Akhtar Soomro: Pakistan Published by Blog - On 02:18 // This post haved 0 коммент. //

Photo © Akhtar Soomro/Reuters-All Rights Reserved

Full Focus, Reuters photo blog, seems to be regaining its footing amongst the remaining other large image photo blogs, and has recently featured the work of Pakistani photojournalist Akhtar Soomro.

Born in the Lyari neighborhood of Karachi, Pakistan, Akhtar graduated from the Government College of Science and Technology with a degree in engineering but photography beckoned, and he started working for a studio covering fashion, industrial and interior design, and subsequently for an advertising agency.

He has since shot assignments for local and international newspapers, magazines and stock agencies around the world. In 2009, he was part of a New York Times' team that won a Pulitzer for its reporting from Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Most of Akhtar's impressive photographs in the Reuters feature are of refugees of the floods, and of displaced people from the Swat Valley...but it's the one above that caught my eye. Its caption informs us that a flood victim baby sleeps in a hammock as a man reads the Koran during Eid-al-Fitr celebrations while taking refuge in a relief camp for flood victims in Sukkur in Pakistan's Sindh province on September 11, 2010.

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Fred Canonge: Pehlwan of Benares Published by Blog - On 02:10 // This post haved 0 коммент. //

Photo © Fred Canonge-All Rights Reserved

Pehlwani (also known as Kushti) is a traditional style of wrestling popular in the sub-continent of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The wrestler is known as pahlawan which, interestingly for those who are etymologists, is the colloquial Arabic word meaning "clown". I wouldn't tell this to these wrestlers, as they would be offended and I'd be on the mat in less than a second.

Based in Paris, Fred Canonge is a French freelance photographer who has extensively travelled in India for the last ten years, and is constantly exploring all the nuances and the diversity of Indian society. His website is replete with galleries of India, including some of images made in Kathputli and Varanasi, but the gallery which I liked the most has his work on the pehlawan.

Varanasi has a number of traditional wrestling training gyms (known as akhara), and one can spot them working with rudimentary weights near Tulsi ghat. The wrestlers' diets consist of milk, almonds, ghee, eggs and chapattis, but have a difficult time making ends meet. Some of them find work as bodyguards to those who need protection or as "enforcers" during political elections.

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Mitchell Kanashkevich: Vanuatu (And More) Published by Blog - On 01:52 // This post haved 0 коммент. //

Photo © Mitchell Kanashkevich - All Rights Reserved

As promised, here's the updated website of Mitchell Kanashkevich, replete with new inspirational imagery of his recent travels. One of the best travel, documentary and cultural photographers I know, Mitchell describes himself as a tireless wanderer and documentarian. He's also an author, and published several popular ebooks. You'll also agree with me that Mitchell's photographs are gorgeous, and the new website is equally lovely. It's for a good reason that his website is on my blogroll.


On his website, he introduces us to various galleries of his travels in Vanuatu. The first gallery is of South West Bay, a remote enclave on the island of Malekula. It is separated from the rest of the island by mountains and dense forest, and the only way to get there is by sea or air. Until 50 years ago, its tribal inhabitants practiced cannibalism and warfare. Although the introduction of Christianity resulted in the disappearance of these practices, it also caused the erosion of traditional rituals and customs.

Vanuatu is an island nation located in the south Pacific ocean, and includes more than 80 islands, out of which 65 are inhabited. Its population is less than 220,000 and are of Melanesian descent. I came across Vanuatu while involved in the banking industry, as it's an offshore financial center and a tax haven...but I never imagined that it would have such visual beauty.

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20 free attractions in London Published by Blog - On 01:37 // This post haved 0 коммент. //

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Great Court of British Museum.

