Feeling Festive? Holiday Trees Across the City Now Beckon

Let others fight their way through the madding crowds at stores today—you take the more peaceful path and shuffle off to see one--or several—well-known Christmas trees now alight across New York.
For starters, there’s the wonderfully quirky Origami Tree at the American Museum of Natural History (Central Park West and 77th Street). This year’s theme, Origami A-Z, features folded paper letters that alphabetically correspond to an animal. (Yup, the aardvark is there, and so is the Tasmanian wolf. More than 500 volunteers, including students from Goddard Riverside’s Head Start program, made the ornaments. Call (212) 769-5100 for more details.
Over on the east side, The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Neapolitan Baroque crèche and tree are now open to the public. The 18th-century nativity scene features beautifully clothed attendant figures and angels hovering above the crèche, as well as recorded holiday music and periodic tree-lighting ceremonies. Get as close as you can (without pitching headfirst into the tree). The details on the costumes are exquisite. (Call 212 879-5500).
And for a tree that’s really away from the midtown frenzy, The South Street Seaport Tree Lighting ceremony is today (Pier 17; Fulton and South Streets). The tree lighting occurs at 6 pm, but festive events will be held throughout the day. At 3 and 5 PM, for instance, the Neptune High School Marching Band will perform. (Check out southstreetseaport.com for more info.)

Past, Present, Future: The South Street Seaport Looks Back...And Ahead

New York’s South Street Seaport is offering a glimpse of the city’s history in “Seaport Past & Future," a free public exhibit that is running through next summer. It shows the changes that the Seaport has gone through over the centuries, and how they’ve affected both the city and the surrounding region. Multi-media demonstrations and scale models show the area through the years, culminating in an architectural model of the plans for a new, revitalized South Street Seaport.
One of the neatest features of the exhibit: Archival materials that show visitors the same views over time, so members of the public can see what’s changed and what’s remained the same.
The vision for the new Seaport, sponsored by General Growth Properties, includes hotels, shops, restaurants, residential housing and increased pedestrian use, as well as the conversion of the former fish stalls of the Fulton Fish Market into a specialty market. The plan will also rehabilitate the infrastructure of the pier and platform, as well as open site lines to New York Harbor and The Brooklyn Bridge.
Tying into the city’s East River Esplanade Project, part of a plan to "green” (the new buzzword, and you must use it as a verb to be truly hip) the city’s waterfront, setting aside five acres of space along a promenade has been proposed.
The exhibit is located at 191 Front Street, near John Street; check out southstreetseaport.com for more information.

Cruise The Waterfront With New York Water Taxi Hop-On, Hop-Off Summer Service

Looking for a fun new way to tour New York City? How about by boat? The New York Water Taxi offers a hop-on/hop-off weekend boat service around New York Harbor, making stops at 10 of the city’s best neighborhoods and attractions. This service will run from May 2 to October 11, 2009, every Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. A day pass ($20 for adults, $15 for kids) allows for unlimited travel.
The Water Taxi’s first stop is West 44th Street at Pier 84. Check out the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum on Pier 86 at West 46th Street to tour the large aircraft carrier USS Intrepid. The second stop is West 27th Street at Pier 66 in Chelsea. Cool off from the summer heat by ice-skating at Chelsea Piers. Next up is Greenwich Village at Pier 45. Stroll the West Village and Hudson River Park. Traveling further south, the Water Taxi docks at the World Financial Center for a great opportunity to see the World Trade Center Memorial.
The fifth stop is Battery Park, the very Southern tip of Manhattan, with views of the Statue of Liberty. Round the island to South Street Seaport for shopping and a view of the Brooklyn Bridge, followed by Fulton Ferry Landing, the oldest ferry landing in New York City. The Water Taxi then stops at Hunters Point for access to Water Taxi Beach and Long Island City. The tour ends at East 34th Street, with sites like the United Nations Building and the Empire State Building in the vicinity.