The United Nations World Tourism Organization announced last week that Spain overtook the United States as the second-most visited destination in the world (France remains number one) in 2017. The U.S. welcomed 72.9 million foreign visitors last year — down about four percent from the previous year’s 75.9 million.

"Frank Horvat: History of a Photographer" at Chiablese Hall of the Royal Museums of Turin until 2018/05/20.

✓ The Raymond Chandler Mystery Map of Los Angeles by Aaron Blake (Amazon).
✓ This 1987 map investigates the settings of some of the best detective novels in literature. CityDig: Find Your Way Around Raymond Chandler’s Smoggy, Sultry Los Angeles by Glen Creason (Los Angeles magazine).
✓ See the map bigger.
✓ Also: Literary Map of Los Angeles by Aaron Blake (Amazon).

Now at at Turner Contemporary Margate through 2018/05/07.

La Condesa, Mexico City

Socrates did not blush to play with little boys, Cato used to refresh his mind with wine after he had wearied it with application to affairs of state, and Scipio would move his triumphal and soldierly
limbs to the sound of music … It does good also to take walks out of doors, that our spirits may be raised and refreshed by the open air and fresh breeze: sometimes we gain strength by driving in a carriage, by travel, by change of air, or by social meals and a more generous allowance of wine: at times we ought to drink even to intoxication, not so as to drown, but merely to dip ourselves in wine: for wine washes away troubles and dislodges them from the depths of the mind, and acts as a remedy to sorrow as it does to some diseases.

-- Lucius Annaeus Seneca, On Tranquility of Mind.

In Full Upright and Locked Position: The Insider's Guide to Air Travel, Mark Gerchick, former chief counsel of the Federal Aviation Administration, demystifies the airline industry -- from uncomfortable seats and chinese menus of add-ons and fees to the real dangers of air travel. This is a fact-packed, engaging, user-­friendly, nuts-and-bolts survey of contemporary commercial air travel. Not for reading on the plane.

“Illuminating… The insights provided will make the turbulence a little easier to bear.”  -- Publishers Weekly

Unesco: World Heritage Sites 

Between every two pines
is a doorway to a new world.

                         -- John Muir

In Mexico City, it seems like pretty much everybody has a dog, and dog walking -- it looks more like dog sitting -- is an important job.

"Companies like BlueSmart, Raden and Away make luggage that includes GPS tracking, can measure its own weight, and yes, charge phones. But for all those features, these pieces of luggage need power in the form of lithium-ion batteries, which are generally seen as fire risks on planes. Last year, the FAA noted that their testing of plane fire safety showed that 'current cargo fire suppression systems cannot effectively control a lithium battery fire.'"
The rest of the story:
Your suitcase may charge your phone, but that's useless if it's not allowed on a plane: Why You Shouldn't Buy 'Smart' Luggage by David Grossman (Popular Mechanics).

Follow up: Raden and Bluesmart are already gone: Smart luggage firms close because of airline battery rules (BBC News).

Talk about a roadtrip!

The Union Oyster House is the oldest restaurant in Boston and the oldest restaurant in continuous service in the U.S. The doors have always been open to diners since 1826.



These eateries are local legends; some are national treasures: The Oldest Restaurant In Every State by Hannah Doolin (Delish)

Beethoven's 5th Symphony premiered in Vienna on Dec. 22, 1808.

Dans le port d'Amsterdam
Y a des marins qui chantent
Les rêves qui les hantent
Au large d'Amsterdam
Dans le port d'Amsterdam
Y a des marins qui dorment
Comme des oriflammes
Le long des berges mornes

Dans le port d'Amsterdam
Y a des marins qui meurent
Pleins de bière et de drames
Aux premières lueurs
Mais dans le port d'Amsterdam
Y a des marins qui naissent
Dans la chaleur épaisse
Des langueurs océanes

Dans le port d'Amsterdam
Y a des marins qui mangent
Sur des nappes trop blanches
Des poissons ruisselants
Ils vous montrent des dents
À croquer la fortune
À décroisser la Lune
À bouffer des haubans

Et ça sent la morue
Jusque dans le cœur des frites
Que leurs grosses mains invitent
À revenir en plus
Puis se lèvent en riant
Dans un bruit de tempête
Referment leur braguette
Et sortent en rotant

Dans le port d'Amsterdam
Y a des marins qui dansent
En se frottant la panse
Sur la panse des femmes
Et ils tournent et ils dansent
Comme des soleils crachés
Dans le son déchiré
D'un accordéon rance

