http://www.sitebits.com/slavito/ Slavito en Copyright &copy; 1999-2008 Gromco, Inc. Mon, 01 Dec 2008 15:58:37 EST Mon, 13 Oct 2008 14:30:00 EDT info@sitebits.com info@sitebits.com A bewildered American tourist who vacationed in <a href="http://www.sitebits.com/canada/montreal/">Montreal</a> this summer recently wrote a letter to the Gazette, the local anglophone daily, wondering why announcements on the métro are delivered only in French. <br/><br/> The newspaper's response and the quotes it extracted from various officials highlighted an interesting contrast in policies between Montreal and Paris public transportation services. While in <a href="http://www.sitebits.com/france/paris/">Paris</a>, announcements are routinely delivered in three languages (French, English and a rotating third major language), Montreal metro will only play a pre-recorded bilingual tape in an emergency situation ("fire! get out!"). "Routine" messages such as announcements of delays are delivered only in French as a matter of policy... Slavito http://www.sitebits.com/2008/metro-passengers-lost-with-no-translation-7914177.html Mon, 13 Oct 2008 14:30:00 EDT 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". <br/><br/> Over the next month, demo bikes will be wheeled around the city and public demonstrations will be held. According to the city's mayor, <a href="http://www.sitebits.com/people/gerald_tremblay.html">Gérald Tremblay</a>, by next spring Montreal will count 2,400 bikes at more than 300 solar-powered stations... Slavito http://www.sitebits.com/2008/bixi-bike-taxi-montreal-7408304.html Mon, 22 Sep 2008 15:30:00 EDT 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... Slavito http://www.sitebits.com/2008/first-cruise-liner-docks-in-st-petersburg-1812155.html Thu, 18 Sep 2008 21:30:00 EDT 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... Slavito http://www.sitebits.com/2008/more-ave-trains-madrid-barcelona-0979419.html Wed, 17 Sep 2008 23:40:00 EDT Construction crews are still crawling over the central tower of the new <a href="http://www.sitebits.com/canada/montreal/hotels/mtl-hilton_garden_inn.html">Hilton Garden Inn</a> 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... Slavito http://www.sitebits.com/2008/new-hilton-garden-inn-centreville-5610323.html Tue, 16 Sep 2008 14:45:00 EDT Back in June, Parisian decorator Pascale Benhamou finished her project for <a href="http://www.sitebits.com/france/paris/hotels/par-hotel_plaza_athenee.html">Hotel Plaza Athénée</a> in Paris's <a href="http://www.sitebits.com/france/paris/districts/paris-08.html">8th arrondissement</a>. 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. <br/><br/> 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"... Slavito http://www.sitebits.com/2008/la-galerie-des-gobelins-new-look.html Fri, 12 Sep 2008 14:30:00 EDT 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. <br/><br/> 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... Slavito http://www.sitebits.com/2008/2g_opens_cdg.html Wed, 10 Sep 2008 13:05:00 EDT 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. <br/><br/> This treat is called "Bonne Journée" and comes from the kitchen of "Crêpe Café" - a small café that is named after what it makes best. Slavito http://www.sitebits.com/2008/bonne-journee-from-cafe-crepe.html Sat, 06 Sep 2008 19:00:00 EDT 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. <br/><br/> 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)... Slavito http://www.sitebits.com/2008/vecchia_scuola_bolognese.html Fri, 05 Sep 2008 14:30:00 EDT 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... Slavito http://www.sitebits.com/2008/valencia_beaches_going_wireless.html Fri, 05 Sep 2008 01:30:00 EDT Back in July, Apple opened a flagship store in Montreal of which yours truly has already had an opportunity to be a customer. <br/><br/> The store is ninth in the list of Apple's flagship stores world-wide (the others are in San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, London, Tokyo, Osaka and New York) and the first of the kind in Canada... Slavito http://www.sitebits.com/2008/apple_opens_montreal_flagship_store.html Wed, 03 Sep 2008 12:45:00 EDT A few weeks ago, a round of renovations was completed at the de Liceu metro station (línea 3) in the Rambla, reported local transportation authority, TMB. All in all, four halls and two