto Rican residents, who had been living in the area since the 1950s, and more recent arrivals, the hippies. The concert was preceded by a parade down St. Marks Place, after which Ron “Pigpen” McKernan was given a white carnation key to the East Village. Richie Havens opened for the Dead.

Two days later, on June 3, the Grateful Dead traveled to the Stony Brook campus of the State University of New York, about 50 miles east of Manhattan, where they played in the gymnasium, and then returned to the Café Au Go Go for another performance.

On Thursday, June 8, 1967, the Dead played another free, outdoor concert, at the bandshell in Central Park. The New York Times headline read “The Music Is Hip in Central Park, 450 at the Band Shell Hear Electric-Guitar Combos.” The review began: “Hippies armed with electric guitars occupied the band shell at the Mall in Central Park yesterday and opened up with their musical artillery. An audience of about 450 withstood the two-and-a half-hour barrage. About half the audience was composed of hippies, from 15 to 32 years old. The rest appeared to be passers-by.”

Before heading back to San Francisco, the Dead played one night at the The Cheetah, a popular discotheque, located in midtown Manhattan.

The Grateful Dead returned to New York later in the summer, where they played a private party, intended to raise money for the Diggers, an anarchist guerilla street theater group. Billed as a “Trip Without a Ticket,” the party took place on the roof of the Chelsea Hotel. It was, as Rock Scully so aptly describes it, a gathering of the hipoisie: a combination of heirs, heiresses, and stock brokers, who spent their time at the Hudson Valley Millbrook estate, dropping acid with Timothy Leary, plus Andy Warhol’s entourage from The Factory. It definitely wasn’t the Dead’s usual audience; the band did it as a favor to the Diggers.

An event that harkened back to the Grateful Dead’s playing Tompkins Square Park on June 1, 1967, and also involved the Diggers (although, sorry, not the Grateful Dead), was a “conga-rock party” at The Cheetah on August 15, 1967. The Diggers, described by the New York Times as “the worker-priests of the hippy movement,” provided 1,000 free admission tickets, distributed through the Diggers’ Free Store in the East Village and through the Real Great Society, a group devoted to helping the Puerto Rican community. The goal was to “relieve the tensions that have been growing this summer between the Puerto Rican community around Tompkins Square and the hippies, who have been moving into the area in increasing numbers recently.” The music was provided by The Players, The Strawberries and the Mongo Santamaria Jr. Band.

In late December 1967 the Grateful Dead came back to New York to play the Palm Gardens, a midtown club. They then moved downtown, where they played at the Village Theater, which had previously functioned as a movie theater and a venue for Yiddish theater. Located at 105 Second Avenue, at the corner of 6th Street, the theater needed serious structural repair, a fact that was clear when snow fell on the band—from a hole in the roof—as they performed. It was so cold that the drummers had to wear gloves and concert goers built a bonfire on the floor in front of the stage. By the following March, the Village Theater would be transformed into the Fillmore East, repaired and restored by the concert producer and promoter Bill Graham, who also ran the Fillmore West in San Francisco. The band’s appearance at the Village Theater ended a year in which the Grateful Dead performed in New York City 19 times, all between June and December.

Turn the page and it’s 1968. In the spring of 1968, the Grateful Dead were booked at the Electric Circus, located at 23 St. Mark’s Place, for May 7-9, and—just like the preceding summer—they played two free concerts, at Columbia University and in Central Park, while in town. At the end of April 1968 students at Columbia University had occupied administrative buildings in protest of, among other things, the university’s role in developing weaponry for use in the Vietnam War. On April 30, police moved in and cleared the buildings, arresting 712 students. Students then called a strike, resulting in a shut down of the campus for the rest of the semester, with all entrances guarded by the police. Unable to pass up the chance for a little mischief, the Dead’s manager got in touch with the strike organizers by calling the Village Voice, and arranged to have the band slipped onto campus in a bread delivery truck on Friday, May 3. The strike organizers were excited by the prospect of having a P.A. system at their disposal, even though they were expressly told that it was for the use of the musicians only. When one of the strike organizers grabbed the microphone one too many times, Bob Weir kicked him off the stage. Look for a great photograph of the Grateful Dead playing at Columbia, taken by Rosie McGee, in our exhibit.

