The High Line Park New York City Video Blog

The newly opened High Line Park which still has sections under construction is a great place to visit in NYC. 

The Park is built on an elevated train line that used to be used by the meat packing district of New York. The train line lay abandoned and was due for removal when someone had the idea of turning it into a park. The long thin route of a train line makes an ideal walkway, and when it is completed it will be a very long walk through the west side of Manhattan.

The park is a great vantage point for looking out across the city as it lies above street level. There is some very nice wooden furniture on which to soak up the rays or just watch the crowds of people walking by.

The park weaves it way through buildings and gives a glimpse into offices, apartments and the famous Standard Hotel which bridges it - great for watching or being watched. It doesn’t get more touristy than this folks.

Enjoy the video blog, I wasn’t sure whether to edit it and add music and change the voice over, or to leave it as the raw footage that it currently is so let me know what you think.

Top 5 Free iPhone Travel Apps

So you are going somewhere and you have an iPhone... but do you have these cool FREE travel apps? For those iPhone devotees out there, in order of coolness:

1. Wi-Fi Finder

Using Wi-Fi instead of Edge and 3G is often your best option when you're abroad. Wi-Fi finder has a directory of over 280,000 Wi-Fi access points in 140 countries worldwide, so you can always stay connected without getting raped by high roaming data charges.

Free Racing Sail Boat Lessons

I went out on the Pier of Lake Calhoun, Minneapolis and Werner saw me approaching and called out my name as he recognised me from yesterday. We had both just arrived so I helped Werner set up the sail boat that I had learned to sail on yesterday.

We put the sail up and took her out for a spin, I dropped Werner at another boat, and after doing so I was going solo when I got into some shallow water. I got stuck and the keel ran aground, there was hardly any wind, so to get out of this situation I tried paddling with the oar. This didn’t get me anywhere so with Werner’s directions, I threw out the anchor as far as I could in the direction I wanted to go. Once it hooked onto the bottom, I pulled the boat towards the anchor and got the boat free, and I was off again! I did a solo lap for a good half an hour and then came back and docked.

Me throwing the anchor - Photo: Werner Meybaum

Sailing Lake Calhoun, Minneapolis for Free

I am visiting an old university friend in Minneapolis for a few days, and he happens to live right next to Lake Calhoun. So I went for a walk around the lake this afternoon to take a few pictures on this beautiful day.

I went out on the pier and laid down in the gorgeous sunshine. I was awoken by the sound of a boat pulling up. I look up to see a sailing boat with a distinctive broad red stripe along the bow. A guy hops off and picks up the young man sat further down the pier. He then approaches me and asks: 

“Do you want to go for a ride on a sail boat?” 

What else can I say apart from “Yes!” I hop on and so starts my free sailing adventure.

Me Sailing Lake Calhoun, Minneapolis - Photo: Werner Meybaum

The guy who was steering the boat, Benjamin, had only been out a couple of times, but with the help of Werner the guy who’s boat it was, he soon learned. We went out and Benjamin did a few turns and Werner left us to it.

Which Free Blog to Choose?

I have read a few online articles from bloggers. mostly this one here and asked my friends on Facebook their opinions and Blogger seems to be the way to go, beating WordPress and LiveJournal! 

I also chose Blogger because it is Google, and so I hope it comes up higher in Google Search rankings. Google also has Picasa, which integrates seamlessly. 

Google being Google is going to be better than the other Blog companies, or just buy them out sooner or later.


Tumblr is the only blog that enables you to have your own domain name, and use it to host your Tumblr blog free of charge. You can also post other people's blog posts on your blog known as "tumble" it. I may have to switch to Tumblr!

I hope I can inspire you to write a blog too.