Update added on October 4, 2006: President Abbas declared that Fatah’s negotiations with Hamas for a government of national...

When I stayed in Paris in 2005, by chance, I discovered an excellent range of skin care: A Perfect World ™ White Tea skin care by Origins (Amazon.com). The cosmetics industry is always in...

Thames & Hudson have re-edited in paperback Walker Evans: The Hungry Eye, the book/catalogue (Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk) which accompanied the landmark exhibition at The Metropolitan...

Talavera restaurant is closed, not in operation anymore [update October 9, 2006]. The Radisson SAS Daugava Riga has two restaurants, both located on the ground floor, facing the river...

After three months of reconstruction works, Technogym Wellness Centre reopened it’s doors for the first guests at the Radisson SAS Daugava Hotel on the May 1, 2006. It offers...

In his NYT review of the exhibition Degas at Harvard, Holland Cotter describes Edgar Degas as “a contrary, difficult man: a sociable misanthrope, a shy egomaniac, a cosmopolitan...

Everybody associates Edgar Degas with Paris, ballet dancers, horse races, etc. Only a few initiated people will associate this artist with Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts. However,...

I had the chance to stay at The Milestone again. It is as fabulous a hotel as ever. 2012 is an extremely busy year. I only managed to get into the Studio Room 408, which was rather small,...

The American’s love-hate relationship with Wall Street is over two hundred years old. Steve Fraser’s Every Man A Speculator. A History of Wall Street in American Life...

Since President Bush’s visit to Latvia in the spring of 2005, this tiny Baltic republic of 65,000 square kilometers and...

There are the great and famous artists, there are those that are just famous, and then there are countless little-known artists....

The five-star luxury hotel Claridge’s in Mayfair, London, combines traditional English and Art Deco features with excellent service. In its first edition of 1878,...

The French tea company Mariage Frères in Paris was established in 1854, which makes it France’s oldest importer of tea. Members of the Mariage family where active in the colonial...

The English tradition of afternoon tea is celebrated at its best in some of London’s famous five-star hotels. The exquisite and exclusive experience is very popular and therefore not...

The first purpose built hotel in London, established in 1865 Added on January 17, 2011: I have visited the hotel again, now part of Langham Hotels International and fully refurbished. I...

Based on the catalogue The Sensuous and the Sacred. Order the book from Amazon.com. During the reign of the Chola kings...

The Sensuous and the Sacred. Chola Bronzes from South India is an exhibition organized by the American Federation of Arts and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution (Dallas...

Israeli voters decided at the end of January 2003 that the Likud would become Israel’s leading party with a share of 29.4% of the votes. The Likud doubled its number of seats in the...

Get Birthday Girl on DVD from Amazon.com, Amazon.de and Amazon.co.uk. The film is about an ordinary, shy bank clerk, John Buckingham (Ben Chaplin), living a rather dull life in St....

Criticism of Hollywood and its studio system remains a subject for filmmakers such as Robert Altman (The Player, 2001), David...