The day after playing at Columbia, the Grateful Dead traveled out to the State University at Stony Brook, where they played in the gymnasium, just as they had the year before, then returned to New York City to play Central Park, where they shared the stage with the Paul Butterfield Blues Band and the Jefferson Airplane. The Village Voice reported “No tricks, just music, hard, lyric joyous—pure and together, dense and warm as a dark summer country night. There’s the Dead and then there’s everybody else…” A New York Times reporter wrote “The Dead are extremely driving, amplified and hirsute, even by San Francisco standards, and in their finale, one of the drummers appears to run amok and savagely attacks his cymbals, while another member of the band sets off a small explosion.” Following their free performance in Central Park, they played six shows, spread over 3 days, at the Electric Circus, the booking that had brought them to New York City in the first place.

On Friday, June 14, 1968 the Grateful Dead played the Fillmore East for the first time. It soon became a kind of home-away-from-home for them: they played there a total of 43 times between June 1968 and April 1971, years during which they experimented and—some would say— perfected their sound. With 2,600 seats, ornate murals and a gilt chandelier, it was an inviting, comfortable place to play and hear music. The Dead played 4 shows at the Fillmore East in 1968; 8 shows in 1969; and, reaching a true creative peak, 21 shows in 1970. They performed there for the last time (10 shows) in April 1971, just two months before the Fillmore East closed. Look for recordings of the Dead’s Fillmore East performances from February 13 and 14, 1970, released as Dick’s Picks Volume Four. Definitely required listening for anyone interested in the Dead’s early years in New York City. To get a sense of what the Fillmore East looked like—inside and out—check out Amalie Rothschild’s amazing photographs in our exhibit.

Fillmore East January 1970. Photography by Amalie R. Rothschild; courtesy UC Santa Cruz

In addition to spending a lot of time at the Fillmore East during the next few years, the Grateful Dead played throughout the New York City metropolitan area: the New York State Pavilion in Queens, built for the 1964 World’s Fair, in July 1969 (they were the first rock band to play there); back at the Café Au Go Go in September 1969; Colden Auditorium at Queens College in October 1970; both the Action House in Island Park, Long Island, and the 46th Street Rock Palace (built as a movie theater) in Brooklyn, in November 1970; a benefit for the Hell’s Angels (in my mind the Diggers were a worthier cause, but so it goes) at the Anderson Theater, on Second Avenue near 4th Street—just a few blocks below the Fillmore East—in November 1970; the Manhattan Center in April 1971; Gaelic Park in the Bronx in August 1971; the Academy of Music (later the Palladium, where the Dead played 5 nights in 1977) on East 14th Street in March of 1972. In 1970 and 1971 the Dead played the Capital Theater in Port Chester, a suburb north of the city, 19 times. Later, between 1976 and 1980, they played a different Capitol Theater, in Passaic, New Jersey—10 times. They also appeared frequently at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, in the Long Island suburb of Uniondale—a total of 42 times between 1973 and 1994. Recordings of their May 1980 appearances at Nassau Coliseum were released on CD in 2002. A poster advertising the release of the compact disc hangs on what we think of as “The Wall of Posters,” in our exhibit.

On the same wall look for Dennis Larkins’s striking poster for the Grateful Dead’s 8-night appearance at Radio City Music Hall in October 1980. Larkins’s Radio City poster is based on the one he did for the Dead’s appearance at the Warfield Theater, San Francisco, in 1980. Larkins also designed the poster and T-shirt for our exhibit, The Grateful Dead: Now Playing at the New-York Historical Society. Also of interest regarding the 1980 Radio City shows are a group of surveys filled out by audiences at video simulcasts of the Dead’s shows at Radio City in 1980. Whether people liked the video simulcast or not, when asked if they wanted to be added to the Grateful Dead’s mailing list, most everyone opted in. The concert is viewable on the DVD Dead Ahead.

And you know all about the Grateful Dead playing Madison Square Garden 9 nights in both 1988 and 1991, right? Check out the T-shirt, in our exhibit, designed by Antonio Reonegro, an artist based in Staten Island, for the September 1991 shows. His sketch for the T-shirt is also on display.

