Columbus Avenue The smells of freshly roasted espressos, aromatic Italian pastries, warm fresh clams and mussels with white-wine sauce over angel hair spaghetti, and oak-burning brick-oven Margarita pizzas, awaken anyone who walks along Columbus Avenue during lunch and dinner times. This neighborhood is called North Beach, also known as Little Italy. Many proud Italian families own and operate bakeries, coffee shops, and restaurants for many generations. They serve the San Franciscan’s hearty appetite for authentic Italian cuisine. Lovers, friends, and co-workers dine on the sidewalk tables adorned by colorful flower arrangement in wooden boxes on the windows, balconies, and sidewalks. Food is not the only attraction to this emblematic neighborhood. A stroll along Columbus Avenue, one would discover many quaint shops with incredible crafts and ceramics that would invite a ... read more

California street Heading eastward on California Street, I enter Nob Hill; the highest point of California Street. This is where San Francisco’s early millionaires, the gold rush and railroad tycoons, built their mansions. Back then, they were called nabobs. It is slang for wealthy men, which gave Nob Hill its name. The historic cable car takes passengers, from the bottom of California and Market to the top of Nob Hill. Most tourists would take this archaic mode of transportation. No locals with their right mind would pay $5 and wait for over 60 minutes to hop onto this crowded cart, and travel up the hill at a measly 9.5 mph. Nob Hill has a great dancing place. Top of the Mark at the Intercontinental Mark Hopkins hotel hosts big band Swing and Blues ensembles. Here, dancing ... read more

Barcelona Old Town There are places that make you forget about home. There places where you get to know strangers more than you know most of your friends. There are places that make you fall in love with the people, the food, the architecture, and the culture. Barcelona is one of these places. Like first love, you want to experience it over and over again. It is almost impossible to get tired of the Spanish architecture with the incredible details of stone carvings and statues, intricate hand carved panellings, and antique furnishing. Almost all Spanish buildings have balconies adorned with vibrant red, yellow, purple flower arrangements. The city´s colors are brown and gray, the colors of stone bricks that make up the structure. Apple green, peach orange, cherry red, and grape blue colors are often used ... read more

The Circuit My inner child has always wondered what life would be like if I were a Deutschen Tourenwagen Masters (DTM) Audi RS4 driver, like Mattias Ekstrom. How could I fulfill this dream when the holodeck won't be invented for another 250 years? Fortunately, I found a way to satisfy my dream in the current century: The 2006 Barcelona Audi RS4 Driving Experience. Instead of letting my inner child continuously wonder, I decided to make this dream a reality even for a brief moment. This event is taking place at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona, the home of Formula 1 racing. Skills, technologies, teamwork, and physical endurance are battle tested at this very challenging and technical circuit. Winners are born here every year. This circuit has all the challenging features one can expect from any ... read more

Aspen Don’t get fooled by the bland brick building and simple Victorian architectures around town. Aspen is very opulent; the epitome of luxury, style, and grace. Strolling down the streets, big fashion names that fill Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, Fifth Ave in Manhattan, Avenue Montaigne in Paris, and Bond Street in London are well represented here. Arts Galleries that cater to the strangest tastes are as common as Toyota in Tokyo. I never heard the “organic contemporary style” term till I opened the Aspen Home Design magazine. The style, according to the magazine, should include classic, clean, and simple sinuous lines. It incorporates pieces crafted from reclaimed wood and recycled materials. Furthermore, the style uses fabrics that utilize vegetable dyes. I would remember that for future reference. Either I was way behind with my vocabulary ... read more