http://www.sitebits.com/ SiteBits is a travel site for the practically-minded but culturally-curious traveler. en Copyright &copy; 1999-2009 Gromco, Inc. Mon, 14 May 2012 02:52:47 EDT Sun, 08 Apr 2012 21:00:00 EDT info@sitebits.com info@sitebits.com Buenos Aires' street furniture is slated for a long-awaited overhaul. Starting immediately from the city's more affluent east and slowly expanding westward, throughout the next 10 months, thousands of bus shelters (<i>refugios de colectivos</i>), street signs, signposts, and ad displays will be replaced with newer, clearer, more modern, and more vandalism-proof versions. This process was actually supposed to start way back in 2001, but was repeatedly delayed due to funding uncertainty, judicial objections, and other equally legitimate-sounding causes. Separately, in a further beaufitication effort, the city has scheduled the planting of more than 5,000 trees in June and July. Gromco http://www.sitebits.com/2012/bright-lights-big-signposts.html Sun, 08 Apr 2012 21:00:00 EDT Quito's new international airport is scheduled to open in October of this year. Located in Tababela, northeast of the city, this new airport is being constructed using earthquake-resistant techniques and materials. The government is pinning its hopes on the airport's ability to turn Quito and, by extension, Ecuador, into a regional tourism and commerce hub. The mildly odd part about all this is that the airport is still not named... Slavito http://www.sitebits.com/2012/quitos-new-airport-needs-a-name.html Mon, 26 Mar 2012 23:00:00 EDT The <i>Ajuntament de Barcelona</i> reported an increase of 4.4% in tourist arrivals in 2011 compared to 2010. The number of Russians visiting the city doubled, but the leader among the foreigners was the USA: the number of Americans grew 8.5% and has surpassed that of both the French and the Italians, whose presence in Barcelona has traditionally been very strong. Gromco http://www.sitebits.com/2011/barc-tourism-in-2011-86619268.html Sat, 31 Dec 2011 23:30:00 EST Almost 30 years in the making, not even exactly finished, actually, and drawing out not much more than a collective yawn from the local press for its architectural qualities, the new Montreal Symphony Hall (<i>la Maison symphonique de Montréal</i>) nevertheless opened its doors to a select group of invitees and hosted the inaugural concert on Wednesday... Slavito http://www.sitebits.com/2011/montreal-symphony-hall-89156031.html Fri, 09 Sep 2011 01:30:00 EDT As we have previously mentioned in these pages, the city of Paris is readying a car equivalent of the hugely popular bike rental service, Vélib'. The new service, predictably named Autolib', will allow renting small 4-seat electric cars for short trips in the city and environs. The vehicles can be dropped off at the most convenient docking station (not necessarily where they were picked up). Pricing is by the minute (a 20-minute minimum), with the rate beyond one hour increasing to encourage customers to take shorter trips. Slavito http://www.sitebits.com/2011/autolib-coming-18352451.html Wed, 17 Aug 2011 03:00:00 EDT