I’ll leave you with the fact that the Grateful Dead played the Felt Forum at Madison Square Garden 5 times at the end of 1971 and, between 1979 and 1994, played Madison Square Garden 52 times. They appeared at the Meadowlands (Brendan Byrne Arena + Giants Stadium) 30 times between 1978 and 1995. The Grateful Dead’s June 19, 1995 appearance at Giants Stadium was the last time they played New York City. Jerry Garcia died less than two months later, on August 9, 1995.

The Grateful Dead: Now Playing at the New-York Historical Society is on display through Sunday, September 5, 2010.

Recommended Sources

Books:
Fong-Torres, Ben. Grateful Dead Scrapbook. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2009.
Grateful Dead: The Illustrated Trip. New York: DK Publishing, Inc., 2003.
Jackson, Blair. Garcia: An American Life. New York: Penguin Books, 1999.
Lesh, Phil. Searching for the Sound. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2005.
McNally, Dennis. A Long Strange Trip: the Inside History of the Grateful Dead. New
York: Broadway Books, 2002.
Parish, Steve. Home Before Daylight: My Life on the Road with the Grateful Dead. New
York: St. Martin’s Press, 2003.
Scully, Rock. Living With the Dead. New York: Little Brown & Co, 1995.

Websites:
www.dead.net
www.deaddisc.com
www.deadlists.com

CDs:
Dick’s Picks Volume Four: Fillmore East 2/13-14/70, released 1996. Liner notes by Owsley “Bear” Stanley.
Grateful Dead Go to Nassau (May 1980 concerts), released 2002 (re-release 2004).

CityListen has partnered with NYC & Company and American Express to give customers double Membership Rewards (R) then they use their American Express card to purchase CityListen Audio Tours. This promotion runs until Labor Day.

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Guest blogger: Carol Cain, The Adventures of a NYCity Mama

Most guide books for New York City don’t take their readers past The American Museum of Natural History and there used to be a time when most newly arrived residents of New York thought Manhattan ended on 86 St. However, go further North in Manhattan and you will find all the delights of older neighborhoods still holding on to the traditions of their rich history. It is certainly worth the trip uptown just to experience the food, and when you do, you will be submerged in the epitomy of what New York represents to those who first came here so long ago.

If ever on the East side, by Central Park, and you decide to go beyond that invisible line often found in most guide books and tourist maps, you will find yourself in Spanish Harlem, or El Barrio. A neighborhood currently known for its vibrant Puerto Rican community, but originally established by Italian immigrants. Walk through the streets of Spanish Harlem, and you will get a hint here and there of both cultures, mostly in the name of the streets, and various restaurant choices.

Spanish Harlem has given birth to many musical talents renowned world wide. Musical geniuses such as Ray Barreto andTito Puente.

Conservatory Garden

Enter Central Park on 105th and 5th Avenue and you will lose your breath at the beautiful site of the Conservatory Garden, a popular location for photographers and painters alike. Originally established in 1898 as a greenhouse, it has gone through several reconstructions that have lead to the beautiful garden it is today.

Three Dancing Maidens

Honoring both the French, Italian, and English artistic styles, its center is decorated by the Three Dancing Maidens fountain designed by German sculptor Walter Schott. The amazing flower arrangements and they absolute escape it offers from city life and noise make this worth the adventure North.

El Museo del Barrio

Only a block down from the Conservatory, on East 104th St., is El Museo del Barrio where you will see Latino art of all genres surround you. This recently renovated museum is the pride and joy of Spanish Harlem, one which has stayed true to the neighborhood and culture in which it resides.

Other great museums to visit while in Spanish Harlem are the The Museum of the City of New York which showcases the City’s cultural diversity through its exhibitions and family-friendly programs.

mmmm Patsy's

If you have the time, venture further North and East to 1st Avenue and 118th St. This is where you will find Patsy’s Pizzeria. This is true New York style pizza, one of the originals, keeping alive the passion and pizza making tradition of the Lancieri family since 1933. It is very much like the often featured, but impossible to get into tourist spot, Grimaldi’s. The pizza tastes similar because Grimaldi, Lancieri’s nephew, learned to make pizza from him in the 1940s.

For a taste of authentic Puerto Rican cuisine you must visit La Fonda Boricua for true Puerto Rican culinary staples, as well as entertainment, and ambiance. There is a vibrant theater community as well, with theater houses and cultural groups such as Taller Boricua, Puerto Rican Traveling Theater, and the National Black Theater.