• Neil Setchfield
• Lonely Planet Photographer

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Who cares if London’s hotels and restaurants tend to be on the expensive side? No city in the world has more free stuff to do. In addition to world-class museums without a ticket admission, you get the parks, canal walks, super markets (Portobello Road Market at Notting Hill Gate, Camden Market at Chalk Farm Rd, wonderful Columbia Road Flower Market at Gosset St in East London etc) and maybe some royal-spotting, and you can fill a life. London, thank you!

Here’s the mere start of the free list:

1. Borough Market
Around, more or less, since the 13th century, the Borough Market is stuffed with food-lovers and all you need for a memorable grab-and-go breakfast or lunch. One of the top attractions south of the river. Open Thursday to Saturday (go on Saturday to catch the market at its bustling best).

2. British Film Institute’s Mediatheque
Hidden under Waterloo Bridge, the institute features four cinemas (not free) and the fun Mediatheque, where you can peruse DTV/film archives and watch for free.

3. British Museum
Unreal; one of London’s top attractions, and absolutely free. When I was in London, I’d hop in for 20 minutes, peek at the Rosetta Stone, and move on, saving Aztec mosaic masks or the head-smashed ‘Lindow Man’ (a 1st-century unfortunate found in a peat bog in 1984) and seven million other items for another visit. Watch for worthwhile 20- and 50-minute eyeOpener tours offered for free too.

4. Houses of Parliament
The Palace of Westminster, home of ‘Big Ben’ (or Clock Tower), is a neo-Gothic wonder from the mid 19th century. And it’s full of houses: namely the House of Commons and the House of Lords. Reserve ahead to watch antics during Parliament sessions. www.parliament.uk

5. Museum of London
Off the radar to most visitors, yet one of the city’s great attractions, this museum offers a walk through London’s various incarnations — from Thames Valley geological history, to Anglo-Saxons and 21st-century bankers. Plus there’s a nice cafe in its garden.

6. National Gallery
Its 2000 Western European classics by Van Gogh, Renoir, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo is a serious art stop, with over five million popping into the building on Trafalgar Square each year. Miss the hordes weekday mornings or Wednesday evenings (after 6pm). Any time, it’s all free.

7. National Maritime Museum
Greenwich’s best attraction, this neoclassical building museum gets more interesting and fun the deeper you go in. The focus is on Britain’s seafaring past, including the bullet that felled Horatio Nelson, a replica of Ernest Shackleton’s life boat and plenty of kid-friendly interactive exhibits in the Your Ocean exhibit.

8. National Portrait Gallery
Before Google or Wikipedia, the English came here to put a face to the name of a who’s who list in history. Here, a block north of the National Gallery on St Martin’s Pl, you’ll see paintings and sculpture, including Andy Warhol’s take on the Queen.

9. Natural History Museum
Those Victorians sure liked to ‘c & c’ (collect and catalogue). This is the result, an outrageous collection of things nature in a lovely Gothic Revival building from 1880. A diplodocus dinosaur skeleton watches the entrance. Farther in comes a T-Rex and the Darwin Centre, with 450,000 jars of pickled specimens. A wildlife garden is open April to September only.

10. Photographers’ Gallery
Wonderful contemporary photo collection in the West End benefits from its new two-floor space – where the gallery’s been since 2008. Plus there’s a great cafe. (Note that the building is closed for further renovations until Autumn 2011 but the gallery is still running events off-site.)

11. Science Museum
Highly informative and entertaining Science Museum fills seven floors with interactive exhibits. The Energy Hall highlights the first steam locomotives of the early 19th century; big with kids are the third floor exhibits, including old gliders, hot-air balloons and flight simulators.

12. Serpentine Gallery
Looking like a 1930s-style tearoom in leafy Kensington Gardens, this gallery is a lovely spot to take in one of London’s most important contemporary art collections, with works by Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons and the like. Loads of natural light pour through huge windows. Each year a new ‘Summer Pavilion’ (May to October) is opened nearby, to host open-air cinema and readings.

