THIS IS JORGE

So ever since I saw the vertical garden at Pizzeria Mozza I’ve really been in to the idea of living green walls that are covered in vegetation. For starters, vertical gardens look really amazing but they also open up urban gardening opportunities for families that don’t have fresh foods readily available in their communities. That’s really exciting to me.

The garden pictured below is part of the Quai Branly Museum in Paris. It was designed by Patrick Blanc, a botanist working at the French National Centre for Scientific Research, where he specializes in plants from tropical forests. He’s believed to be the guy who brought vertical gardens to the Western world.

El Anatsui’s “Sasa” is one the largest pieces at the Centre Pompidou. Anatsui uses recycled materials to produce his work—“Sasa” is made entirely of bottle caps that are fastened together with copper wire.

Does it look like a royal tapestry to you? It could be, according to piece’s description the recycled beer-bottle tops hint at the relations between Africa and the West.

And one more picture from the sixth floor:

Started out the day with brunch at Café de Flore then moved over to Ladurée for dessert!

It was most certainly 78° in Paris today.

…and I laid out. Behind Notre Dame cathedral.

Anish Kapoor creates work that reflects a world that is larger than life. His work is always grand—huge works that give me an intense feeling of curiosity that I only felt when I was really young.

The photos are from his show at MONUMENTA, a show organized by the French Ministry of Culture and Communication.  Each year MONUMENTA invites a contemporary artist to appropriate the 13,500 m² of the Grand Palais Nave with artwork specifically created for the event.
 
Kapoor, who’s a Bombay-born British sculptor, is probably best known for “Cloud Gate” (the silver bean) at Millennium Park in Chicago.

I first saw his work at Miami Art Basel ‘09 and even at a much smaller scale his work gives me the same feelings.

Strawberry sorbet in Versaille.

After a 20-mile ride I headed straight for this guy.

I rode in the city for about two hours today! By the end of the day my hands were locking up because I was gripping on to the brakes so tightly.

Roundabouts are terrifying. TERRIFYING.

My cycling computer goes everywhere with me. It has a GPS system that records every movement I make, the elevation I climb, speeds and the number of revolutions I spin with my pedals.  I also wear a heart rate monitor that measures my heart rate and calories burned.

For starters, I love information and infographics but having all this data really makes a tremendous difference with training. On every ride I go on I strive to improve my numbers. 

Here’s some data from a ride I did yesterday—it was lots of climbing, starting in Griffith Park and taking me through Glendale, Pasadena, Altadena, La Cañada, Montrose, Burbank and back to Griffith Park!

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Garbage Hill up to the Griffith Park Observatory on Thursday morning. 6:45am.