SiteBits

You gain some, you lose some. While the city is busy adding thousands of hotels rooms (we wrote about one new project last month), some in the hospitality business decided they'd had enough of the Montreal market.

The management of the Omni Mont-Royal hotel on Sherbrooke street has announced its decision to close the 32-year old 299-room property (which had previously been operated under the brands of Westin and Four Seasons) on Dec 10th, citing "operational difficulties"...

Read the rest of: "Hotel Omni on Rue Sherbrooke to Close"»

The voting process for the name of Montreal's citywide bike rental program is over and the winner is chosen. The system is going to be called "BIXI".

Over the next month, demo bikes will be wheeled around the city and public demonstrations will be held. According to the city's mayor, Gérald Tremblay, by next spring Montreal will count 2,400 bikes at more than 300 solar-powered stations...

Read the rest of: "BIXI: Bike, Taxi, Montreal"»

Although the construction of the new passenger port in St.Petersburg is far from finished (in fact, it won't be finished until at least 2011), the first cruise liner, the 292-meter long Costa Mediterranea, docked at a recently completed terminal on September 10th...

Read the rest of: "First Cruise Liner Docks in St.Petersburg's New Port"»

Starting this week, RENFE, the Spanish railroad company, is increasing the frequency of its high-speed train service (AVE) between Barcelona and Madrid by one third. Instead of the previous 19-20 scheduled trains, there will be up to 26 daily departures in each direction. Two of the newly added trains will be direct, making no stops, the others - local, extending the existing Madrid - Zaragoza line service...

Read the rest of: "More AVE Trains Between Madrid and Barcelona"»

Construction crews are still crawling over the central tower of the new Hilton Garden Inn on Rue Sherbrooke, but the hotel is already open for business, as made evident not only by the banner that says as much, but also by a quasi-permanent line of cabs picking up departing guests...

Read the rest of: "New Hilton Garden Inn / Centre-ville"»

Back in June, Parisian decorator Pascale Benhamou finished her project for Hotel Plaza Athénée in Paris's 8th arrondissement. The lobby restaurant, La Galerie des Gobelins (named after Manufacture des Gobelins - a former factory, now a museum, which supplied furniture to French monarchs) got new carpet, furniture and redesigned lighting.

But actually, what caught my attention was not so much the decorative changes of the space as the restaurant's updated menu, which features desserts by world famous pastry chef Christophe Michalak, the winner of the 2005 "Coupe du Monde de la Pâtisserie"...

Read the rest of: "La Galerie des Gobelins: New Look, Cute Cakes"»

On September 3rd, Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG) opened a new terminal, 2G. The terminal will mostly serve flights within France (30%) and more broadly, within the Schengen zone (70%). Air France will be the principal carrier using it, along with three "partner" airlines (Régional, Brit Air, CityJet) who are all, in fact, subsidiaries of Air France.

With the addition of 2G, airport Charles de Gaulle aims to improve transfer options between regional flights, strengthening its role as a European "hub" of Air France...

Read the rest of: "New Terminal (2G) at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport"»

I've been looking for the perfect breakfast crêpe in Montreal for a long time. It hasn't been easy, but I think I've just found it.

This treat is called "Bonne Journée" and comes from the kitchen of "Café Crêpe" - a small café that is named after what it makes best.

Read the rest of: "Bonne Journée from Café Crêpe"»

Don't know about you, but I've always thought Italy was a bit of a scam as far as food is concerned. You go there, you eat, you get exited - ecstatic even, you scribble the names of your new favorite dishes on any and every scrap of paper, you bring the scraps home, you go to your local Italian restaurant and then.. you realize it's just really not the same. At all.

While I can't offer a real solution to this, I might be able to point you to somebody who can, at least when it comes to pasta dishes and Cucina bolognese in general. This is not one person but rather a group of individuals who run a small tourist-friendly cooking school called "La Vecchia Scuola Bolognese" (Bologna's Old School)...

Read the rest of: "Pasta Bolognese, Old School"»

If you're the type who just can't leave their work behind, even on vacation, Valencia may be the right place for you. Since July, the municipal government is running WiFi access points on two of the city's beaches - El Cabanyal and La Malvarrosa...

Read the rest of: "Valencia Beaches Going Wireless"»