Of the hundreds of churches on the island of Montreal, Notre-Dame’s interior is the most stunning with a exquisite detail. This 19th Century Basilica is in the historic district of Montreal, in Quebec, Canada. Basilica was opened in 1829, making it the largest religious edifice in North America at the time. It is a very beautiful, interesting and cultural attraction!
According to records, it took two years to erect the walls of the basilica and the facade up to the base of the towers. Much of the interior is carved from rare woods – which are gilded or painted and large rose windows. It is filled with hundreds of intricate wooden carvings and several religious statues. The eastern tower of the Notre- Dame Montreal holds a ten-bell carillon, while the western tower, named Temperance, holds a single bell, the Jean-Baptiste bell. This ten ton bell is only rung on special occasions and can be heard 25km away. There’s also a chapel in the back which is just as amazing.
The original church, designed by Father François Dollier de Casson sufficed for the first 150 years. Then a New York architect named James O’Donnell was brought to Montreal to build a new church.
This striking interior is the work of architect Victor Bourgeau, who transformed the originally stern interior into the current design between 1874 and 1880. The great organ is a Casavant and the recitals held in the church throughout the year are very popular. The basilica offers musical programming of choral and organ performances.

Paula Rego Museum, is located just outside the Portuguese capital by the beaches of Cascais. The museum includes paintings and drawings by Portugal’s most acclaimed living artist. The museum is named after Paula Rego, who was born in Lisbon but has been living between Cascais and London since the 1970s. In the British capital she married artist Victor Willing and was appointed the first associate artist of England’s National Gallery. She’s also considered one of the best living painters in Britain, and her works can be seen in several museums around the world, from the British Museum in London to the MoMA in New York.

In Lisbon, you can see a couple of her art examples at the Berardo Museum and at the Modern Art Centre of the Gulbenkian Foundation, as well as in the Chiado Museum’s current exhibition “Modern Art in Portugal – From Amadeo to Paula Rego.” In the past, there have been retrospective exhibitions of her work in Madrid’s Reina Sofia Museum, Porto’s Serralves Museum, and at the Tate Britain.

Nowadays there is a permanent home for much of her art, with the upcoming museum housed in a brand-new building designed by the renowned architect Eduardo Souto Moura. It features two conical towers that bring to mind the famous gigantic chimneys of Sintra’s National Palace, while inside it will show a total of 121 works by the artist. The 750 square meters of space will also include an area for temporary exhibitions, a cafeteria, a bookshop, and an auditorium.

The City College of New York, School of Architecture, was remodeled the urban design and landscape architecture of the building. The project was taken by Rafael Vinoly Architects. They were chosen to design, construct and select the site for this new CCNY building.

The new structure has supplied a 135,000 sq ft facility housing administrative offices, classrooms of varying sizes, an exhibition space, an architectural library, design studios, faculty offices, a model shop, mechanical rooms, a rooftop open-air amphitheatre and a separate facility for the City College Architectural Centre – an outreach group that provides advocacy and planning and design assistance to community organizations.

The new college building includes an intersecting series of steel staircases and pedestrian bridges, facilitating circulation throughout the building and establishing connectivity and sightlines between floors. The corridors on the studio levels are wide, double-height areas that accommodate lounges for informal discussion, while narrower balconies overlook these lounges and provide circulation on the office levels.

The amphitheater provides additional teaching and program space, with wide, unobstructed views to the south over Central Park and the skyline of Midtown Manhattan.

“230 Fifth” is a plush lounge located on the 20th floor of the building formerly known as the Victoria Hotel in the Flatiron District of Manhattan. It consists of two floors with 8,000 sq. ft of enclosed space and a magnificently landscaped 14,000 sq. ft rooftop garden. It is the largest rooftop garden in Manhattan. You’ll be in love with the great views of the city this venue has to offer of the Empire State Building, Chrysler Buildings, Statue of Liberty, and Hudson River.

This world class designed venue includes a very large, fully enclosed Penthouse bar and lounge, a 50 seat upscale restaurant, as well as the ability to have a seated dinner for from 25 people up to 600 people in the enclosed space and up to 600 more on the Penthouse Rooftop Garden, or cocktail receptions for anywhere from 25 people to up to 1,200 people. Nearly 40 dishes are on offer here, many with a Southeast Asian bent.