Spanish Harlem is on the East side of Manhattan and extends from 96th St. to140th St. You can access Spanish Harlem by public transit via the 4, 5, or 6 train.
Next time you’re in Manhattan, break the barriers of your hand held guide book, and discover El Sabor of New York City.

Artist working with Harlem kids

Carol Cain is a freelance travel writer and native New Yorker. She is a former publishing and public relations professional, with an MBA in International Relations. She is the founder of The Adventures of a NYCity Mama, a family travel site that was nominated for a Nickelodeon Parent’s Picks Award in 2009. Carol herself was nominated Best Latina Blogger in the same year by Latinos in Social Media. She lives in New York City with her husband and three boys.

Explore NYC with audio walking tours from CityListen. Any 2 for just 20 bucks!

Guest blogger Isabelle from Isabelle`s Travel Guide

I`ve been a few times to Madrid and I`ve most enjoyed this walk, because of the sights that cross your path.

You start at Puerta del Sol, which is the heart of Madrid. This is the spot to meet friends or hang out, go shopping,.. Or start your tour to see the city. It`s famous for its new year’s celebrations with the Twelve Grapes when the clock strikes 12 times. It`s also the center of the radial network of Spanish roads, with a plaque on the ground “Kilómetro cero” indicating the symbolic center of Spain.

Walk towards Calle de Alcalá. If you walk down this street your end stop will be the Parque del Retiro with several highlights along the way. You`ll walk by the Iglesias de las Calatravas and the Edificio Metrópolis, which is a beautiful office building.

You`ll see the lovely Plaza de Cibeles with on one corner the Banco de España and the other corner the beautiful Palacio de Comunicaciones.

Just before you see the main entry to Parque del Retiro, you`ll pass Puerta de Alcalá. The Alcalá Gate is a monument in the Plaza de la Independencia.

When you`ve passed this monument, you`ll see the entrance to Retiro Park. It`s a big park that offers peace and quiet in the vivid capital of Spain. The locals like to come here on Sundays to relax, walk around, picnic or make a boat ride. It`s a lovely place to experience the city in a different way!

Extra Tip: When you`ve ended your tour around the park, you`re also close to Museo del Prado and Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza.

Isabelle is a passionate traveler who built her own website, Isabelle`s Travel Guide, that’s filled with personal experiences, travel tips and information to help others create their own memorable vacation. There’s nothing more Isabelle loves than traveling the world, experiencing new adventures and discovering new destinations. With her website, Isabelle hopes to be an inspiration and help others in their ventures to explore the world. Follow  IsabellesTravel on Twitter.

Guest blogger: Erin Kiskis from Ruba Travel (www.ruba.com)

Spring has finally sprung in gorgeous San Francisco! Walk down the street and you can practically see the visions of beach bonfires, sailing to Angel Island, and baseball games at AT&T Park dancing in their eyes. All the excitement has had me thinking – I wonder what all my fellow San Franciscans have planned for their summers. Luckily I happen to work for the very website that can answer my question!

Photo courtesy of David Paul Ohmer

Ruba has always been a great site for browsing locals’ and travelers’ favorite spots around the world through the visual travel guides featured on the site, but now it’s even easier to find answers to your specific travel related questions using Ruba. We’re thrilled to announce the launch of our Local Experts Q&A section, where you can ask any and all travel related questions for destinations around the world or even as close as your own backyard. Wondering where the best place to escape a rainy day in Chicago is? Or the best restaurant to propose to your girlfriend in Paris is? Or great new ways to explore New York City on foot? Look no further, friends. Ruba’s local experts are ready and waiting to answer your questions about their hometowns. So ask away!

And since I’m sure by now you’re dying to know what my favorite picks for a gorgeous San Francisco summer day would be, here goes!

Sample Local Produce and Artisanals at the Ferry Building

I love this place any time or day of the week, but it’s especially fun to visit during the Farmer’s Market which happens every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday in and around the Ferry Building. Locals come out for the delicious fruits, vegetables, cheeses, and more. Many of the stands sell unique snacks (softshell crab sandwich, anyone?) that are definitely worth a try.

