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New York Nights at an Airport Hotel

Recently travelers have learned that trips may be interrupted for unexpected weather, whether it’s a heavy snowfall or a gigantic, erupting Icelandic volcano.

If you want to be ready for anything, on your next trip to one of the world’s best cities, you may want to choose a New York airport hotel in advance. Not all airlines cover their passengers for prolonged travel delays, and you may even have to be extra persuasive in order to receive a voucher to stay overnight in a comfortable room, as opposed to the floor or hard plastic seats at an airport gate. However, with a little planning ahead, knowing the hotels near the hotel may save you some time.

If you’re delayed in New York, you’ll find yourself with a kind of good news/bad news scenario. The bad news is that you’ve been delayed; the good news is that you’ve been delayed in New York City, one of the great urban centers of the world. What can you do with your time here? Almost anything you’d like!

With a room secured for the night, you may venture out into the city itself. Take in a play on Broadway or off-Broadway. Dine at some of the cities more interesting restaurants, such as Pete’s Tavern , the oldest bar and restaurant in New York City, established one hundred and forty-six years ago in 1864, or at Mars 2112 , one of the city’s comparatively newest restaurants, which is a space-themed restaurant in the center of Times Square. What other city gives you the option of dining in a place where O. Henry wrote in one of its booths the famous short story, The Gift of the Magi, or in a place that simulates dining on another planet, and still gives you time to return to your hotel and catch your plane the next morning?

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Early Maps Fetch a King’s Ransom

Despite the popularity of Global Positioning Systems (GPS) and all the thousands of earth orbiting satellites, there are roads less traveled and places few have seen. Our current system of cartography (map making) was first developed by the Greeks, their maps remained unchallenged for centuries. The early map makers had exquisite imaginations and only the Mediterranean world was represented; anything beyond their knowledge, the cartographers would draw dragons, flora and fauna and even mermaids.

The art of the map maker has always attracted man’s fascination with faraway, unknown places. Cartography itself antedated printing and writing; probably the oldest known map was found on a Babylonian clay tablet, Imago Mundi, which dated back to 2500 B.C., it’s displayed in Harvard. The oldest Africa map , Da Ming Hun Yi Tu, dates back to 1389 and is on display in Cape Town and the Tabula Penutingeriana, a map showing the road network in the Roman Empire, dates back to 4th century, covering Europe, North Africa and parts of Asia.

After 1500, there were three events that contributed to cartography; first, the rediscovery of Ptolemy’s ‘Geography’; second, the invention of printing and engraving and the expeditions into Africa and to the New World. This renewed interest was especially advantageous for the works of Gerardus Mercator , the creator of the first modern world atlas in 1570, for the country of France that produced the first national survey in 1756, and for England’s national survey in 1801.

These early maps were surprisingly inexpensive even though books of maps brought a high price, like Mercator’s atlas, which was found recently in a Belgian roadside bookstall, was sold for a price-tag of $300,000. Auctioning off early maps can bring a wide range of bids, like for an 1844 map of New York brought in a winning bid of $650 and a 112 double-page maps that were published by Abraham Ortelius in 1584, brought in a winning bid of $20,000.

By World War II, cartography was becoming very complex, and with the advent of computer mapping, which was developed in the 60′s, the early, imaginative drawings of the Greeks has now gone to the way side, but can fetch a kings ransom, if ever auctioned.

Tags: abraham ortelius

Graffiti Summer Modesto Memories

Modesto is officially the center or also known as the heart of the great state of California. Modesto is home to some of the finest restaurants in all of California, the best shows and the best in living are all here. In the great city of 206,000 people, you will find incredible independent restaurants, things to do with the entire family, nationally recognized musicians and performers like Tony Bennett, Modesto resident Carol Channing, Dwight Yoakam, Hootie and the Blowfish, Veritcal Horizon, Avril Lavigne and many more.

Modesto is the home to Graffiti Summer in June, X-Fest in July, Modesto Art and Wine in August, Picnic at the Pops, and the annual MAMA Music Awards in October. Graffiti Summer is a day of tribute to pay homage to the home town hero George Lucas and the movie he made called American Graffiti. It was created in 1973 and was about teens growing up in 1962. On the day of the celebration the city of Modesto is a buzz. Antique cars are on display as people of all ages come out and reminisce about past events and the young generation listens to the stories and sees the cars.

Modesto also is known to have some great art galleries, museums, and places to keep people interested. There are new things to see and lots of music at the Gallo Center, State Theater, and the Fat Cat Nightclub. The majority of the local restaurants and bars have live music and regular bands that play there. It is a good idea to take your kids to events at the Great Valley Museum and at the Modesto Museum and learn about the city of Modesto while having a fun day out.

Come out to Modesto there is much to see and do, find a nice hotels modesto and start your vacation to remember.

Tags: hotels modesto