Rio de Janeiro has budgeted $US10.7 million for further permanent construction at the site, and an additional $US9.6 million for temporary construction to get the venue ready for the Games. International Olympic Committee members shocked everyone at the Bella Convention Centre in the Danish capital by eliminating favorites Chicago in the first voting round. Rio de Janeiro received 66 votes compared to Madrid’s 32 in the final round of voting.

Marina City, Chicago is a complex of two 61-story towers which are locally known as the “corn cobs”. This strange cylindrical shape was used to have less wind pressure. The complex was built in 1964 by renowned architect Bertrand GoldBerg and costs of $36 million. When finished it was the tallest and biggest ever built in concrete structure in the world.

Marina City consist 179 m tall residential complex with apartments, mixed with different commercial buildings – offices, banks and 18 stories of parking space. Also the complex offers a vast variety of recreation facilities including a swimming pool, gym, theater, ice rink, bowling alley, several stores, restaurants, and of course, a marina.

For more info – click here

Burnham Pavillion was installed in June in Millennium Park, symbolizing the forward-looking agenda of the 220 organizations commemorating this year’s 100th anniversary of the Plan of Chicago. The architects rendering of the pavilion was released by the Alderman, the Burnham Committee, the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, the Art Institute of Chicago and Friends of Downtown. The pavilion is open from June 19 through October 31 on the South Chase Promenade of Millennium Park.

Burnham Pavillion was designed by London-based Zaha Hadid and the other by Amsterdam-based Ben van Berkel of UNStudio-emphasize the importance of boldly imagining a better future for all, as Daniel Burnham and Edward Bennett did in 1909 in their Plan of Chicago.

The two Manitau Islands in Lake Michigan were once settled, but are now uninhabited. This doesn’t mean they are abandoned, as both are part of the Sleeping Bear National Lakeshore. Each has a ranger station and the islands are emerged as a destination for day trips and adventure camping holidays. The visitors who need to stay require park and camping permits. Photo by: jensenl

North Manitau is the larger at 13 km long and 6.5 km wide, with some 32 km of shoreline. By the mid -1800s there exploitable resources and never had a thriving settlement. Ruined homesteads, logging roads, a few wild orchards and the old cemetery are all the remain of that era, and the main activities are wilderness, camping and deer hunting in season. Photo by: cedarkayak

South Manitau, though just 5 km by 5 km was always more popular than the larger island. It had some fertile ground and the only natural harbor between the Manitous and Chicago, making the island a regular stopping-off point for lake mariners from the late 1700s into the 20th century. The island has a system of trails and three campsites. Photo by: .jowo.

When to go: The Sleeping Bear National Lakeshore is open all year round, but the islands are really a May to September destination. Population: Uninhabited. How to get there: There is a ferry service from Leland Michigan. You should know: The Manitous are surrounded by numerous shipwrecks, which are popular with recreational divers. Photo by: Latitude 45

The Grand Geneva Resort and Spa, located in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin is very popular.

Located just an hour away from Chicago near the tourist town of Lake Geneva. 
Rich in history and natural beauty, Lake Geneva, Wisconsin has been a premier getaway destination for decades.

Of its 355 guest rooms, Grand Geneva offers a notable selection of room types, from standard guest rooms to cozy suites. The hotel rooms are awesome, updated with the top technology.

Other in-room features include Wi-Fi internet access, complimentary local/calling card/toll-free calls, daily newspaper delivery and a coffee station.

Guests can enjoy the 2 on-site championship golf courses. The Fitness Center, indoor and outdoor tennis, indoor andoutdoor swimming pools.

The spa offers full-service pampering for men and women: facials, waxing, body treatments, hand and foot care and massages.

The restaurants and lounges throughout the resort are fantastic.

The resort’s Kids Are Grand program offers daily activities, including water-park visits, for ages four to 12 (10 am to 1 pm or 1 pm to 4 pm, $40 per child per session; 6 pm to 10 pm, $50 per child).

Kylie Minogue is an international pop superstar for over of an extraordinary 20-year-career. She has released 10 studio albums with 45 hit singles, received countless gold and platinum discs, and earned three Grammy nominations. This fall she will set out on what is so far a six city tour of North America. Fans Stateside will finally get the chance to witness the spectacle and magic of the Kylie live experience for her first ever North American tour. Check out all the details for the 2009 Kylie Minogue North American Concert Tour.

?our Dates, cities and venues:

30 September – Oakland – Fox Theater
3 October – Las Vegas – Pearl Concert Theater
4 October – Los Angeles – Hollywood Bowl
7 October – Chicago – Congress Theater
9 October – Toronto – Air Canada Centre
11 October – New York – Hammerstein Ballroom

The Shakespeare Garden , located in Central Park, between the Delacorte Theater, Belvedere Castle, and the Swedish Cottage. The Shakespeare Garden is Central Park’s only rock garden. Inaugurated in 1916 on the 300th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death.
 

Located in the south field of the Children’s Garden, it comprised a collection of herbs, flowers, shrubs, and trees flanking a flagstone path. The garden was designed by renowned landscape architect Jens Jensen, who is credited for the Cook County Forest Preserve system and Chicago’s lakefront parks.

