The Cathari Treasure Virtual Tour

Whether you have already read THE CATHARI TREASURE or are beginning the adventure now – this Virtual Tour will show you many of the exciting places visited during the adventure.  Do not worry about spoilers.  The images and descriptions contained in this Virtual Tour mention moments from the story that do not necessarily give away the plot.  This Virtual Tour is intended to enhance your reading experience so follow the Tour while reading THE CATHARI TREASURE for added fun.

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CHAPTER ONE – The Excelsior Hotel on West 81st street on the Upper West Side of Manhattan was the inspiration for Hotel West and the location of Le Dragon Vert. Though when THE CATHARI TREASURE was written the adjoining restaurant space was vacant, the upscale Latin American restaurant Calle Ocho now services the luxurious Upper West Side Excelsior Hotel.

Excelsior Hotel

Excelsior Hotel

LibraryA Library in the Excelsior Hotel.  The Inspiration for the library of Le Dragon Vert.

Hayden Planetarium2

The Hayden Planetarium located in the American History Museum Rose Center for Earth and Space on the south side of West 81st street on the Upper West Side of Manhattan across from Excelsior Hotel.

CHAPTER FOUR – To travel to the downtown safe house Cameron drives to Columbus Circle and then cuts across 59th street to 2nd Avenue.

Columbus Circle

Columbus Circle –  named for Christopher Columbus, is a traffic circle and heavily-trafficked intersection originally completed in 1905.

Time Warner Center

The Time Warner Center is a pair of interconnected mixed-use skyscrapers completed in 2003.

Time Warner Center

The Time Warner Center towers above Columbus Circle and houses the offices of Time Warner Inc., an R&D Center for VMware, residential condominiums, the Mandarin Oriental New York hotel, an upscale shopping mall located in the curving arcade at the base of the building, and a large Whole Foods Market grocery store in the basement.  The complex is also home to a 1,200 seat theater for Jazz at Lincoln Center as well as CNN studios.

2nd Avenue and 59th Street

2nd Avenue and 59th street

CHAPTER SEVEN – A perilous chase through Boston takes our hero across the Zakim Bridge.

Zakim Bridge

Boston Zakim Bridge – The Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge (or Zakim Bridge) is a cable-stayed bridge across the Charles River in Boston, Massachusetts completed in 2003.  Of ten lanes, the main portion of the Zakim Bridge carries four lanes each way (northbound and southbound) of the Interstate 93 and U.S. Route 1 concurrency between the Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill Jr. Tunnel and the elevated highway to the north.  Two additional lanes are cantilevered outside the cables, which carry northbound traffic from the Sumner Tunnel and North End on-ramp.  These lanes merge with the main highway north of the bridge. I-93 heads toward New Hampshire as the “Northern Expressway”, and US 1 splits from the Interstate and travels northeast toward Massachusetts’ north shore, crossing the Mystic River via the Tobin Bridge.  The bridge and connecting tunnel were built as part of the Big Dig, the largest highway construction project in the United States.

CHAPTER EIGHT- To escape their pursuers Cameron and company ditch his Mercedes and board the Orange Line T Train to Boston Chinatown.

Orange Line T TrainBoston Orange Line T–Train

Boston Chinatown

Boston Chinatown

Boston Chinatown

Boston Chinatown

CHAPTER TEN – Cameron, Marie, and Nicole step off the Chinatown Express bus at Montreal Dorchester Square in the shadow of Cathedrale Marie-Reine-du-Monde.

Dorchester SquareMontreal Dorchester Square

Cathedrale Marie Reine du Monde

Cathedrale Marie-Reine-du-Monde

Mgr Bourget monument at Cathedrale Marie-Reine-du-Monde

Mgr Bourget monument at Cathedrale Marie-Reine-du-Monde

CHAPTER FIFTEEN – En route to Toronto Cameron and company stay at a cabin on the northern shore of Lake Ontario.

Lake Ontario

Lake Ontario

Lake Ontario upper Ontario

Lake Ontario

CHAPTER NINETEEN – Ontario Canada – Highway of Heroes – A stretch of King’s Highway 401 between Glen Miller Road in Trenton and the intersection of the Don Valley Parkway and Highway 404 in Toronto bears the additional name Highway of Heroes (French: Autoroute des héros), in honor of Canadian soldiers who have died.

Highway of Heroes

Highway of Heroes – This is the route fallen soldiers are transported from the Trenton, Ontario, base to the Toronto coroner’s office upon their return from foreign wars.

Highway of Heroes

Highway of Heroes – Since 2002, when the first fallen Canadian soldiers were repatriated from Afghanistan, crowds have lined the overpasses to pay their respects as convoys pass.

CHAPTER NINETEEN – The CN Tower is a rendezvous destination in THE CATHARI TREASURE and one of my favorite places to visit (as is Toronto in general).  The CN Tower (Canadian National Tower) is a 1,815.4 ft concrete communications and observation tower in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada built in 1976, becoming the world’s tallest free-standing structure and world’s tallest tower at the time, holding both records for 34 years until the completion of Burj Khalifa and Canton Tower in 2010.  The CN Tower remains the tallest free-standing structure in the Western Hemisphere, a signature icon of Toronto’s skyline, and a symbol of Canada, attracting more than two million international visitors annually.

CN Tower

Toronto CN Tower

CN Glass Floor Elevator

CN Tower Glass Floor Elevator – In 2008, glass panels were installed in one of the CN Tower elevators, which established a world record (346 m) for highest glass floor paneled elevator in the world.

360 Restaurant

The 360 Restaurant – A revolving restaurant that completes a full rotation once every 72 minutes.

360 Restaurant Window

360 Revolving RestaurantCN Wine Cellar

The wine cellar at 360 is officially The World’s Highest Wine Cellar at 1151 ft high. It has been designed to resemble the traditional underground cellar and has its own humidity controls and redwood racks. It houses 9,000 bottles of wine including award-winning bottles that consist of over 550 International (and Canadian) wines.

CHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT – The Notre-Dame de Québec is another rendezvous destination in THE CATHARI TREASURE.  The Cathedral-minor basilica of Notre-Dame de Québec (Our Lady of Quebec City), is the primate church of Canada and seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Quebec, the oldest holy see in the New World north of Mexico.  Notre-Dame de Québec is also the parish church of the oldest parish in North America, and the first church in North America to be elevated to the rank of minor basilica by Pope Pius IX in 1874.  Located on this site since 1647, the Cathedral has twice been destroyed by fire throughout the centuries.

Notre Dame de Quebec

Notre Dame de Quebec

Notre Dame de Quebec

Notre Dame de Quebec

CHAPTER FORTY EIGHT – Kejimkujik National Park (often called Keji for short) is part of the Canadian National Parks system, located in the province of Nova Scotia.  The park consists of two geographically separate properties: the main park is located in the upland interior of the Nova Scotia peninsula bordering Queens and Annapolis counties; and the much smaller Kejimkujik Seaside unit, located on the Atlantic coast of Queens County.  The park covers an area of 156 sq mi.  The entire inland unit is also designated a National Historic Site of Canada, making Kejimkujik unique in the park system as the only national park whose virtually entire area is a National Historic Site.

Kejimkujic National Park

Nova Scotia – Kejimkujic National Park

Kejimkujic National Park

Nova Scotia – Kejimkujic National Park

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If you have additional images to share from locations featured in THE CATHARI TREASURE email info@danielarthursmith.com.

The images in this Virtual Tour were gathered from shutter stock.com, Creative Commons, and Public Domain shared image sites (as well as a few of my own.)  Please notify if you own an image displayed here and have modified the license.