Photo Courtesy of Sam’s Café

Set sail to delicious brunch

Any San Franciscan will tell you to pack a sweatshirt or jacket for chilly summer mornings, but even we need a break from the fog every once in a while. On Saturdays and Sundays you’ll find us pouring onto the Tiburon-bound ferry for a sunny brunch in Marin. Check out Sam’s Anchor Café in Belvedere or hop on the Sausalito ferry instead and enjoy a sunny stroll down Bridgeway where you’ll have your pick of delicious bayside restaurants with views you won’t soon forget.

Photo courtesy of Adam UXB Smith

Catch some rays and a sweet treat at Dolores Park

On a sunny afternoon in San Francisco this park in the Mission District fills up with locals playing guitar, reading magazines, playing Frisbee with their dogs, and chasing the elusive SF suntan. And when you get too hot, walk across the street to Bi-Rite Creamery, where you can enjoy some of the best ice cream in the city with flavors like Salted Caramel and Ricanelas.

Photo courtesy of: The Baseball Collector

Catch a Home Run – in a Kayak

Sure you can catch a baseball game in any major city across the US, but in how many cities can you watch the game from the comfort of your own kayak parked out on the bay? Even during night games you’re likely to see a few diehard fans out in McCovey Cove directly behind the game waiting to catch home run balls with fishing nets.

What’re your favorite summer hotspots in your hometown? Head on over to Ruba to share them or discover new places around the world!

CityListen audio walking tours of San Francisco. North Beach and Haight-Ashbury. 2 tours for 20 bucks. Promo code: 2for20.

In celebration of Earth Day, Central Park: An Urban Marvel is available FOR FREE with the purchase of any other New York City audio tour from CityListen.

Once again, CityListen is inviting you to celebrate Earth Day in the most visited city park in the United States. Central Park is the perfect place to celebrate Earth Day and gain an appreciation for nature and sustainability.

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Happy Earth Day. We look forward to walking with you.

Guest blogger: Jeanine Barone, J The Travel Authority shares 8 great tips for experiencing the capital of Iceland.

Reykjavik's picturesque harbor

It seems that all the recent headlines about Iceland revolve around two things: their economic downturn and the lava-spewing volcano in the south. Sure, Iceland has been in the news over the past year because of its economic downturn. What I love about Icelanders is that they remain an optimistic, resilient people that adapt to their ever-changing climate, as they’ve done for centuries. (Boarded up shops now become venues for impromptu art exhibitions; and top chefs are following more of a locavore route, relying on locally-sourced ingredients.)

An overview of Reykjavik's quaint old town

There’s much to make you fall in love with Reykjavik, the world’s northernmost capital.

After all, it’s spic-and-span with ubiquitous heated outdoor pools — warmed by the same geothermal sources that heat up the tap water — and has a scenery that can’t be beat: an expansive harbor front with dramatic snow capped peaks beyond. Brightly painted corrugated metal houses line the snug, ultra-walkable old town center. Yet amidst this small town package is big city sophistication. The main shopping streets, Laugavegur and Skolavordustigur, are lined with upscale design emporia that stand side by side with unique craft shops. (One exhibits luxe handbags made of dried codfish skin while another sells stylish women’s clothing modeled on the color palette of this country that’s born of fire and ice.) A vibrant restaurant scene continues in Reykjavik where the chefs regularly garner top awards for their culinary delights.

Yet,every time I visit Reykjavik, I’m tickled by some of the curiosities: some locals snack on fermented shark bits the way we would dig into potato chips; and a snag in a construction project can be blamed on mischievous elf activity, requiring an elf consultant to settle the dispute.

I love Reykjavik all year round, but it’s especially lovely in the summer when the sun barely sets. These are some of my favorite places to take in the art, the foliage and the unique Icelandic scene.

1. 871 +/- 2: The Settlement Exhibition, is a curious name for a museum. But it makes sense, considering that’s Iceland’s approximate settlement date. Located on the exact spot where they found the ruins of a 10th century longhouse, this archeological museum stands beside a major hotel. If you steer clear of archeologic museums, be warned that this one is hardly chock full of dull exhibits. It’s quite interactive with holographic-type images and sounds of the time, from knife making to cowbells.

2. Not far away along the quay, the Reykjavik Art Museum - Harbor House features the pop oeuvre of noted Icelandic artist, Erro. But the museum also regularly hosts temporary exhibits that are quite innovative. (This is one of the three Reykjavik Art Museums in the city and each is worth visiting for the pastiche of often colorful abstract works as well as inspired landscapes on display.)

