 A visiting Parisian recently made me laugh. Stretched on the grass next to the esplanade in the
Old Port,
she suddenly noticed Habitat 67's retro-futuristic assemblage across the Lachine Canal.
" Et ça" - she said peering confusedly at the distant building - " Ce sont des logements sociaux?" ("And that... that's a housing project?"). I laughed because although nothing could be further from the truth (the internationally acclaimed building houses well-to-do Montrealers - one could even say, the city's elite) many people somehow make a similar mistake. They are put off by the building's stern look, uninviting color and absurd shape, and so they wrongly assume something of the sort can only be used to house the underclass. I am here to clear up the confusion and defend the merits of Habitat 67...
Read the rest of: "The Habitat"»  Attitudes to public drinking in Italy seem to be more lax than in most other places I've been to. This is hardly shocking if you remember that we're talking about a wine-exporting Mediterranean country, but still, what you can matter-of-factly do here may very well surprise your typical New Yorker.
One example: during the last Rome expedition of this site's core group of contributors (which neatly coincided with Ree's ?th birthday), we got it into our heads to finish the evening with a glass of champagne next to the Trevi Fountain. Guess what?
Read the rest of: "Drinking Champagne by the Trevi Fountain"»  They are a familiar sight on the banks of the Seine - those faintly weary people manning dark-green wooden stalls filled with used and new books, postcards, posters, paintings, compact disks, LP's other pre-digital-era media curiosities.
They are Paris Bouquinistes - a tribe that has existed (and flourished) since as far back as mid-16th century, although it was only from the late 1790's, when they were first officially recognized, that les bouquinistes gradually came to occupy most embankments on and around Île de la Cité - despite organized resistance from the more "orderly" bookstores which, as you may know, are aplenty in Paris...
Read the rest of: "Paris Bouquinistes"»  I remember the first time I walked by the Nota Bene store on Avenue du Parc in November, 2004. A series of colorful German-made notebooks with aluminum edges were shown in the display window and I immediately thought “I am going to spend a lot of money here". And sure enough, over the following three years, I did...
Nota Bene sells an amazing array of imported designer stationery items – mostly of European and Japanese origin. If you're the type who prefers to think with a pen or a pencil in their hands, chances are you're going to love this store...
Read the rest of: "Nota Bene"» 
If skate-sailing is your thing and Paris your kind of town, I have the perfect location for you. By all means, try doing this on the Quai d'Orsay next to the Air France terminal. You'll have the fresh wind from the Seine, more than enough space for maneuver and the attention of both tourists and motorists. Unfortunately, I cannot tell you where to get the gear (I don't know). But surely, if skate-sailing is your thing, you do. So, smooth sailing!
Read the rest of: "Skate Sailing in Paris"»
 If the above title makes you go "¿ La Hora de QUÉ?", you're not alone. Only a short year ago, I myself did not know what "horchata" meant, much less what it tasted like.
As it turns out, it tastes pretty good. If you're in Madrid, dubious, I'll tell you were to go to order a glass that will remove all your doubts...
Read the rest of: "La Hora de Horchata"» Somebody on the site mentioned that Le Grand Comptoir
is one of the few restaurants in Montreal with friendly,
non-pretentious “single person" table service and I would
agree with them. What I mean by that is that going there by yourself doesn't necessarily present you with the typical dining-alone nuisances, like having to sit at the counter and thus forgo being able to relax in a chair, or being subjected to attitude from the host(ess) and the server. (After all, you're taking up a whole table and you'll only leave one person's tip!)
Like I said, Le Grand Comptoir
is a fortunate exception to those experiences.
You can go there alone at almost any time of day
(except the lunch hour: too busy) and find more
than a handful of individual tables to choose from...
Read the rest of: "Alone at Le Grand Comptoir"» 
Fondue in Barcelona? Well, why the hell not? That's what we said when after a five-minute deliberation involving counting dining patrons and talking to a kitchen employee on a cigarette break, we decided to "go for it".
Apparently approving of our decision, the ultra-modern glass door slid away automatically, and with that we stepped inside "GADES"...
Read the rest of: "Fondue'ing at Gades in Barcelona"»  |
