¡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"»
My sister and I arrived at Hotel Mar de Frente (Los Caños De Meca, Costa de la Luz, Andalucía) almost by accident (or, to put it bluntly, by virtue of not being able to back our stick-shift rental
coche out of a driveway). All in all, I must say it was a happy accident.
Having left the stubborn car in the care of a friendly parking lot attendant, we inquired about available rooms at the hotel and briefly surveyed the beach below. The results of both inquiries appeared to be satisfactory.... We checked in...
Read the rest of: "Hotel Mar de Frente (Los Caños de Meca)"»
This is a wonderful sunset view of Los Austrias - my favorite neighborhood in Madrid. Of course,
my camera gets weird in such light, but you get the point. It is beautiful.
If you look closer, youll notice a plexiglass wall separating the sidewalk from the banisters. It is there
for a good reason. Many people, perhaps thoroughly impressed by such views, have
chosen to plunge to their deaths from this very point of the bridge - and by the way, there's a
street below (Calle Segovia). Imagine how annoying it used to be for the drivers when some
suicidal freak would just make a mess right in front of their car.
Knowing that I am now based in Montreal you,
of course, expect me to send in aesthetically pleasing images
of Notre-Dame Basilica, the statue of Admiral Nelson or, should
worse come to worse, the Palais des Congrès.
And I am just going to be different and difficult, once again...
Read the rest of: "Postcard From Montreal: La Cité"»
As we all know, the key to having a great time while traveling
is preparing yourself with just the right amount of information and
leaving everything else to good luck and inspiration.
If you stumbled upon this site while
doing reasearch for your upcoming trip to NYC, you are already in luck.
Beacause not only can you find some useful information here, but you can
learn how not to look or behave like a tourist (even if you are). By
looking and behaving local, you can have much more fun in the city and
avoid most unpleasantries.
Read the rest of: "How to Not Be A Tourist in NYC"»
