272 posts & counting…

lisboa: color palette

[Since the hotel we use for the Portugal tour is next to the still undeveloped Parque Mayer (Gehry has since pulled out), I thought it was a good idea to repost these two items. Originally published under the same title on 08 Jan 2008 & 05 Apr 2008.]

Recommended reading by Brendan, Brand Avenue suggests that cities —even entire nations— have color schemes. It makes sense. One of the things I’ve always loved about Lisboa is its light… a beautiful shade of yellow with just a hint of orange. The Portuguese also have an affinity for pastel tones, painting even public buildings in what I would call Easter colors.

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feliz cumple!

Not just any birthday, today Argentina celebrates the 200th anniversary of breaking from the Spanish crown. Technically Spain was being run by Napoleon’s brother at the time so they broke away from the French as well… saying goodbye to two empires at once! Buenos Aires was not the first to reject Spanish authority, but it was the largest city to do so & the capital of a Viceroyalty. As such, the Revolución de Mayo marked the beginning of the end of Spanish control in the Americas.

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found: buenos aires photoshopped

Hugo Boss, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers in Buenos Aires

Last year’s ad campaign for a new Hugo Boss cologne caught my eye… not only because Jonathan Rhys-Meyers appears front & center. Anyone who has been to Buenos Aires can easily recognize the background as Diagonal Sur as seen from Plaza de Mayo. My question is: why did they decide to erase the guys who strike the bell on the Siemens building?

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bogotá: cementerio central

Cementerio Central, Bogotá, Colombia

King Carlos III of Spain declared burials inside or beside churches illegal in 1787, but the American colonies waited awhile to implement those new rules. Old habits are hard to break. Buenos Aires opened Recoleta Cemetery in 1822, but Bogotá inaugurated their first public cemetery much earlier in 1791. The same plan for that first cemetery was used for the layout of the Cementerio Central, opening in 1825.

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