13. Sir John Soane’s Museum
Son of a bricklayer – OK, I just wanted to say bricklayer, it’s true – Soane’s West End home is filled with the early 19th-century architect’s personal effects and curiosities, making up one of London’s most atmospheric and fascinating sights that few know exists. The house is largely as Soane left it upon his death in 1837, from Christopher Wren drawings, a lantern room and slaves’ chains. Aim to go on the first Tuesday of the month, when the home’s lit by candles.

14. St Paul’s Church
Not to be confused with St Paul’s Cathedral (a big attraction that comes with a ticket price), this church on the western flank of Covent Garden Piazza is known as the ‘actor’s church‘. The first Punch and Judy show took place in 1662, and there are memorials for Charlie Chaplin and Vivien Leigh, the most famous faux British Confederate of all time.

15. Tate Britain
The older half of the Tate duo (the modern bits moved downriver in 2000) is no stodgy sister. Here, permanent works focus on British masterpieces from the 16th to late 20th centuries. Look for one-hour thematic tours and 15-minute talks on painters and paintings, all part of the admission price: nothing.

16. Tate Modern
Speaking of which, this mod half of the Tate, hiply set in the Bankside Power Station on the Thames, is one of the city’s most beloved attractions. Special exhibits cost £8-10, but you can spend much time enjoying its permanent (free) collection of 60,000 works (Pollock, Warhol, Rodin, Matisse), wrapped in uniquely themed exhibits such as ‘Poetry & Dream’ for the surreal. The upstairs cafe has wonderful Thames views, and the building’s amazing.

17. Temple Church
Da Vinci Code fans, and you know you kinda are one, make this church – with origins dating to the 12th century – a must-see in London, for its role in a key scene. It’s a distinctive place, built by crusading monks, with a traffic-free oasis of green spaces amidst the buildings in the City.

18. Victoria & Albert Museum
Open since 1852, its 4.5 million objects – like the stunner entry chandelier by Dale Chihuly – make it, very simply, the world’s best decorative arts museum. Have plenty of time. The first floor focuses on Asian (Japanese swords, ancient Chinese ceramics) and some European art, including plaster casts Michelangelo used for his David. Then there’s a photography collection of half a million images, picked up over its 160 years. The Ardabil Carpet in the Middle East-focused Jameel Gallery is one of the world’s oldest, dating from Iran in the 1500s.

19. Wallace Collection
Arguably London’s finest small gallery, and way off the normal map, the collection is an enthralling glimpse into 18th-century aristocratic life, set up in a sumptuous restored Italianate mansion stuffed with 17th- and 18th-century art works. Superb, unless of course you live in such a place already.

20. Whitechapel Gallery
Home to 10 galleries in an art nouveau building first opened in 1899, the Whitechapel mixes up is themed exhibits between established and emerging artists. Picasso’s Guernica was first shown here in 1939. Watch for music, readings and films on Thursdays and some Fridays, or pop into the uberdesigned cafe for a break.

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Next Week On The Travel Photographer Published by Blog - On 06:00 // This post haved 0 коммент. //

For the week starting Monday November 29,  the following posts are in the blog's pipeline:

1. The work of a photographer with a ton of images of India, including one of the wrestlers of Benares. I had planned to post it last week.
2. The work of another photographer with a lot of images of Buddhism. All black & white square format with a Hassleblad. Very impressive.
3. The work of an editorial photographer with a gallery of images from the Khumbu (Northern Nepal).
4. Interesting portraits of "witches" from West Africa.
5. The updated website of one of the best travel photographers will be featured.

Plus other whimsical posts as the week goes on.

