French singer, songwriter, actor, author, and all around iconoclast Serge Gainsbourg may have died in 1991, but the culture of decadence and poetic promiscuity he cultivated around himself lives on in the facade of the house he occupied from 1969 until his death.
Located in the heart of Paris's famous 7th arrondissement, Gainsbourg's maison stands out among the city's more well-known landmarks, such as the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame cathedral. The house itself is not currently accessible, but the front gate and facade feature an ever-changing tableau of street art honoring the late icon. Though many of the pieces consist simply of love letters from fans scribbled hastily on any available wall, some of the larger works are quite impressive, and fans of street art and graffiti will find this spot to their liking regardless of whether or not they are familiar with Gainsbourg's work.
The site reveals how deeply Gainsbourg is still venerated by the French, more than two decades after his death. Although the artist was deliberately provocative, penning a cheeky song about the joys of oral sex for a 16-year-old pop singer, sexually harassing a young Whitney Houston on national TV, and shooting a music video for his song "Lemon Incest" in bed with his daughter (actress Charlotte Gainsbourg), just to name a few - his legacy has become part of France's national artistic history, and it's rare to find a Parisian who does not harbor some affection for the late lothario. It's telling that many of the maison's visitors continue to be attractive young women, who still find something sexy about the works of a singer and writer born in 1928.
Located in the center of a neighborhood built specifically to showcase new developments in sustainable and ecological architecture, Hamburg's completely wooden Wälderhaus ("Forest House") is a recent and magnificent addition to Germany's burgeoning culture of green architecture.
Located in the Hamburg district of Wilhelmsburg and completed in 2012, the Wälderhaus was designed by a team from the Hamburg-based architecture firm Studio Andreas Heller. The building is constructed almost entirely out of solid wood, and is designed to use a third less energy than is prescribed by Germany's already progressive energy saving regulations. Innovative photovoltaic and geothermal systems also augment the Wälderhaus's energy supply.
What the building houses is perhaps even more remarkable. In addition to a hotel and restaurant, the building features a permanent exhibition on the relationship between forest and city, a science center, and an event hall used primarily for forums on ecological conservation and green energy initiatives. The site played host to the International Garden Show Hamburg 2013, and any visitor to the Wälderhaus ought to also take a walk around the immediate area to take in the many other sustainable housing projects in Wilhelmsburg.
The highest point in Colorado and the Rocky Mountains, Mount Elbert at 14,440 feet above sea level, can be a straightforward hike. Just be aware of altitude sickness and afternoon lightning, and maybe supporters of another nearby mountain.
Rising above all others in the Rocky Mountains, and the second highest peak in the continental United States, the ascent up Mount Elbert on its simplest route can be an easy three mile hike. In fact, in the 1970s supporters of the 2nd highest mountain in the Rockies, the nearby Mount Massive at just 12 feet shorter, would pile rocks on a cairn at the summit to bring it above Elbert because it is a more "deserving" peak with a much harder climb, a 7.8 mile scramble gaining over 4,500 vertical feet. Elbert supporters, however, would climb Massive and tear the cairn down.
The standard route up this mountain, the South Mount Elbert Trail, is a gentle gradient through the San Isabel National Forest, filled with pines and aspen until the tree line. While the hike may be gentle, there are other concerns. Gray clouds with lightning develop near the peak almost daily from July through mid-August. If clouds develop, turn around, for the highest point in the Rockies is not the place to be when lightning strikes. Also, if a hiker is not used to the altitude and lower concentration of oxygen, the hiker may get a splitting headache that aspirin will not alleviate, and that could lead to a high altitude pulmonary or cerebral edema, which is fatal when no emergency service are available for miles. If a headache occurs and gets worse as one ascends, turn around.
Next to a molybdenum mine in the Fremont Pass among the Colorado Rockies was the highest human settlement in the United States at 11,360 feet above sea level. Titilatingly known as Climax, Colorado, the settlement now sits empty.
The residents of Climax worked at and supported the Climax Mine, a site that for many years was the source of three-fourths of the world's molybdenum. A school, hospital, and post office with number 80429 were raised in the town, giving it a sure sense of permanence. However in 1965, the town's residential buildings were all moved to nearby Leadville. While the town was moved around, the Climax Mine had periods of boom and bust following the price of molybdenum, and was shuttered in 1995. It laid dormant for 17 years until it was fully re-opened in 2012, but the town of Climax remains abandoned.
Today, the site at the top of Fremont Pass has a small parking area, and on some days, a jerky vendor. Behind the old train engine and car that has the Climax sign are some mining relics and exhibits that tell the story of the mine and the old town at the top of America.