Ils se tordent le cou
Pour mieux s'entendre rire
Jusqu'à ce que tout à coup
L'accordéon expire
Alors le geste grave
Alors le regard fier
Ils ramènent leurs bataves
Jusqu'en pleine lumière


Dans le port d'Amsterdam
Y a des marins qui boivent
Et qui boivent et re-boivent
Et qui re-boivent encore
Ils boivent à la santé
Des putains d'Amsterdam
D'Hambourg ou d'ailleurs
Enfin ils boivent aux dames

Qui leur donnent leurs jolis corps
Qui leur donnent leurs vertus
Pour une pièce en or
Et quand ils ont bien bu
Se plantent le nez au ciel
Se mouchent dans les étoiles
Et ils pissent comme je pleure
Sur les femmes infidèles

Dans le port d'Amsterdam
Dans le port d’Amsterdam



In the port of Amsterdam
There's a sailor who sings
Of the dreams that he brings
From the wide open sea
In the port of Amsterdam

There's a sailor who sleeps
While the river bank weeps
To the old willow tree

In the port of Amsterdam
There's a sailor who dies
Full of beer, full of cries
In a drunken town fight
In the port of Amsterdam
There's a sailor who's born
On a hot muggy morn
By the dawn's early light

In the port of Amsterdam
Where the sailors all meet
There's a sailor who eats
Only fish heads and tails
And he'll show you his teeth
That have rotted too soon
That can haul up the sails
That can swallow the moon

And he yells to the cook
With his arms open wide
"hey, bring me more fish
Throw it down by my side"
And he wants so to belch
But he's too full to try
So he stands up and laughs
And he zips up his fly

In the port of Amsterdam
You can see sailors dance
Paunches bursting their pants
Grinding women to porch
They've forgotten the tune
That their whiskey voice croaked
Splitting the night
With the roar of their jokes
And they turn and they dance
And they laugh and they lust
Till the rancid sound of the accordion bursts
And then out of the night
With their pride in their pants
And the sluts that they tow
Underneath the street lamps
In the port of Amsterdam
There's a sailor who drinks
And he drinks and he drinks
And he drinks once again
He'll drink to the health
Of the whores of Amsterdam
Who've given their bodies
To a thousand other men
Yeah, they've bargained their virtue
Their goodness all gone
For a few dirty coins
Well he just can't go on
Throws his nose to the sky
And he aims it up above
And he pisses like I cry
On the unfaithful love
In the port of Amsterdam
In the port of Amsterdam

Living on Earth may be expensive, but it includes an annual free trip around the Sun. -- Ashleigh Brilliant

Bikes in Los Angeles' Griffith Park cost only $1 for an hour of use, compared for example to the walk-up fee for the Metro or Santa Monica bike-share systems, which each charge about $7 to use a bike for an hour.

Rental bikes now available in Griffith Park — and they're a steal by Meghan McCarty Carino (KPCC)

(photo: John Gabree)

This year’s festival is taking place nationally 17 – 25 November 2017. "Led by the School of Advanced Study, University of London, in partnership with the Arts & Humanities Research Council and the British Academy, Being Human is a national forum for public engagement with humanities research. The festival highlights the ways in which the humanities can inspire and enrich our everyday lives, help us to understand ourselves, our relationships with others, and the challenges we face in a changing world." In this its 4th year, Being Human will host over 300 events in 54 towns and cities across the UK, engaging the public with big questions, big debates and innovative activities focused around the theme of "hope and fear."

https://beinghumanfestival.org/us/

Self-driving shuttles? Drinks that know where you are? VR dining? If this goes much further, you won't need to take a trip at all.



The future of ocean cruises will require even less effort from you.: Royal Caribbean's high-tech ship lets you be lazier than ever by Roger Cheng (CNet)

Cash for your Banksy (photo: John Gabree)

Banksy Was Here: The invisible man of graffiti art by Lauren Collins (The New Yorker)
Visit Banksy's website.
On the road:
Mapping Banksy’s Street Art: Locations Around the World by Delana (Web Urbanist)
Where Can You Still See Banksy In London? by M@ (Londonist)
The Banksy Tour of New York City: Interactive Map by Joe Coscarelli (Daily Intelligencer)
UPDATED! 124 Amazing Banksy Graffiti Artworks With Locations (Canvas Art Rocks)