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Top 10 cities for 2011 Published by Blog - On 01:40 // This post haved 0 коммент. //

Who doesn’t love a city? Lonely Planet has scoured the globe for next year’s hottest cities. Our top picks show that a city doesn’t need to be a heaving metropolis to get on the list. Then again, sometimes it helps. One of our favourites is the world’s largest city that cannot be reached by road. And there are even a couple of European cities that remain criminally underrated. Here they are, Lonely Planet’s top 10 cities for next year, ranked in order:

1. New York

Since 9/11, the site of the World Trade Center’s twin towers has stood out as a closed-off, out-of-view, painful gaping void. This year that changes, as the former WTC site finally reopens to the public with the National September 11 Memorial, a 6-acre, tree-filled plaza with 30ft-deep waterfalls at the footprint of the former towers, rimmed by the name of each victim and illuminated at night (its museum will follow in 2012). For the city, this will be more momentous than if the Yankees, Knicks, Rangers and Giants won simultaneous championships while the ball dropped in Times Square on New Year’s Eve. For all of New York, 11 September 2011 will be a defining moment.

2. Tangier

From its extraordinary position perched on the northwestern-most tip of Africa, Tangier looks in two directions: one face towards Spain and Europe, and the other into Africa. The ‘white city’ announces a culture excitingly different from that of its close cousins across the water. With the recent arrival of a new city governor, the town beach now sparkles, the hustlers are off the streets and even the taxi drivers are polite. A stylish new Tangier is being created with a dynamic arts community, renovated buildings, great shopping and chic new restaurants.

3. Tel Aviv

Tel Aviv is the total flipside of Jerusalem, a modern Sin City on the sea rather than an ancient Holy City on a hill. Hedonism is the one religion that unites its inhabitants. There are more bars than synagogues, God is a DJ and everyone’s body is a temple. Yet, scratch underneath the surface and Tel Aviv, or TLV, reveals itself as a truly diverse 21st-century Mediterranean hub. By far the most international city in Israel, Tel Aviv is also home to a large gay community, a kind of San Francisco in the Middle East. Thanks to its university and museums, it is also the greenhouse for Israel’s growing art, film and music scenes.

4. Wellington

Wellington is Cool-with-a-capital-C, crammed with more bars, cafes and restaurants per capita than New York, and a slew of gourmet producers including some 10 independent coffee roasteries. Year-round you’ll find arts and cultural events in abundance. Likewise, its film industry, ‘Wellywood’, centred on the Miramar Peninsula, is booming thanks in large part to the success of Wellingtonian Sir Peter Jackson (executive producer of the 2011 and 2012 Hobbit movies currently being made here). This little capital will be front-and-centre on the world stage in 2011 when New Zealand hosts the Rugby World Cup.

5. Valencia

Valencia sits coquettishly and again confidently along Spain’s Mediterranean coast. For centuries, it was overshadowed by larger Spanish cities – hard-nosed, commercially-minded Barcelona and Madrid, the nation’s capital. Not any more. While retaining its provincial charm, Spain’s third city now mixes with the international crowd. Host of a couple of America’s Cup yachting jamborees and an annual street circuit Formula 1 motor race, it’s also European Capital of Sport for 2011 and a favourite destination for conferences and congresses. Valencia enjoyed its golden age two full centuries before the rest of Spain.

6. Iquitos

After days forging by boat along rainforest-fringed rivers, Iquitos, mighty megalopolis of the Peruvian Amazon, comes as a shock to the system. Pulsating with life, the city’s latest boom is tourism: visitors may flock to reconnoitre the rainforest but taking time to imbibe Iquitos itself is imperative too. This is a sultry slice of Amazon life: Brazilian, Colombian, indigenous and expat. Clubs bounce to salsa and rock until the early hours with the vigour you’d expect of Peru’s jungle capital, but Iquitos is also a cultural hub: expect works by Peru’s top artists, opulent rubber-boom mansions and a museum on Amazon ethnography for starters. As a trading post for rainforest tribes, market mayhem and riverboat bustle are part of the package, all conspiring to fill the city with an addictive, round-the-clock energy.

