Mexico City sits on doubly challenging terrain: First, it is situated on top of a dried lake and is sinking by several centimeters each year. Second, it is in earthquake-prone territory with the North American plate pushing against the Pacific plate here. Surprisingly, there is a lot of verticality in the city. And as the city famously chokes on brutal traffic, there are plans to build even higher into the sky, and deeper into the ground.
Mexico City – May 2014
We got back from a weekend visiting friends in Montreal yesterday. There is a daily Amtrak service from NYC Penn Station all the way to Canada. It takes a bit more than ten hours yet is surprisingly very affordable. Herewith some impressions from the short trip up north.
Looking at Elevator #2 from McGill Street
To conclude the travelogue writing that has dominated this blog for some time now, herewith some impressions from our brief stopover in Peru. Two nights were too short to venture out of Lima. But there was enough to keep us busy in town.
As evident from the flurry of posts put up here over the last couple of days (buildings, Puerto Madero, Torre Dorego, Museo Xul Solar, Clorindo Testa and MAMBA/MACBA), my wife and I just got back from ten days in Buenos Aires (plus a short stopover in Lima on the way back). This was my second time in this fascinating city and country. Below some personal observations.
Veronica di Toro, Simetrica No. 16, 2009, on display at MACBA
While in Holland working as a political analyst, I came to Belgium quite often, mainly to Brussels. I have since returned a few times to see friends who have ended up here in one way or another, just like last week.
The Berlaymont, housing the EU Commission
We have been cycling plenty while in Germany from mid-June until mid-July. A lot of it has been through Berlin, allowing me to see parts of my hometown that I hadn’t seen before (e.g. here). The high point of our biking, however, was a three-day tour from Berlin to my parents’ home in northwestern Brandenburg. Herewith some impressions from the trip.
We hit the road yesterday and visited a few places in the vicinity of my parents’ house in the countryside. The trip took us to Doemitz, birthplace of my mother, Ludwigslust, where my parents went to school and my sister was born, and a whole lot of villages in between. Herewith a few impressions.
The Hague used to be my home for two and a half years. Altogether I lived in the Netherlands for almost four. I took a trip down Memory Lane last week and visited my former colleagues and some friends here.
Back from Burma and en route to Germany and the US, we’ve stopped by London again. I am staying with my in-laws in Woolwich Arsenal and they have splendid views across the Thames. Come to think of it, a chunk of my recent London exploration has had a connection to this river in one way or another.
Margate, where the Thames has long completed its journey to join the ocean. May 2012
One of our trips inside Burma took us to Shan State in the country’s north. Starting off in Pyin Oo Lwin – or Maymyo as the British called the city – we made our way towards the princely town of Hsipaw. We took the train to get a change of scenery.
