Construction began today in
Moscow
on the site of what is
to become the tallest European skyscraper.
The "FEDERATION"
complex will include two towers, measuring 340 and 240 meters
respectively and will be part of "Moscow-City" -
a gargantuan multi-building project that has been under development for over
a decade now.
The possibility that the new towers
(and not the Kremlin) may soon become the standard
"postcard" view of Moscow is bothering many. Not us.
On my last trip to Buenos Aires, I was pleasantly surprised with the book-shopping scene there.
Walking the streets of downtown B.A. was like traveling in a time machine - this must have been what New York
City was like in the 1970's: crowded, polluted, with lots of small bookstores...
Read the rest of: "Book Shopping in Buenos Aires"» 
¡Feliz Año Nuevo desde Madrid! By the way, this is
Madrid's Puerta del Sol on New Year's
eve (right around midnight). Did you know that Spaniards eat grapes
instead of drinking champagne during the countdown?
You're supposed to eat exactly twelve during the
last minute of the year - that works out to be one grape every five
seconds, if my degree in Mathematics was worth anything at all.
If you linger or hesitate then it's bad luck. All
grocery shops around Puerta del Sol sell seedless grapes (is that cheating?), neatly packed by
the dozen.
The Buenos Aires neighborhood of San Telmo is known for many things -
for example, it enjoys the reputation of the world center of tango music.
Perhaps, a somewhat lesser feather in its cap
is San Telmo's title as the home of the Sunday flea market.
It took me a while, but yesterday I finally overcame my dislike of flea markets and
people in general and took a stroll south in search of some good shots and possibly
a deal or two. None of that materialized, of course, but the atmosphere I found was
reasonably festive.
Read the rest of: "Sunday Flea Market in San Telmo"» 
The Botanical Garden in Deshaies (Basse-Terre) is the most manicured
jungle ever. And yet to my surprise, I found some of its inhabitants to be
almost uncannily ferocious.
Read the rest of: "A Manicured Jungle"» 
This is Le Château Frontenac - Quebec City's best-known
landmark. Just out of curiosity, why the fuck did they build it in
such a cold place? It's only November and it's
already freezing.
Plâge des Raisins Clairs (Sea-grape beach) is one of
the best beaches I discovered in Guadeloupe and
definitely my favorite.
Read the rest of: "Plâge des Raisins Clairs"» 
The Associated Press reminds us that
[ The
Berlinische Galerie]
of modern art will reopen for the first time
in its own space on Saturday.
The museum is housed in a former
warehouse. It features hundreds of thousands of artworks including
pieces by George Grosz, Otto Dix and Ernst Ludwig Kirchner.
P.S. The illustrative collage
shows two pieces by V.Lewandowsky (left) and O.Dix (right).
According to my guidebook, le Grand Cul-de-Sac marin,
encompassing a large lagoon, is a nature reserve
created to protect various species of birds, turtles,
and mangroves and is thus off-limits to tourist
activity. However,...
Read the rest of: "Le Grand Cul-de-Sac Marin (Basse-Terre)"» Of course, there are many ways to define "top" airport (e.g., airports with the largest land area, the highest
number of terminals, and so on), but one of the most useful measures is, obviously, how busy the
airport is - that is to say how many passengers go through it every year.
In this article you'll find the list of the world's busiest airports.
Read the rest of: "World's Top Airports - 2003"»
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