3. Nearby is a warehouse that’s home to the Saturday morning flea market. It’s bric-a-brac laden but it’s the food court that’s worth visiting. Often, you can sample some of the typical food items found in every Icelander’s home, including potato bread, rugbraud (malt bread), dried catfish and the infamous fermented shark meat. I was warned to avoid the latter but accidentally sampled a small cube that was offered to me on a toothpick. After finding it tasteless after initially chewing it, the full power of the ammonia-laden meat became overwhelming.

4. I’m not necessarily a big fan of visiting cemeteries but Reykjavik’s is reminiscent of a botanical garden. The 19th century Holavalla Cemetery is dense with foliage and ancient gnarled trees towering over ornate headstones.

The church: Hallgrimskirkja

5. Walk towards the city’s towering landmark, the church named Hallgrimskirkja, and you’ll find the Einar Jonsson Museum with its postage stamp-size sculpture garden. As you explore the allegorical works, you’ll notice that he was very much influenced by mythological and religious themes.

6. Take a long pleasant walk or a short cab ride to get to the Reykjavik Botanic Garden located in the Laugardalur area. There you can wander twisty paths and inspect the plants that come from all over the world, including New Zealand and Asia. It’s interesting to see so many trees here in a country where tall evergreens are a rarity. Housed in a greenhouse laden with flora, Cafe Flora — a perfect lunch spot — is aptly named.

Lush landscape at the Botanic Garden

7. Certainly, one of Reykjavik’s most famous features is the Blue Lagoon with its series of geothermal pools and rejuvenating silica mud where you could luxuriate for most of the day. But, its location midway between downtown and the airport, hardly makes it convenient. Now you can choose from an array of mud and other spa treatments at their downtown location that’s not far from the Botanic Garden. If you choose a treatment, you also have access to the mega health club (Hreyfing) that’s in the same building. Or simply opt for a day pass to the health club.

Nautholsvik Beach

8. And, if you can’t get enough of the water, Reykjavik even has a beach, but, like so much in the city, it’s hardly ordinary. Nautholsvik, a petite half-moon bay that’s easily accessible by bike, bus or cab, is geothermally heated and man made: the sand was trucked in. And if the water isn’t hot enough for you, there are hot tubs located just offshore and on the coast beside the sand so you can bake. Pick a sunny day to visit and you’ll find dozens of Icelanders soaking, lying on the sand, or playing volleyball.

Native New Yorker, Jeanine Barone is a travel, food and design writer. Her blog, J The Travel Authority, focuses in on her hidden treasure travel around the world. She also writes for an array of publications, from National Geographic Traveler to Travel + Leisure. (Iceland, Spain, Portugal and Israel are her specialties.)

All the photos are from Jeanine Barone or courtesy of www.visitreykjavik.is

The sculpture garden at Einar Jonsson Museum

Guest Blogger: Sarah Protzman, NewNewYorkers

Spend an afternoon playing foodie, and walk it off as you admire some architecture. These three pit stops on the West Side of Manhattan are not to be missed.

The High Line
Various entrances; elevator at 14th Street and Tenth Avenue
From there, head to the much-anticipated High Line, a new park built on an elevated railroad overlooking the Meatpacking District. As it gets warmer, those chaise lounges overlooking the Hudson will get crowded, so head over for sun and a stroll! It’s easily navigable, but here’s a great map. When it was in operation (1934 to 1980), the High Line carried meat, agricultural goods and mail to West Side neighborhoods.

Chelsea Market
75 Ninth Avenue at 16th Street
A short jaunt from the Highline, this gourmet paradise will make you wonder why you order takeout so much. Everything from Saltines to Oreos was made at this former site of the National Biscuit Company, now the delightful Chelsea Market. As you meander the hallways, don’t miss The Lobster Place (oysters on the half shell!) and the cupcakes at Eleni’s. They also have sample sales and live music — an events calendar is on the Web site.

Sarah Protzman is full of useful tips for enjoying life in New York City. Check out the NewNewYorkers blog and follow Sarah on Twitter

Guest blogger:Michael Schuermann, author of Paris Movie Walks.