7. Ghent

Here’s a secret within a secret: Ghent might just be the best European city you’ve never thought of visiting, in a country that continues to be criminally overlooked. Ghent hides away in the middle of Belgium’s big three – Brussels, Bruges and Antwerp. Most Belgium-bound visitors rushing between these see nothing more than the stately fortifications of Ghent’s St Pieter’s Station. Those who do hop off the train and stroll along the Leie River to the historic centre will have their eyes out on stalks. Here hides one of Europe’s finest panoramas of water, spires and centuries-old grand houses. But this is no place to simply kick back: Ghent has one of Europe’s most dynamic festival scenes, which vies for visitors’ attention. This year the entire centre will emerge from a major program of rebuilding designed to show off the huge pedestrianised squares.

8. Delhi

The great metropolis of Delhi, encompassing Old and New Delhi and sprawling out for miles, has not looked this smart and sparkling in centuries. Huge preparations for the Commonwealth Games, which took place in October 2010, improved the city’s infrastructure, cleaned up its streets and added to its accommodation options. Aside from, of course, a bounty of new or improved sporting facilities, there’s the marvellous artery of the Metro – an underground transport system that’s a futuristic, egalitarian world away from the sometimes chaotic, class-ridden situation above ground. This year marks 100 years since New Delhi was founded in 1911. At least eight cities are known to have been founded on this spot. The commemoration of this anniversary is sure to be a colourful and lively affair.

9. Newcastle

Is it Australia’s most underrated city? Anyone surprised to see Newcastle on the list of 2011′s hottest cities (and there’s a few of you, right?) probably hasn’t pulled in off the Pacific Highway, or at least not for a while. Newcastle flies under the radar of Aussies and international travellers in part because it’s overshadowed by its bigger, bolder and better-known sibling, Sydney, 150km south. But, at around one-tenth the size, Australia’s second-oldest city has Sydney-like assets: surf beaches, a sun-drenched subtropical climate, and diverse dining, nightlife and arts. Not only is Newcastle ideally located just two hours by road or rail or 30 minutes by plane or seaplane from Sydney, it’s less than an hour’s drive west to the Hunter Valley wineries, south to sailboat-filled Lake Macquarie, north to whale-watching and sharkfeeding at Port Stephens and to sandboarding at Stockton Beach (the southern end of the 32km-long beach is a five-minute ferry ride across Newcastle’s harbour).

10. Chiang Mai

If Chiang Mai were a person, it would be Bob Dylan. With a history dating back further than anyone can remember, its influence remains enormous. And despite its great age, there’s still a bohemian chic that makes it as relevant and hip as ever. Culture capital of Thailand, Chiang Mai was once the heart of the Lanna kingdom. Today those wanting to flee the bustle of Bangkok visit to lounge in coffee shops and drink in the city’s artisanal atmosphere. With a friendly, cosmopolitan feel, this is one easy, safe and pleasant place to explore. There are dozens of well-preserved temples here, too. Many new ecotours and adventure trips are appearing, and with a choice of river rafting, elephant rides, trekking and off-road cycling, even the biggest adrenaline junkie will be sated.

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40 free attractions in New York City Published by Blog - On 01:38 // This post haved 0 коммент. //

Seeing the bulk of New York City’s biggest attractions can mean spending a hefty chunk of a trip’s budget on tickets. Empire State Building? $20. The Met? $20. The Guggenheim and Whitney go for $18 each. Even the Frick is $15. But there’s a lifetime of fun to be had without ever handing over a cent, and not just by taking on park trails, bike paths or window browsing. (Plus some ticket-admission spots have free times too – see the end of the post.)

Free New York travelers, get busy!

1. African Burial Ground

One of Lower Manhattan’s most fascinating, and controversial, stories of recent years circulates around the new African Burial Ground National Monument site. It began when a construction project in 1991 uncovered a burial ground of slaves – more than 400 caskets were found – from an age when New York had more slaves than any American city outside Charleston, South Carolina. Outside you can see part of the site now enveloped by buildings, and the compact visitors center does a masterful job at retelling African-American history in the city. See our 76-Second Travel Show episodeon the museum’s opening. 290 Broadway between Duane & Elk Sts, Lower Manhattan.

