Last Days in NY

Hey friends! I'm in Miami Beach! I'm typing this post from my new apartment which is full of empty IKEA boxes. It's always stressful to move across states, but you can't complain when your new digs are 4 blocks from the beach, am I right?

I've spend the last few days re-discovering Miami; it's so different from last time I live here 6 years ago. It's been wonderful to see old friends, and I spent a few lovely mornings swimming in the ocean. It feels like a century ago I was in NJ and NY. But it was only a week ago I said farewell to NYC, and this is what I did.

It's breakfast time in the city!

I spend my last weekend in NYC with my family re-visiting my favorite places in the city. First off, Piccolo Cafe, the cutest coffee shop that serves the best coffee. I enjoyed a cafe latte, and I also had a ricotta tart with pine nuts. It was amazing.

After walking around, we had lunch at Boqueria. I think it's safe to say this is my favorite restaurant in NYC. Excellent food, great sangria, friendly staff. I highly recommend this place, and specially the Dates with Bacon, they're out of this world.

Dates with Bacon. Dates? GOOD! Bacon? GOOD! These babies are stuffed with Valdeon (a Spanish Blue Cheese) and almonds.

Serrano Ham!

We stopped for drinks at the View, a revolting restaurant and lounge in Times Square (inside the Marriot Hotel) and it was wonderful to see the city and the Hudson River from the top.

Cocktail o'clock.

Hey Manhattan, you looking good.

Iconic.

The city that never sleeps.

We had a good time, hope to see you again soon, NYC. 

*I'll still be updating my project New York through my lens. Wait for November edition anytime in the next few weeks.

Images: Monica Aguinaga.

Have you ever been?

Super awesome print by one of my faves: Federica Bonfanti. A list of cities you should visit before you die. Buy it and keep score! In my list: Stockholm, New Orleans and Barcelona.

Tell me yours!

Philadelphia

Hey, friends! Hope everyone had a nice 4th of July weekend!. I went to Philadelphia for the day and fell in love with it. So much history and fun things to do. These are a few of my favorite things I saw:

Love trolleys, so old fashioned.

Fun souvenirs to take home.

Of course I had a Philly cheese steak sandwich!

Beautiful postcards.

At the Betsy Ross Museum.

Liberty Bell.

Joan of Arc statue.

Rocky!

Images: Monica Aguinaga.

Salt

Between the years of 2003 and 2010, Murray Fredericks made sixteen solo journeys to the featureless surface of Lake Eyre, a usually dry salt pan in the Australian Outback.

Immersed in 'pure space', Fredericks camped alone in the centre of the lake photographing a 'landscape without landscape' for up to five weeks at a time. The solitude, simplicity and repetition of the days, created an approach that was integral to the production of the images.

Also, there's a documentary about Fredericks' journey and process to create these amazing images: Salt. (It won a lot of awards at film festivals around the globe)

Images: Murray Fredericks

Paris, the City of Light

PARIS, THE CITY OF LIGHT (FULL LENGTH HD VERSION) from Trak on Vimeo.


"Paris, City of Light doesn't mean "the city with a lot of beautiful lights" but, rather, "the city where, during the eighteenth century, the lights of science (with the biologists like Buffon or Jussieu and with the encyclopedy writers like Diderot or d'Alembert) and the lights of philosophy (Voltaire, Rousseau, Condorcet, Montesquieu, ...) have been lit."


I've watched this video a few times already, and I thought I'd share it here. It's so beautiful and magical.

Directed by Benjamin Trancart.

A Colorful Town

I'd love to visit this colorful fishing town, Costa Nova do Prado in Aveiro, Portugal.  If I lived here, I'd paint my house like a rainbow.

Images:  Dacian Groza.

Via: Traveling Colors.

Wander

I'm excited about the launch of Wander (even though I don't know exactly what it is, but reserved a username, just in case), and I've been following its blog and I'm loving every contribution so far.
Here, a few of my favorites:

By Richie Stewart

By Eight Hour Day

By Chris Rushing

Love Maps

Wouldn't this be a perfect gift for someone who loves to travel and see the world?

By:  Artpause.

Found via: Piccsy.

The Cube

Hey, I want to have lunch here! The Cube is a temporary restaurant overlooking Piazza del Duomo in Milan. This concept, created by Electrolux, aims to offer a "lunch to remember" experience to 18 guests sharing a communal table, enjoying Michelin rated cuisine, all while taking in the amazing views of Milan's rooftops.

The Cube will be in its Milan location till April 2012 and then it'll relocate to Stockholm (!!!), London, Switzerland and Russia.

Start saving up, enjoying this unique gastronomic experience isn't cheap. Tickets go for €200 - €275. 

Via: Cool Hunting.

“No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow.” 

- Lin Yutang

I daydream about traveling all over the world; lately I've obsessing over going to India, the Caribbean, San Francisco or London. Where would you like to travel?

Image credits, from top to bottom: Florence by artichekt, Postdam, Germany by caroni, Eiffel Tower by anelle, la Fontana di Trevi in Rome by moroz-z-zova, Venice by kylewis.

This week I'm loving...

Yummy. Melon and Yogurt Popsicles. Found via Seamless Creative's Pinterest.

I LOVE Jamie Beck's photography and her animated .gifs are so subtle and beautiful. I'm a little jealous of  this girl's hair.

Very girly and flirty look by Paper Crown, Lauren Conrad's new line.

Let's drop everything and go to the Val di Funes in Italy. I just want to lay on that grass. Image: Matt Burke.

- Happy Friday! -

Just grab your passport

and let's travel...

Auckland, New Zealand.

Chateau de Chambord, France.

Foggy Dubai.

Oh Paris.

Beautiful places, indeed.
Via: Beautiful Places.

Veerle goes to the South of France

One of my favorite designers, Veerle Pieters, just came back from a vacation in the South of France. She rode her bike everywhere, shopped for herbs and olive oil at outdoor markets in Provence and ate dinner at French bistros. Doesn't it sound amazing?
Hey, Veerle, next time you go on vacation, can you please take me with you?
Be sure to check her Flickr photostream, her pictures are to die for!

Picture credit: Veerle Pieters

Travel + Illustration

Beautiful illustrations for the Weekend Knack Magazine. I'd love to have these framed, aren't they amazing?

By Khuan Cavemen.