Last year we wrote about the massive reconstruction project in the Quartier des Spectacles - namely, a new plaza for the yearly Jazz Festival and similar events. One year has passed and the project bore its first visible (or, rather, walkable) fruit.

The $40-million Place des Festivals plaza was unveiled last month with an inaugural show featuring fluttering multi-colored water jets (a rather expensive spectacle, opined some local journalists) and packs of awe-stricken tourists enjoying the last warm days of Montreal's short summer.

Having snubbed the inauguration festivities, I went by with my camera to take a look a few days later...

Read the rest of: "Place des Festivals Opens, Fountains Operational"»

Next week not one, but two of Madrid's most prominent symbols are going to disappear from its central square. One is the statue of a bear licking (or sniffing) a tree (el oso y el madroño) currently installed a few steps from the Puerta del Sol. The other one, which we wrote about last year, is the Tío Pepe sign perched atop one of the building surrounding the plaza.

Read the rest of: "The New Puerta del Sol: Two Symbols Moving"»

After two years of construction, Le Bristol, one of the swankiest hotels of Paris, will open a new wing with 26 rooms, 5 suites and a new restaurant.

This addition represents its first major expansion since the hotel's opening in 1925.

Read the rest of: "Le Bristol Expands"»

The LA Times reports and the NYPL confirms the opening of another Wi-Fi hot spot at the library's main building on Fifth Avenue.

Now, visitors with laptops can go online at the Edna Barnes Salomon Room (Room 316), in addition to the Bill Blass Catalog Room (315), the Rose Main Reading Room and the DeWitt Wallace Periodicals Room (108).

What makes this new addition so special?

Read the rest of: "More Wi-Fi Hot Spots at New York Public Library"»

Starting this month, diners in Paris and, more generally, in continental France, will see the sales tax (TVA) on their meals lowered from 19.6% to 5.5%. This Brussels-endorsed measure is supposed to stave off restaurant closings in France which have been become rampant in recent years, and create new employment in the industry. And, obviously, make dining more affordable to both French citizens and tourists.

But things are never quite simple in France: the discount rate doesn't apply to everything and the restaurants are not obligated to lower the final price on every single item on the menu. Read on for details and examples...

Read the rest of: "France Lowers TVA Sales Tax on Restaurant Meals to 5.5%"»