2. Brooklyn Brewery tours

Free Saturday tours of Williamsburg’s Brooklyn Brewery run half an hour from 1-4pm.79 N 11th St, Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

3. Central Park

It doesn’t take brilliant travel minds to tell you that a park is free to visit – most parks are. But most parks aren’t Central Park, Manhattan’s famed claim to thinking ahead (even if it was designed in the 1860s to boost real-estate value uptown). It’s filled with free events, statues, people-watching and sites like Strawberry Fields, an ‘Imagine’ mosaic near the Dakota, where John Lennon was killed in 1980. Another site is ‘the Pond,’ at the southeastern corner, where Holden Caulfield kept turning to in ‘The Catcher in the Rye,’ wondering where those ducks go when it’s cold. (For the answer,watch this video.) Uptown.

4. Chelsea galleries

New York’s most concentrated area for a gallery crawl is in Chelsea, mostly in the 20s Streets between 10th and 11th Avenues. Check Gallery Guide orwestchelseaarts.com for listings. All are free, no pressure to buy. And try timing for wine-and-cheese openings on Thursday evenings.

5. City Hall

Home to New York City’s government since 1812, City Hall tours take in its cupola-topped marble hall, the governor’s room as well as the spot where Abraham Lincoln’s coffin lay in state briefly in 1865. Tours must be reserved in advance. City Hall Park, facing the Brooklyn Bridge, Lower Manhattan.

6. Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) Museum

It’s always Fashion Week in the FIT Museum, which features rotating exhibits by students and a surprisingly interesting and detailed collection of the country’s first gallery of fashion, picked from a collection of 50,000 garments dating from the 18th century to present. Seventh Ave & 27th St, Garment District, Midtown West.

7. Federal Hall

Two presidents were inaugurated in New York City, beginning with the first ‘Dubya’, George Washington, who took the oath in Federal Hall in 1789, back when New York was the first capital. (Chester A Arthur was the second.) There’s a nice statue outside, overlooking the New York Stock Exchange across Wall Street, and a small, recently renovated museum on post-colonial New York inside. 26 Wall St, Lower Manhattan.

8. Federal Reserve Bank of New York

Reserve at least a week ahead (sometimes a month!) to visit the Federal Reserve Bank, most rewarding just to ogle the facility’s high-security vault – useful considering more than 10,000 tons of gold reserves reside here, 80ft below ground. There’s also exhibits on counterfeit currency as well as a serious coin collection of the American Numismatic Society. A tour’s the only way to get in. 33 Liberty St, Lower Manhattan.

9. Forbes Collection

The lobby galleries of Forbes magazine have some various curios from the lateMalcolm Forbes’ collection, most notably early versions of Monopoly boards. (Or watch our tour of Monopoly sites around the properties’ namesakes at Atlantic City, New Jersey.) 62 Fifth Ave at 12th St, Greenwich Village.

10. General Ulysses S Grant National Memorial (aka ‘Grant’s Tomb’)

Also called ‘Grant’s Tomb’, the $600,000 granite structure that holds the remains of the Civil War hero and 18th president (and his wife Julia) is the largest mausoleum in the US, and is patterned after Mausolus’ tomb at Halicarnassus, making it a plagiarized version of one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Riverside Dr at 122nd St, Morningside Heights.

11. Governor’s Island

The ferry to Governor’s Island is free, as is access to the 172-acre island which opened to the public only in 2003. There’s a 2.2-mile bike path, mini golf, a picnic area, plus military sites such as Admiral’s House and a ‘ghost town’ of sorts at Nolan Park. Ferries leave from Battery Maritime Bldg, Slip 7, Lower Manhattan.

