New York City and Frank Gehry’s mutual love affair continues to evolve at a dynamic pace. With this month's opening of Signature Theatre’s new Gehry-designed Pershing Square Signature Center in midtown Manhattan, Gehry adds another piece to his rapidly expanding Empire State catalog. Gehry’s first residential project 8 Spruce Street, a 76-story skyscraper glazed with his signature curvaceous indents crawling up the stainless steel façade, made a dramatic debut on the downtown skyline in 2011. He’s also been tapped for the forthcoming preforming arts center at the new World Trade Center. And then there’s his iconic cloudy white, cold-warped glass IAC HQ building that hugs the West Side Highway in Chelsea. Sticking to his recent ambition for firsts, the unveiling of the $66-million Signature Center marks Gehry’s initial contribution to the city’s cultural landscape.
It’s time for our monthly photo contest winners from the second half of 2011 to go head-to-head for the Grand Prize—a trip for two to South Africa! And there are just a few more days to vote!
Your votes will determine which one of the six finalists from the Landmarks, Animals, Food, Ameica, Road Trips and Adventure photo contests will win a trip for two in South Africa at a luxury hotel. Voting ends February 29, so vote now and vote often for your favorite shot.
I've long been a fan of Amrita Singh's glittering jewelry, and I'm hardly the only one—Jennifer Lopez, Katie Homes, and Anne Hathaway are devotees of her ornate necklaces and gem-studded bangles. So when I heard Singh was launching a new home collection with an exclusive party at a penthouse suite at the Trump Plaza, I was intrigued. Would Singh's aesthetic translate into blinged-out interior décor?
Excellent service is one of the most important parts of travel; the type of treatment you receive can make or break a trip. With that in mind, we decided to host a special service-oriented chat on Twitter, bringing in a team of experts from all corners of the travel world, to find out just what goes into making your trip extra memorable.
So join us tomorrow (February 22), from 3p.m. until 4p.m. ET; the chat will be hosted by Travel + Leisure Digital Projects Editor, Sarah Spagnolo [twitter.com/sarahspagnolo], and special guest Anna Post [twitter.com/EmilyPostInst], the great-great-granddaughter of Emily Post, and the co-author of the 18th edition of Emily Post’s Etiquette.
Also joining in the conversation is a panel of travel experts, all eager to answer your burning travel questions. Our expert panelists include:
1. Log in to Twitter any time from 3-4p.m. EST and be sure to follow the chat hosts: @TravlandLeisure, @SarahSpagnolo, & @EmilyPostInst. 2. Use the hashtag #TL_Chat to follow and participate in the Getting Great Service Tweet-Up. 3. To keep up with the chat in real time, head over to http://tweetchat.com/room/tl_chat 4. We'll pulse out some questions for our expert panel to answer, but feel free to post your own answers to our questions! Or ask your own questions! Take advantage of this special access to this fab panel and get some expert travel advice.
We hope to "see" you there!
Joshua Pramis is the social media editor and resident tech aficionado. Follow him on Twitter: @joshuapramis
MSNBC.com Travel | The beads are ready to be tossed, the costumed crowds are in the mood to party and tourism officials are smiling.
It can only mean one thing: It’s Mardi Gras time in New Orleans.
“It is the event of the year. It’s our largest, in terms of economic benefit. It is probably the most iconic celebration for the city,” said Jennifer Day-Sully, a spokeswoman for the New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau.
About a million people are expected to take part in the festivities over the 12 days leading up to Fat Tuesday, which falls on Feb. 21 this year, Day-Sully said. The city doesn’t break that number down into out-of-town visitors and local attendees.
Zeina Chitembure, a style blogger in Miami, talks to T+L’s Christine Ajudua:
“Wherever there are shoes, I go—hence the name of my blog, The Shoegawker. The ones I’m wearing are by Jeffrey Campbell; you can find his designs at LF(229 Eighth St.; 305/672-4928), nearby. My favorite Lincoln Road boutique is the Alchemist(1111 Lincoln Rd.; 305/531-4815). It’s in a really cool car park and shopping center, and carries labels like Azzedine Alaïa and Alexander Wang. I also love coming to Lincoln for brunch at Balans(1022 Lincoln Rd.; 305/534-9191). It’s the sort of place where you have mimosas and Bellinis in your bathing suit, and then walk down the street to the beach. That’s the Miami Beach vibe. You don’t come to this area to go to a hole-in-the-wall restaurant—you come here to be seen.”
This time around we're just giving you a bit of detail of this larger building. Can you guess where it is? Log in and leave your guesses below. Since Monday is Presidents' Day and we'll be out enjoying our three day weekend, check back on Tuesday for the answer!
Lyndsey Matthews is an assistant digital editor at Travel + Leisure.
UPDATE 2/22/12: A few people guessed this correctly. It is Marina City in Chicago, a pair of towers famous for their corncob-like appearance.
Nick Bertke is commonly known as Pogo, the Internet sensation whose music videos have garnered a cult following worldwide. He was born in South Africa, raised in New Zealand, and now lives in Australia. As a teenager, he began taking film clips from Disney movies, spliced their sound bites into distinct melodies, and then posted the remixed product onto YouTube. At first they were taken down from the website, presumably for copyright infringement, but with their viral popularity, he was soon commissioned by Disney to make them for the company.
Now, at age 23, and after a few international tours, he is traversing the globe to work on a more personal project, called World Remix. Using film shot by his own team, he is showing us his travels with an ear for its sounds and an eye for its sights. I had the opportunity to talk with Nick about this unique career.
Seas of blue silk, mountains of sand, strongholds of wood. Legions of surveyors and sculptors traveling hundreds of miles on horseback or foot. This was how the rulers of France, from Louis XIV to Napoleon III, mapped out their military conquests in the days before Google Earth.
These 3-D mock-ups of France’s fortified towns—reconstituting every building, river, and hill in 1/600 scale—were for decades hidden away in the attic of the Invalides veterans' complex. Now, but only through February 17, you can catch a rare glimpse of these topographical treasures at the Grand Palais in Paris, during its France in Miniature exhibit.
Excellent service is one of the most important parts of travel; the type of treatment you receive can make or break a trip. With that in mind, we decided to host a special service-oriented chat on Twitter, bringing in a team of experts from all corners of the travel world, to find out just what goes into making your trip extra memorable.
Joshua Pramis is the social media editor and resident tech aficionado. Follow him on Twitter: 