platforms were given a complete make-over at a total cost of 2.5 million euro. This phase of renovations took one year... Slavito http://www.sitebits.com/2008/de_liceu_renovated.html Mon, 01 Sep 2008 22:10:00 EDT Flying high on the success of Vélib, a bike-rental program that turned one year old in July, Paris is thinking about launching another effort, dubbed Autolib. According to a report by the Associated Press, this program will launch by early 2010 with a fleet of 4,000 electric cars (half of them reserved for areas outside the Périphérique) and will allow anybody to quickly rent a car from one of 700 planned stations and drop them off at any other... Slavito http://www.sitebits.com/2008/liked_velib_love_auotlib.html Thu, 21 Aug 2008 22:33:00 EDT Montreal will soon get its own city-wide bike-rental system clearly modeled after Paris' Velib. It will work almost exactly the same way as Vélib: you pick up your bike from any of the stations, pay at the station or simply swipe a card, use your bike and return it to any station you deem convenient. </p><p> The only (minor) problem is, the system is still to be named. So, the city is asking everyone's opinion. Here are the options: BIXI, Bycik, MontVélo, VélO2 and VillaVélo... Slavito http://www.sitebits.com/2008/montreal_bike_system_looking_for_name.html Wed, 13 Aug 2008 23:13:00 EDT Groupe Moniteur is a French company which helps establish links between the construction & development industries and the communities in which they work. They are also the owner of Librairie Le Moniteur - a highly specialized bookstore a stone's throw away from the <a href="http://www.sitebits.com/france/paris/landmarks/par-jardin-du-luxembourg.html">Jardin du Luxembourg</a> and Théâtre du Odeon. <br/><br/> Filled with books on architecture, urbanism, landscaping and interior design, Librairie Le Moniteur is one the largest specialized bookstores in Paris (and certainly the largest bookstore on the topic that I've seen)... Slavito http://www.sitebits.com/2008/librairie_le_moniteur.html Tue, 29 Jul 2008 15:40:00 EDT The Montreal Jazz Festival 2008 has just finished and the city is already fevereshly preparing for the 2009 edition. You might think this is an overstatement - after all, there's almost a year left! But in fact, in this short year, one of the most important concert spaces, the plaza between Place des Arts and Rue de Bleury will have to be completely redone. The models and renderings for the new Place des Festivals were made public a few days ago and the city's mayor took the opportunity to assure everybody the project is "on schedule, on budget"... Slavito http://www.sitebits.com/2008/new-plaza-in-2009.html Thu, 17 Jul 2008 09:30:00 EDT Few makeover projects have been handled with such a degree of architectural audacity as the recent transformation of a disused electric station in Madrid’s Las Huertas district into a cultural center La Caixa Forum - Madrid. <br/><br/> Swiss architects <a href="http://www.sitebits.com/people/jacques_herzog.html">Herzog</a> & <a href="http://www.sitebits.com/people/pierre_de_meuron.html">de Meuron</a> not only gutted the building, removing most of its interiors and changing its shape and size by conspicuously adding a layer of several floors, they also literally lifted it from its foundation, giving the whole structure a tense “suspended” look. <br/><br/> The resulting space now houses a cultural center with its own exhibition space, a large auditorium, a bookstore and a top-floor café... Slavito http://www.sitebits.com/2008/caixa_forum_madrid.html Tue, 15 Jul 2008 22:30:00 EDT Retractable roofs have been architects' <i>idée fixe</i> for decades. <a href="http://www.sitebits.com/people/moshe_safdie.html">Moshe Safdie</a> once wrote up an idea for entire neighborhoods shielded by such roofs during the harsh season and open to the elements when it's nice outside. <br/><br/> The path to these dreams' realization has been fraught with difficulties, from budget overruns to full-blown engineering disasters like Montreal's Olympic Stadium (after a decade of efforts to fix it, the city finally gave up and installed a fixed roof in its place. It won't be moving any time soon). <br/><br/> Nevertheless, projects like that pop up again and again. And so do the difficulties. The latest example is <a href="http://www.sitebits.com/people/santiago_calatrava.html">Santiago