Tag Archives: City

Photo: the colorful streets of Toulouse, France

Toulouse is a beautiful city in the Midi-Pyrénées region of France. Nicknamed La Ville Rose for the fading color of the red brick walls widely used across the city, Toulouse is a great place to visit. The rich architectural heritage, the tasty charcuteries and the friendly population are three aspects that make this an interesting destination during a trip to France.

I was lucky to mingle with locals by using couchsurfing as an accomodation. My host brought me along to a film screening in a squat in the downtown area and took me out for drinks with her lovely friends. I was also there during the Fête de la musique (World Music day) so it was fun to see the whole city engulfed by such a festive spirit!

Untapped Montreal: what I’ve been writing about in the last few months

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Here’s a new update on the cool things I’ve been writing about for Untapped Cities, as city correspondent for Montreal:

Something most Montrealers don’t know: there’s a church in Montreal’s Little Italy that still features a fresco representing Benito Mussolini:

http://untappedcities.com/2013/10/21/why-is-benito-mussolini-featured-church-fresco-montreal/

A fun list compiling 8 of the quirkiest bar and restaurant restrooms in Montreal

http://untappedcities.com/2013/10/14/montreal-8-quirky-restaurant-bar-restrooms-urinette-nightclub-bathroom-urinette-nightclub-bathroom/

Local multimedia firm Moment Factory created an installation in downtown which mixes public speaking with modern technologies and the social media aesthetic.

http://untappedcities.com/2013/09/20/megaphone-an-art-installation-in-montreal-that-revives-public-speaking/

A guide to discovering Montreal’s fascinating Underground city.

http://untappedcities.com/2013/09/03/guide-to-montreal-underground-city/

This piece also touches on Montreal’s underground, focusing on my 10 favorite art installations in the Montreal metro system. This has been by far my most popular article ever.

http://untappedcities.com/2013/08/21/top-10-art-installations-montreal-metro-system/

Photo post: A view of Athens

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Athens, circa 2009. We were only supposed to stay in Athens for a few hours but we hit a transit strike in Italy and missed our flight to Santorini so we decided to stay two days in the capital of Greece before we headed our next destination (Istanbul). As much of inconvenience as this transit strike was at first (more on that later), we ended up having lots of fun in Athens and I’m glad we got to visit this fascinating city.

Picture post: blue skies and street lamps in Montreal

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One of the funky, futuristic street lamps at the Place des festivals in downtown Montreal. Quartier des spectacles is the place to go for entertainment in Montreal. With more than 30 concert rooms, dozens of art galleries and a great contemporary art museum it’s the city’s cultural center.

Right in the middle of the entertainment district, the Place des festivals was developed in 2009 in order to accommodate many of the city’s large-scale festivals (the Jazz fest, Francofolies, Just for Laughs). It is easy to spot because of its’ clean, modern architecture and oddly shaped lamp posts. Those humongous structures have been very useful to my friends and I as meeting spots during big concert events!

Untapped Cities: discovering Montreal

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It’s been a while since I’ve linked to the articles I’ve written for Untapped Cities. Since June I’ve been writing two articles/month about fun, unique things to discover in Montreal.

Here’s what I’ve been writing about:

The environmentally friendly Ruelles vertes (green alleyways) being created behind the tightly packed facades of buildings in residential neighborhoods:

http://untappedcities.com/2013/08/07/montreals-ruelles-vertes-green-alleyways-help-the-environment-and-create-a-sense-of-community/

A fun pedicab tour of Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, an area with a rich past that earned a bad reputation in the last few decades but is currently experiencing a creative transformation:

http://untappedcities.com/2013/07/22/eco-friendly-pedicab-tours-document-montreals-urban-transformation/

Mural festival invited twenty street artists to come and give part of Saint-Laurent boulevard a colorful makeover:

http://untappedcities.com/2013/07/03/first-edition-of-the-mural-street-art-festival-in-montreal/

After a successful test season last year, four public pianos have been installed for the summer in the district of the Plateau-Mont-Royal:

http://untappedcities.com/2013/06/25/pop-up-pianos-montreal-piano-des-villes-piano-des-champs/

Miyuki Tanobe is a Japanese painter that fell in love with Montreal in the 1970s and became known here as a painter of street life. On a nondescript street corner in Verdun, a mural has been painted in her honor:

http://untappedcities.com/2013/06/10/a-mural-for-miyuki-tanobe-painter-of-street-life-in-montreal/