12. Grand Central Partnership Walking Tours

Two historians lead free 90-minute walking tours at 12:30pm every Friday, hitting places like Grand Central Terminal’s ‘whispering gallery’ and the Chrysler Building.120 Park Ave, at 42nd St, Midtown East.

13. Green-Wood Cemetery

Once the nation’s most visited tourist attraction outside Niagara Falls, the gorgeousGreen-Wood Cemetery was founded in 1838 and is the eternal home to some 600,000 people (or about 530 miles of bodies, head to toe). It’s leafy and lovely, features Brooklyn’s highest point at Battle Hill, a site from the Revolutionary War, now marked with a seven-foot statue of the Roman goddess of wisdom, Minerva. Watch for the squawking green parakeets at the cemetery’s Gothic entry — these are runaways from a JFK mishap in 1980 and have lived here since. 500 25th St, Sunset Park, Brooklyn.

14. Hamilton Grange

You know you’re important when you get a grange. This one, Hamilton Grange, to reopen in 2011 after renovation, is the Federal-style country retreat where Alexander Hamilton spent quieter, pre-death-by-duel New York days. St Nicholas Park at 141st St, Hamilton Heights.

15. High Line

It’s a park, so it should be free, but the expanding High Line project has the impact and feel of an real-live attraction, complete with its own opening hours. Created from an abandoned stretch of elevated railroad track, the native-inspired landscaping of this park 30 feet in the air connects the Meatpacking District with Chelsea’s galleries (another great free institution). There’s wonderful Hudson River views, or of pedestrians on the sidewalks below. Watch for public-art installations and events.Gansevoort Street to 20th St (currently), between 9th & 11th Aves, Chelsea.

16. Hispanic Society of America Museum & Library

The largest collection of Spanish art outside Spain fills the ornate Beaux Arts space of the Hispanic Society of America Museum & Library on the serene Audobon Terrace in far north Manhattan. Broadway & 155th St, Washington Heights.

17. Japan Society

The films and lectures usually involve a ticket, but the gallery exhibits at the Japan Society (focusing on Japanese art) are always free. 333 E 47 St, between First & Second Aves, Midtown East.

18. National Museum of the American Indian

This Smithsonian ex-pat, just off the historic Bowling Green and Battery Park, is neighbors to frenetic commuters and tourists heading to the Statue of Liberty but often gets missed. Situation in the spectacular former US Customs House (1907), theNational Museum of the American Indian is actually one of the country’s finest collections of Native American art. The focus is on culture, not history, and does so with many of its million-plus items. There’s also many programs. 1 Bowling Green, Lower Manhattan.

19. New York Earth Room

Now for something completely different: the Earth Room, Walter De Maria’s 1977 art installation, a single room filled with 280,000 pounds of dirt, combines the framework of an ordinary office with the scent of a wet forest. 141 Wooster St, SoHo

20. New York Public Library

Remember the Dewey Decimal System? The New York Public Library, New York’s most famous library (aka the Stephen A Schwarzman Building), which turns 100 in 2011, is situated in a grand Beaux Arts icon east of Times Square. It’s fronted by marble lions named ‘Patience’ and ‘Fortitude,’ and is just a jaw-dropper to walk through, particularly the reading room fit for 500 patrons reading with the aid of the library’s original Carre-and-Hastings lamps. There’s exhibits too, including a copy of the original Declaration of Independence, a Gutenburg Bible, plus 431,000 old maps. There are free tours at 11am and 2pm Monday to Saturday, 2pm Sunday. Fifth Ave at 42nd St, Midtown East.

21. Old Stone House

A Breuckelen legacy from Brooklyn’s Dutch origins, and a survivor from the ill-fated Battle of Brooklyn, this Old Stone House features a small exhibit on the battle. Its upstairs is sometimes rented out for the likes of sample sales. Fifth Ave, btwn 3th & 4th Sts, Park Slope, Brooklyn.

22. Public boathouse kayaking

Kayak for free from public boathouses such as the Downtown Boathouse and Long Island Community Boathouse in Queens.