Calatrava</a>'s project for the Lower Manhattan Transportation Hub. Among the project's many innovative features was a retractable roof. But will there be one in the final implementation? Slavito http://www.sitebits.com/2008/calatrava_transit_hub_roof_gets_stuck.html Wed, 09 Jul 2008 22:22:00 EDT A few weeks ago, l'EPAD - the government body responsible for developing Paris' La Défense district, announced the completion of an international tender for the construction of a new high-rise tower (La Tour Signal). The project went to Ateliers <a href="http://www.sitebits.com/people/jean_nouvel.html">Jean Nouvel</a>. <br/><br/> The revered French architect (who is the <a href="http://www.sitebits.com/2008/jean-nouvel-pritzker-prize-2008.html">winner of this year's Pritzker Prize</a> in architecture) beat several well-known colleagues including Jacques Ferrier Architectures, Foster+Partners, Studio Libeskind, and Wilmotte et Associés... Slavito http://www.sitebits.com/2008/jean_nouvel_la_tour_signal.html Tue, 08 Jul 2008 14:40:00 EDT As many press outlets have reported, the <b>Waldorf=Astoria</b> hotel will open a Montreal outpost some time in 2011. A 250-room, 76-residence monster (officially named The Waldorf=Astoria Hotel & Residences Montreal) will rise a few blocks west of the <b>Montreal Museum of Fine Art</b>... Slavito http://www.sitebits.com/2008/waldorf-astoria-to-open-in-montreal.html Sat, 05 Jul 2008 17:10:00 EDT I generally dislike articles that sound like advertising, especially when they are written about foreign cities. You know the type? Like, how everything is good in XYZ and people are nicer and girls/boys are prettier and things are cheaper and nobody works and everybody's happy. A couple of years back I felt it was appropriate to <a href="http://www.sitebits.com/2006/buenos_aires_dreaming.html">comment on the much promoted virtues of Buenos Aires</a></i>. Right now, I feel the same way about Berlin, except I can not claim to have lived there myself, so I only have my scepticism to go by... Slavito http://www.sitebits.com/2008/try_it_again_in_berlin.html Thu, 22 May 2008 13:50:00 EDT The writers' strike may be over, but not everything is going well in Hollywood, I read in yesterday's <i>Corriere della Sera</i> (Milan). The latest trend of shows and movies abandoning the city for cheaper locales leaves the film industry capital increasingly isolated. And if things continue down the same path, soon nobody will be filming there (that prediction is courtesy of Carsten Lorenz who made it in an interview with the Financial Times)... Slavito http://www.sitebits.com/2008/frankie_goes_to_new_york.html Thu, 22 May 2008 01:00:00 EDT You may remember the tragic accident at Paris Roissy Charles-de-Gaulle Airport's Terminal 2E four years ago. A large part of its glass roof collapsed killing four people and injuring several others. <br/><br/> Well, it only took four years and about 150M&euro; for engineers to fix the damn roof, but they finally did it. A couple of weeks ago first scheduled flights started using the terminal... Slavito http://www.sitebits.com/2008/roissy-2e-reopens.html Tue, 22 Apr 2008 00:05:00 EDT French architect <a href="http://www.sitebits.com/people/jean_nouvel.html">Jean Nouvel</a>, 62, received the 2008 Pritzker Architecture Prize, the most prestigious award in architecture (which is often compared to the Nobel prize in science in the degree of honor it affords)... Slavito http://www.sitebits.com/2008/jean-nouvel-pritzker-prize-2008.html Wed, 02 Apr 2008 13:00:00 EDT It's only natural that any project signed by <a href="http://www.sitebits.com/people/philippe_starck.html">Philippe Starck</a> guarantees attention to an establishment, whether it be a hotel, restaurant or a high-rise apartment tower. But now the maestro seems to be making space for another family member - his daughter <a href="http://www.sitebits.com/people/ara_starck.html">Ara</a>. <br/><br/> In the latest example, she was charged with the only truly "artistic" part of a restaurant renovation project for the <a href="http://www.sitebits.com/france/paris/hotels/par-le_meurice.html">Meurice</a> hotel, while her famous father was busy desgnining the 600+ pieces of furniture that went into the restaurant... Slavito http://www.sitebits.com/2008/starck-reality-dali-meurice.html Thu, 27 Mar 2008 16:10:00 EDT