Berlin
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Jacksonville, FL
Berlin
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Brooklyn
Berlin
LA
NYC
The Eiffel Tower was intended to stand for only 20 years past its 1889 debut–in fact, the original contest rules for the design stipulated that the tower must be easily demolished. Experts at the time predicted it would come crashing down before construction was even finished. Yet it has withstood both the general hatred Parisians feel for it and the test of time, and is still standing. Engineers have created an incredibly elaborate software model to explore the tower’s longevity, and discovered its secret.
The study was commissioned by SETE, the Eiffel Tower Operating Company, to gather more data about the strengths and weaknesses of the iconic structure. But that’s an even more complicated task than you’d imagine. You’ve got the usual variables, like the tower’s weight (9,369 tons) and added weight from restaurants and such (another 3,306 tons), and the impact of weather on its peculiar design, but there were some unexpected struggles.
The tower is constructed not of the typical steel but of so-called “puddle iron,” a popular iron-treatment of the 19th century that involves heating and folding over sheets of iron. It performs totally differently than steel, and so the engineers had to pretty much start from scratch to build an accurate model–they called in materials engineers to reconstruct the long-forgotten puddle iron and perform various tests on it. Other problems included the ludicrous number of separate pieces in the construction (over 18,000, not including additions) and the impact of time (the tower has shrunk a few inches).
But the findings are encouraging for those who love the tower–the engineers at the Technical Center for Mechanical Industries bombarded the model with every conceivable kind of inclement weather, and even doubled the weight, just to see what would happen. In the worst cases, like with the absurd weight gain, a SETE rep notes that “the tower moves, but is not destroyed.” As it turns out, the tower’s strength is largely due to that near-forgotten puddle iron–the engineers estimate that the tower will still be standing for at least another two or three centuries.
State Street by Judy la Torre
Budget Travel Magazine is running a contest to find the 10 Coolest Small towns in America. The beloved home of Travel Between The Pages, Newtown PA, is already in the top ten — keep the momentum going by voting early and often. The voting ends on February 11th, so follow the link and click on our “star” to vote for Newtown.
If you’ve never been to Newtown, it’s situated in beautiful, historic Bucks County, PA. Founded by William Penn in 1684, Newtown is one of Pennsylvania’s oldest towns. A stroll through Newtown is a trip back in time.Colonial, Federalist and Victorian houses front delightful tree-lined lanes that bear the names of American heroes. The house where General George Washington planned for the momentous Battle of Trenton is gone, but the historic Bird-in-Hand Inn (1686), the site of Newtown’s only Revolutionary War skirmish, still stands on State Street. So does the 1833 Newtown Theater, the world’s oldest continually operated movie house, and Newtown Hardware House, continually in operation since 1869. And then there’s the famous Newtown Library Company (1760), one of America’s oldest public libraries.
So visit Budget Travel and vote for Newtown. While you’re there, you can also vote for my old hang-out, Cedar Key, one of Florida’s authentic gems.
Mumbai
Amsterdam
Florida
Nairobi
Poland
Treviso, Italy
Shanghai
Ireland
Finland
China
Ushuaia, Argentina
Books and bars may not seem to be a natural combo, but it’s the latest trend in über-hip LA.
Hemingway's
Library Bar
Hyperion Tavern
Wellesbourne
How about a trip through literary history ? The Australian website BibliOZ offers a clever tool that will help you discover the books that led the New York Times bestseller lists on your birthday. All you need to do is enter the date.
Bestsellers from August 4, 1961, Barack Obama’s Hawaiian birthday.
Milon
Dutch artist/photograper Wijnwanda Deroo’s photographs of empty restaurants were taken in each of New York City’s boroughs except Staten Island. Part of a 2009 project called “Dutch Seen”, which was a celebration of the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson’s “discovery” of New Amsterdam, Deroo’s notion was to use vacant restaurant interiors as a reflection of the diverse cultures, peoples and neighborhoods of New York City.
An engaging show of her photo essay called “Inside New York Eateries” is on view at the Robert Mann Gallery in NYC through january 29th.
Russian Tea Room
Tavern on the Green
El Caribeno
Cafe des Artistes
Papaya Dog
Arturo's
Delmonico's
Grand Central Oyster Bar
Lederhosen
Yonah Schimmel's
Last month we posted two stories on Chernobyl’s new-found status as a tourist destination. This week we stumbled upon a photo-documentary by French photographers Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre that’s now available in the book Detroit in Ruins. The young Parisians were photographing abandoned buildings and defunct theaters in France when they ran across a picture of a decaying movie palace in Detroit.
It’s quite disturbing just how the ravaged landscape and crumbling buildings of this dying American city resembles the disaster zone of Chernobyl. What do you think?
Michigan Theater
Highland Park Police Precinct
Lee Plaza Hotel
United Artist Theater
Public Library
Farwell Building
Christopher House
William Livingstone House
Woodland Avenue
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