23. Rockefeller Center Public Art

Built in the 1930s Great Depression, the 22-acre Rockefeller Center is more than the setting for NBC’s Today Shows (lines appear by 6am often) and a giant Christmas tree in December (not to mention to $19 NBC tours or $21 trips to the observatory deck!). But do pop by to see the slew of art commissioned under the theme of ‘Man at the Crossroads Looks Uncertainly But Hopefully at the Future.’ A bit wordy, but the pieces pack a big punch, such as the statue of Promethus overlooking the skating rink, or Atlas holding the world at 630 Fifth Ave. Jose Maria Sert’s murals in the (main) GE Building used the likes of Abe Lincoln to replace the original ‘communist imagery’ (eg Vladimir Lenin) by a snubbed, outraged Diego Rivera. Between Fifth & Sixth Aves, around 49th & 50th Sts, Midtown.

24. Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture

Part of the city’s library system, the country’s largest collection of documents, books, recordings and photographs related to the African-American experience, theSchomburg Center also hosts free exhibits. 515 Malcolm X Blvd at 135th St, Harlem.

25. Socrates Sculpture Park

On the East River, overlooking Roosevelt Island and the Upper East Side, theSocrates Sculpture Park, a former dump site, now has interesting art installations, light shows and movies on Wednesdays in summer. Broadway at Vernon Blvd, Astoria, Queens.

26. Staten Island Ferry

Everyone wants to see the Statue of Liberty. Ferry tours there start at $12. But theStaten Island Ferry for commuters, cutting across the New York Harbor, is absolutely free and has long held the distinction as the single greatest free attraction on the Eastern Seaboard. Around since 1905, the ferry carries 19 million across the harbor each year. Technically for transport in between Staten Island and Manhattan, most visitors simply hop back on to get back to New York. It never gets old. East end of Battery Park, Lower Manhattan.

FREE ATTRACTIONS AT SCHEDULED TIMES:

27. American Museum of Natural History
Free its last hour (4:45-5:45pm). Central Park West & 79th St, Upper West Side.

28. Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Free Tuesday, and 10am to noon Saturday. Eastern Parkway at Washington Ave, Prospect Heights, Brooklyn.

29. Brooklyn Museum
Free first Saturday of the month, when there’s big wine-sipping, DJ parties that draw half the neighborhood. 200 Eastern Parkway, at Washington Ave, Prospect Heights, Brooklyn.

30. Bronx Zoo
Pay what you wish on Wednesday. 2300 Southern Blvd, The Bronx.

31. El Museo del Barrio
Free the third Saturday of the month. 1230 Fifth Ave between 104th & 105th Sts, Spanish Harlem.

32. Isamu Noguchi Garden Museum
Pay what you wish, first Friday of the month. 9-01 33rd Rd, Astoria, Queens.

33. Museum of Modern Art
Entry is free 4-8pm on Friday. Gets busy. 11 W 53rd St, between Fifth & Sixth Aves, Midtown West.

34. Museum of the Moving Image
Free 4-8pm Friday. 35th Ave, at 36th St, Astoria, Queens.

35. Neue Galerie
Free 6-8pm the first Friday of the month. 1048 Fifth Ave at 86th St, Upper East Side.

36. New York Botanical Garden
Free Wednesday, 10am to noon Saturday. Bronx River Pkwy & Fordham Rd, The Bronx.

37. New York Historical Society
Pay what you wish, 6-8pm Friday. 2 W 77th St at Central Park West, Upper West Side.

38. South Street Seaport Museum
Free the third Friday of every month. 207 Front St, Lower Manhattan.

39. Studio Museum in Harlem
Free on Sunday. 144 W 125th St at Adam Clayton Powell Blvd, Harlem.

40. Wave Hill
Free 9am to noon Tuesday and Saturday. W 249th St at Independence Ave, Riverdale, The Bronx.

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