This is a great place to visit during the evening or the night. The person behind this venue is Steven Greenberg, one of New York’s best known nightlife entrepreneurs. If the 8,000-sq. ft room pimped out in walls of partitioned glass, dark op-art pile carpet, and purple fluorescent lights recalls Studio 54, it’s because the owner has spared no expense in making it as lavish as his previous projects, the Roxy and the Palladium.“230 Fifth” has a strict dress policy, especially for men: no labels, no flip-flops and no bold colors.

 
Official site – http://www.230-fifth.com/

Today, the New York State Pavilion is perhaps more impressive than it was during the World’s Fair. The Pavilion was constructed for the World’s Fair in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. Designed by Philip Johnson and Richard Foster.

The New York State Pavilion also included the adjacent “Theaterama,” which exhibited pop art works by Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein among others. Proposals to turn it into an air-and-space museum or incorporate it into a new World’s Fair in Queens for 2015 have been abandoned.

The pavilion consisted of an open-air, elliptical structure called the Tent of Tomorrow, a theater in the round, and three towers topped by circular platforms. An over-sized map of the state of New York, which is made up of 567 mosaic terrazzo panels weighing about 400 lbs.

The smallest tower was 18 meters (59 feet) tall and housed a restaurant, while the middle and tallest towers-45 meters (147 feet) and 68 meters (223 feet)-contained observation decks.

Suspended on cables, the roof stretched between 16 tall concrete pylons, with riveted steel.

Martinique’s Creole chic is a Caribbean wonder. As a Department of France, the island gets all the benefits of the north European Euro – zone, allied to the technicolor brilliance of West Indian music and culture. It’s a heady and glamorous mix. The downside of the French umbilical is overdevelopment and overcrowding, which can be dismaying if you arrive from another island, but after a day or so the sheer of the island will captivate you. Photo by: *** Olivia ***

Martinique is big enough to have mountains, rivers, forests and flower-filled wolds – all of which have more than 350 years of history . Fort de France is itself set on one of the world’s loveliest bays. At St Marie et Macouba, perched on a cliff over the Atlantic, are some of Martinique’s most famous rum distilleries – but remember local rum is often twice the strength of the other islands. Photo by: cnszym

The Caravelle Peninsula is especially beautiful at Baie du Tresor and Chateau Dubuc. Further south, you can watch the fishing fleet come home from the hills above Le Vauclin, among the hundred secluded coves and offshore sandbars that make south Martinique so attractive to yachts. Photo by: ziboom

When to go: Year-round. Come for a really spirited 5-day Mardi Gras in February/March. Population: 400,000. How to get there: By air from Miami, Puerto Rico or Paris; or from New York or London via Antigua, St Lucia or Barbados. Photo by: cnszym

Address: 18 Little West 12th St. New York, N.Y. 10014.
Cielo provides a music program specializing in deeply soulful house music as well as various genres of electronic music.

This trendy nightclub is the perfect place to dance and socialize. Featuring some of the best service and music in the city,unique, and exciting figures in dance music.

The club is filled with spectacular ambient lighting, astounding decor, and a sound system that is unparalleled in quality. The large, centrally located dance floor at Cielo is filled with beautiful people. Small outdoor space for those who smoke.

This place used to be a old balloon factory where Macy’s use to prepare the Thanksgiving day Parade floats.

Over the last 5 years, Cielo has continued to triumph and collect accolades including; Club World Awards 2008 winner for Best Club.

The Thousands Islands are a network of in fact nearly 1,800 islands that span the American-Canadian border in the Saint Lawrence River. Some, like Wolfe Island, the largest at 124 sq km have significant year-round populations, while others are merely rocky outcrops visited by migrating birds. The whole area is hugely popular as a holiday destination, particularly for sailing – so much so that it’s sometimes called the ‘fresh water boating capital of the world’. Photo by: hermez

Around twenty of these islands form the Saint Lawrence Islands National Park, the smallest of Canada’s national parks. The Thousand Islands Frontenac Arch region was designated a World Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO in 2002. The US islands include numerous New York State parks, most notably Robert Moses State Park. Photo by: Guddemischi

