Sakura Park

The Daily Plant : Wednesday, October 11, 2000

MODERN-DAY VIKINGS RECEIVE A WARM WELCOME AT SOUTH STREET SEAPORT

Malcolm (Cinema) Pinckney

One thousand years ago, the sight of a Viking ship in the harbor was about as welcome as a hurricane. On Thursday, October 5, Commissioner Henry J. (StarQuest) Stern helped give a group of modern day Vikings a much warmer reception.

The 75 foot wooden Viking Ship Islendingur is currently on a four-month, 4,000 mile nautical mile voyage recreating the journey of Leif Erikson. The ship has hosted over 100,000 people on board during 10 ports of call in Newfoundland. Now it has pulled into port in New York, giving fans of Viking culture a chance to learn about these great ships of yore, gain insight into Viking history, and hear great Icelandic sagas. Captain Gunnar Marel Eggerston was at the helm as the Islendingur sailed into the Big Apple.

This has been quite a summer for fans of Viking lore. Earlier in the summer, three great Viking ships docked at Pier A. One of the ships, The Norseman, measuring 40-feet long, is the largest Viking ship replica regularly sailing in the U.S. Many people know that the Viking were ruthless robbers who ruled the high seas, but these ancient sailors also founded the world's first Parliament and established economic trade routes spanning several continents.

THIRTEEN YEARS AGO IN THE PLANT
(Tuesday, October 13, 1987)

CROWN PRINCE AND PRINCESS OF JAPAN FIND THAT SAKURA PARK'S STILL GREEN AFTER ALL THESE YEARS

When Crown Prince Akihito and Princess Michiko of Japan returned to Sakura Park last Friday, 27 years after dedicating its Japanese stone lantern, they found that parks don't get older-just greener.

The Crown Prince and Princess were welcomed back to the park on the Upper West Side by Mayor Koch, Commissioner Stern, Gillian Martin Sorensen, New York City Commissioner for the United Nations, and representatives of International House, a residence for foreign students adjacent to the park on Riverside Drive and West 123rd St. And thanks to a recent $580,000 restoration, Sakura greeted them with trees and verdant lawns on the crisp autumn morning.

QUOTATION FOR THE DAY

If we had a keen vision of all that is ordinary in human life, it would be like hearing the grass grow or the squirrel's heart beat, and we should die of that roar which is the other side of silence.

George Eliot (1819-1880)