Kevin Thom - Hamilton, Toronto, Ontario Photographer

On this last trip to NYC, we stayed at the Standard Hotel, located on Washington Street in the Meatpacking District. While there are many things non-standard about the Standard Hotel, what I found most interesting about it was its location straddling the High Line, an abandoned elevated rail line that has been converted into a pedestrian walkway and garden. It’s about 15 blocks long and is not only beautiful, but also practical; it’s a great way to see the stretch of Manhattan between 14th and 32nd Streets. The gardens are made up of a variety of local plants and flowers, decorated by public art pieces. It’s divided into a number of different “neighborhoods” along the way, including a sort of urban beach and an area for public performances. There are plenty of comfortable places to sit and gather with others. It’s inspiring to see urban spaces renewed and reused in this way. Not only is property value increased dramatically along this corridor, it provides a welcome refuge from the sweltering concrete jungle.

Here are some of my photos of the Standard Hotel and the High Line.

This really is quite a lovely city. Even nearly 800 years later, it’s easy to see why Marco Polo referred to Suzhou as the most beautiful city on Earth. The canals, trees, bridges and elegant architecture make it a very pleasant place overall. It’s sort of mind-blowing to realize that Suzhou has been here for about 2500 years. I’m sure that among the millions of people who live here now, there are some who are descendants of the original inhabitants of the city.

Today, we strolled along the canals until we reached the “Humble Administrator’s Garden.” The garden, although crawling with tourists, was still a soothing spot. It’s not too humble though, covering about five hectares, with large ponds, pagodas, bamboo groves, pavilions and bridges.

After spending an hour or two in the garden, we had lunch at a little restaurant built on a bridge over one of the canals. Then we walked a few more blocks to see a large pagoda in the north end of the city.

We returned to the hostel on one of the main streets, and then through an enormous outdoor shopping complex, only slightly less impressive than Shanghai’s East Nanjing Road. The contrast of these bustling, cosmopolitan urban spaces to the peace and reflection of the quiet canal lanes and gardens was astounding.

I’m presenting the photos in a slightly different way today. The square thumbnails aren’t proportional, but WordPress makes this gallery automatically, and that saves me a ton of time. I’m not going to look a gift horse in the mouth, if you know what I mean.