The area is often traversed by freighters on their way into and out of the Great Lakes shipping lanes, but is so dotted with barely rocks that local navigators are hired to help the vessels travel through the hazardous waterway. This is unwise to travel the waters at night, except in the main channels and with good charts. It’s a popular place for experienced divers as the waters mostly so clear and the sea bed is littered with many shipwrecks for them to explore. Photo by: baalands

The area is also famous for its wealthy up state New Yorkers and many of the islands are privately owned. A plethora of ‘No Landing’ signs reminds potential visitors that they can look, but not to touch, so the best way to enjoy the area is by boat. Photo by: JasonB3

When to Go: The shoulder seasons of late April to May and September to early October are less crowded and can have good weather. Population: 22,450. How to get there: Via The Thousands Islands bridge from New York state or tour the area by boat from Gananoque.

Tulum is located on the southern edge of Mexico’s Riviera Maya. The place is unique, a strip of beach and jungle peppered with stylish haute-bohemian huts and ancient ruins overlooking the Caribbean. The may site in Tulum may have been also known by the name Zama, meaning city of Dawn.

Tulum has architecture typical of Maya sites. Among some of the more spectacular buildings at the site is the Temple of the Frescoes, that included a lower gallery and a smaller second story gallery. The archeological city of Tulum is compact and best-preserved coastal Maya sites. The modern tourism development along the Mexican Caribbean coastline has made it a popular destination for tourists. A large number of cenotes are located in the Tulum area, such as Maya Blue, Naharon, Temple of Doom, Tortuga, Vacaha, Grand Cenote, Abejas, Nohoch and cave systems.

You can cool down at the small, but sweet Grand Cenote, a freshwater cave, 20 minutes from Tulum. You can snorkel and dive in there, exploring all the usual suspects: stalagmites, stalactites and a lot of tourists just like you. Entrance fee, 600 pesos, masks, snorkels and flippers.

If you need a massage, visit Ocho Tulum, one of the newer so-called eco-resorts. It has two alluring palapas massage rooms planted just above high tide.

Ocho Tulum also offer a brand new yoga studio and vinyasa classes every morning. The town is a hot spot for yoga tourists.

How to get there: Cancun is four hours from New York City. Round-trip prices this month start at under $400. It is cheaper, and easier, to rent a car than to rely on taxis, even though most of beachfront Tulum is a walking town. Tulum is about 75 miles south of Cancun on Route 307. Be extremely aware of the speed limits: they drop precipitously at each town, and the police are vigilant. Photos: Michael Nagle

One of Mexico’s largest islands, Cozumel lies 20 km from the mainland, and 60 km south of Cancun. It’s flat limestone formation shaped like a holster and pierced by dozens of cenotes (water filled sinkholes), many with their own marine forms, which are an extra attractions for swimmers and snorkellers who come to explore the island’s fantastic offshore reefs. Photo by: kristiankristof

You’ll never get a better chance to appreciate Mayan culture so close to good beaches. The biggest Mayan site, San Gervasio (named much latter), was for centuries sacred to Ix Chel, the goddess of fertility, and one of the Yucatan’s most important sanctuaries. There are several others, recovered from jungle and swampy mangrove lagoons now teeming with cormorants, pelicans, primary-coloured tree frogs, iguanas and crocodiles. Photo by: devildiver

You can see 250 species in its clear waters, including the bright blue-and-yellow queen angelfish, the toad fish and enormous sponges like the barrel and elephant ear, which grows to 3,6 m across. Cozumel is fabulously pretty and exotic place, and you should go there with someone who love and watch the sunset. Photo by: Yankee in Texas

When to go: Year-round. Temperatures average 32 degrees Celsius in July and August, and 24 Celsius in December and January. Come for the traditional feasting, rodeos, bullfights music and fairs of the 5-day Festival of El Cedral in late April and May. Population: 73,193. How to get there: By air to San Miguel from Houston, New York, Miami and Mexico City. Photo by: kristiankristof

Photo by: Rob Inh00d

Tory Island is tiny, only 5 km long and 1 km wide, but with four towns and a number of historical sites, it remains a strong community. Rugged, treeless, bleak and buffeted by wind, Tory Island is also remarkably beautiful in its way. Both mystical and remote, this granite rock rises from the sea off the north-west coast of Donegal.