One of the many hidden gems of Central Park, the Shakespeare Garden is a lovely spot to “stop and smell the roses”.

The main garden path, which initiates a steep climb from the Cottage grounds, meanders through the central garden area and continues east until it reaches the summit of the rock.

 
Plants in the Shakespeare Garden: Artemisia dracunculus,  Aster novae-angliae ‘Purple Dome’ (New England Aster), Aster ????-angliae “Purple Dome” (???? ?????? Aster), Astrantia major (Astrantia),  Astrantia (Astrantia),  Aurinia saxatilis ‘Sunny Border Apricot’ (Basket of Gold),  Aurinia saxatilis,  Baptisia australis (Blue False Indigo), Baptisia australis,  Borago officinalis (Borage) Borago officinalis, Calendula officinalis (Marigold) officinalis, Catananche caerulea (Cupid’s-dart) Catananche,  Fritillaria persica “???????”,  Geranium sanguineum ‘Johnson’s Blue’ (Bloody Geranium),  Hemerocallis fulva (Fulvous Daylily) Hemerocallis fulva, Hyacinthoides non-scripta (Hyacinth), Hyacinthoides ??-scripta, Hydrangea anomala ssp. Petiolaris (Climbing Hydrangea), Petiolaris,  Ilex aquifolium (English Holly) , Iris reticulata, Iris x germanica (Fleur-de-lis) Iris germanica,  Primula vulgaris (English primrose) ??????? vulgaris, Pulmonaria saccharata ‘Mrs. Pulmonaria saccharata , Ranunculus acris ‘Flora Pleno’ (Meadow Buttercup).

Los Angeles is a polarizing city and Wayfaring will show you one different side of the city. To some people the city is a paradise with its beautiful beaches, luxury hotels, bars and nightclubs. To others it’s a look of apocalypse with its air pollution, earthquake and wildfires. Los Angles is a kind of place that even though some people refuse to visit.

In order to understand the whole picture of Los Angles you have to understand how the city flows of its local landscape. Once you find out how the city operate – how it form a system – you will see the beauty of  it.

First of all I will begin from wastewater plant El Segundo. It’s actually the third largest plant in the country – behind Chicago and Boston. The city even offers tours to El Segundo, which is a great place nestled between LAX and Chevron refinery. You have got the Pacific Ocean to the west and  LAX to the north. You can even seen where its pipe extends. Then I offer you the other end of spectrum – Mt. Wilson – an observatory and antenna fields. It’s cool up there with a forest of huge antennas and you can run among the trees and the towers.

Another interesting building to visit is One Wilshire – a classic modernist Skidmore, Owings & Merrill building, at the crossroads of Grand and Wilshire—–but it’s called the most connected building on the West Coast in terms of internet bandwidth. It’s a telco hotel as well and has connections directly to Pacific submarine cables. In other words, it’s infrastructure, but it’s also architecture. It’s got floors and floors of computers—–and then, occasionally, some lawyer’s office.

One of my favorite places is the gravel trench in Irwindale—–the Durbin trench and the Vulcan trench. Those are two adjacent gravel trenches in this huge complex of trenches, where much of the gravel out is that one, which the structures and the freeways in Los Angeles get made.

In this picture is the Cascades, which are a registered State Histor-ical Landmark. They are where the 338-mile Owens River Aqueduct terminates, bringing fresh water to L.A. The aqueduct’s construction, which finished in 1913, is a fascinating—–and murky—–tale of government corruption and outright theft. Los Angeles is, after all, maybe more than other cities, a complex blend of physical facts and interpretive fictions.

The public sculptures and monuments have become a contemporary exciting areas over the last 15 years. Artist can do their best work in public scene. Koon’s ”Rabbit”, for example was part of Macy’s Thanksgiving day parade in 2007. The Koon’s art presents the main exchange of public sculptures. His buoyant forms reach deep into observers childhood with accompanying feelings of hope and optimism.

 

”Puppy” by Jeff Koons at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain.

 

”Puppy” is strongly lovable triggering a laugh-out-loud visual delight that expanded the sense of the observer into human capacity of joy. The flowery semblance of fur made ”Puppy” almost living fresh like us.

 

This is a Kapoor Bean public sculpture by British artist in Millennium Park, Chicago. The sculpture converts humorous and sublime.

Today in Chicago art’s admirers can visit new Hyde Park Art Center, which did not have a proper home since opening in 1939. The architect Dong Garofalo, a pioneer in digital design gave the Hyde Park Art Center a long-term lease on an old Army warehouse. The smart architect kept the building’s shape but changed the interior significantly.

At the Hyde Park Art Center, an 80-foot-long gallery starts on an outside wall of the building with a projection screen for video art.

As well as in Chicago another museum took a good position. This is the new Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies , which was realized for $39 million. The Spertus Museum has 15,000 works of art and artifacts, as well as sweeping views of Lake Michigan. The cool structure sits on the city’s front yard in a landmark district dominated by older stone and terra cotta structures.