Walking through a city, a beautiful city, is one of the great pleasures in life. Beautiful cities, like all great works of art, aspire to the state of music.
Themes – markets, gardens or rivers – are for ever reprised and varied, the contrast between broad vistas across town squares or wide boulevards and narrow “medieval” lanes creates a dramatic tension while figures and little flourishes of odd encounters and eccentricities ensure that there is always a surprising little twist around the corner.

At the very basis, this is an interplay between order and variation. Too much order, and you get mind-numbing regularity, like in some parts of London where you have rows upon rows of terraced, near-identical residential homes. (Oom-pah, oom-pah: the equivalent of a German-style military march.) Too little order, and instead of a harmonious balance where every part complements and enriches the whole you get a snarling confrontation of disparate elements, say: a neo-classical town hall and a Gothic-style church separated by telegraph poles and a supermarket parking lot. This is no longer music, but noise. Dissonance. Cacophony.

And just like music, cities need a basic structure, too, a rhythmic foundation to hold on to and to prevent the flurry of individual motives and figures from descending into anarchy. In midtown Manhattan, this structure is provided by the breathtaking brashness of modernity, in central London by the self-aware grandeur of Empire. In Paris, this role is played by the bourgeois playfulness of the Belle Epoque: the frivolous architectural ornaments, the receding aluminum roofs, the merry dance of the iron railings along the housefronts of the grand boulevards.

Two suggestions then. The first for an “ordinary” day: if your hotel or holiday apartment happens to be located outside the immediate city centre (comprising the arrondissements 1 through to 4), spurn the Metro at least for one morning and walk to town instead. Paris is smaller than you may think – even from the outskirts of the city, this should not take you longer than an hour and a half, probably less, and you will see things that you would otherwise not have discovered. If you stay in the city centre, pick one of the more outlying sites and simply walk there. I would recommend Montmartre or the Eiffel Tower, simply because they always stay in sight, and there is no map-reading you have to do that could distract you from enjoying your little adventure.

For a beautiful sunny day, however, I would advise something else: a stroll down the Seine (from Notre Dame Cathedral in direction of the Place de la Concorde) or the Canal St Martin (starting near the Metro station Republique). If you are really up for it, you may even combine the two, doing one in the morning and the other in the afternoon, separated by a leisurely lunch in a bistro near the Canal or on one of the floating restaurants that moor in the shadow of the Cathedral. That would allow you to compare the two treatments of the Paris-and-water theme, once done as a modest piece of chamber music and once on a grand operatic scale.

There is simply no better way of spending a day in Paris – and of familiarizing yourself with the themes and motives of this wonderful and unique city.

Michael Schuermann is a journalist who has been living in Paris since 1993. His book, Paris Movie Walks, was written to provide a counterpoint to all the guidebooks that want you indoors in some musty old museum by helping people to get out to to smell, taste and experience the city of Paris in as many ways as possible.

The Île Saint-Louis is one of two natural islands in the Seine

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Guest blogger - Evan Roberts
Evan Roberts is a CityListen audio producer with a passion for helping people capture and share the stories of their lives. (Listen to Evan’s handiwork on our San Francisco tours)

As the founder of Audio Heirlooms, a company that produces audio portraits for families that want to preserve their life history, I am very interested in location-based stories. Every major experience in my life is connected with the plot of earth where it happened. I can walk the streets of Portland, Maine and show you where I was standing when I got my heart broken; or show you the rocky heights in San Francisco where I fell in love again; or the side streets of London, New York and Jerusalem where I inched closer to adulthood.
 
Sometimes our life experiences can overlap on a certain location (our home, our workplace) until it’s hard to tweeze out the most meaningful events that occurred there. But if you’ve ever revisited the neighborhood where you used to live, and walked down your street again like you used to always do, you’ll likely be flooded with sensations and memories from your past. 
 
When preparing for an audio portrait, I brainstorm with my clients about the places in their lives that are of great significance— and then revisit those locations with them. For example, we visited the floor of the stock exchange with our friend Robert, who worked there over fifty years ago. Even though everything had changed since then (even the closing bell is different, he says), this immersion retrieved long forgotten memories and allowed for new reflections.
 
Click here to listen to a personal audio walking tour.
 
Where would the Audio Tour of your life go?

Contact Evan at Audio Heirlooms for more info.