In the past the island’s economy relied on fishing and farming, but today it is reliant on governmental support. Few people visit Tory Island, and the most of those who do, come to see the group of artists who work there. In 1956 the painter Derek Hill arrived on the island. A local man James Dixon, looked at Hill’s painting and said he thought he could do better himself. This led to the birth of Tory Island school of painting, and today not only does the island have its own gallery, but its artists have been shown internationally. Patsy Dan Rodgers, one of the artists, has been designed Tory’s ‘King’ and representative. He is an honorary member of New York University where an exhibition of these depictions of a fast disappearing way of life was shown to great acclaim.

The islanders are very traditional, Gaelic – speaking, and they live simply. Tory Island is an extraordinary place to visit and to enjoy the various sights, such as the 12th century Tau Cross, one of the only two in Ireland, or Dun Bhaloir, Balor’s Fort, situated on a peninsula with high cliffs on three sides, it is reached by crossing a narrow isthmus. Otherwise why not just watch the seabirds, marvel at the shifting hight on the cliffs and sea, and socialize with the locals?

When to go: June to September for the best weather. Population: 170 (2001). How to get there: Ferries run from four ports on mainland Donegal from June to September.

This elongated, thin barrier island in Suffolk Country, New York, protects much of the southern shoreline of Long Island from the worst excesses of the Atlantic Ocean. Fire Island was 49.5 km long and 0.8km across at the widest point. But the shape is constantly changing – at one point it stretched for 95km from adjacent Jones Island in the east to Southampton at the New York end and was as wide as 8km.

Fire Island is separated from Long Island by a series of bays – Great South Bay, Patchogue Bay, Bellport Bay, Narrow Bay and Moriches Bay. The western 7.5 km is made up of Robert Moses State Park, an enormous popular summer destination for New Yorkers. Since 1964 the rest of the island has been protected as the Fire Island National Seashore. There is no road along the island’s length and vehicular traffic is banned during the summer season (June to August). Even out of the season only a limited number of driving permits are available for residents.

The main resorts are Ocean Beach on the South Shore, reached by water taxi or a walk along the sand from Robert Moses Park, nearby Saltaire and Davis Park on Moriches Inlet. Among various hamlets on the island, Cherry Grove and The Pines are famous for the gay community. The year-round population is small, but thousands of flock to their vacation homes or rentals in high summer to enjoy Fire Island’s miles of boardwalk and laid-back beach life.

When to go: Join the summer crowds – this is definitely no place to be in winter. Population: 300

The Bentley is located on the fashionable Upper East Side of Manhattan. The Hotel  is located five blocks from Central Park and  it is 15 miles from JFK airport. Sleek and upscale, the hotel was converted in 1998 from a 21-story glass and steel office build.

It has 197 rooms in total. The rooms are nice, and air-conditioned. Kitchenette, Telephone, Radio, TV, Television with Cable, Internet Access and Hairdryers Available. Marble baths include shower/tub combinations and British Gilchrist and Soames toiletries.

Amenities include: 24-Hour Front Desk services including business services, Concierges Desk, On-site parking facilities and so on.

The rooftop restaurant and bar is known for it’s panoramic views. The Rooftop Restaurant and Bar has spectacular city views, and serves a decent selection of food and drink.

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 world’s most expensive dessert will cost you $25 000! Can you believe? This is one rich cup of chocolate… Its name is the “Frrrozen Haute Chocolate”. Its author is Stephen Bruce, partnered by luxury jeweler Euphoria, New York. It was declared the most expensive dessert in the world by Guinness World Records.

The dessert is a frozen, slushy blend of 28 rare, top-grade cocoas, including 14 of the most expensive from around the world.  It is topped with whip cream of the most expensive chocolate in the world and shavings from a luxury La Madeline au Truffle, from Knipschildt Chocolatier, which sells for $2,600 a pound. The dessert is infused with 5 grams of edible 23-karat gold and is eaten with a gold spoon decorated with white and chocolate-colored diamonds, which can be taken home. It is served in a goblet, which base is an 18-karat gold bracelet with 1 carat of diamonds.