Cityfinity

The basis for my ideal city is Venice, Venice of parallel universes, flowing queens and the smell of violin polish I always sense around Rialto. Actually, Venice is more than a base: the only element my ideal city would differ from Venice in is boulevardslike those of Rome. Venice doesn't have boulevards for it's too dense, its houses and streets crammed together so tightly that they encage high humidity and summer fevers, making them almost endemic. Rome respires in a similar way, but as it's spread across seven hills, the air has more space to unfold.

What marked the day I took this photo the most was an almost philosophical contemplation on whether the hotel I spent that day at is cosmopolitan enough to be likable. They played Gotan Project in the lobby and elevators, but everything else from limited newspaper selection to some of the clientele left me thinking "Is this it?"

Ljubljana is one of those unfortunate cities that people abandon in summer, either to escape the heat or head off to the seaside where it's even worse. Yet, curiously, summer is also the season when Ljubljana is the most alive, for those who stay gather in cafés along the Ljubljanica river in evenings to chat without a worry in the world or have lazy breakfasts and brunches exclusively before noon when the sun reaches its highest point and you have to hide inside. The whole city is brimming with the energy it usually doesn't have.

A long time ago, my favorite thing to do was take the subway to Times Square at any time of the day while undergoing a silent monologue on whether hot dogs from street vendors would sabotage my digestion or not. Although I suspected they'd turn out to be just as delicious as food from the [...]