To the north, the richest province of 18th-century New Spain - Mexico - produced some fantastically extravagant and visually frenetic architecture known as Mexican Churrigueresque.

Live feed shows the battle from a half-dozen angles, the extravagant architecture of the Aerial Palace bright with reflected tracer fire.

In bleak contrast to the extravagant architecture, however, the shelves were sparse.

When built in the late 19th century, it was the largest building in the country, noted for its scale and extravagant architecture.

It does contain a wealth of extravagant neoclassical architecture from the early 19th century, as well as the cool Whaling Museum, featuring the massive skeleton of a blue whale.

This is a 42-story tower that epitomizes Mr. Johnson and Mr. Burgee's lush, extravagant architecture of the 1980's.

To the north, the richest province of the 18th century, New Spain, the current Mexico, was an architecture fantastically extravagant and visually frenetic that is Mexican churrigueresque.

"The I.O.C. has to be more in control," DeFrantz said yesterday, adding that all host cities need to be encouraged not to overbuild or aim for extravagant architecture in the Olympic sites.

In their spare time, a few also took in the pragmatic attractions of Las Vegas, like the slot machines, the magic shows and the extravagant architecture.

Apart from the scenic Caucasus Mountains, pebble and sand beaches, the city attracts vacation-goers with its subtropical vegetation, numerous parks, monuments, and extravagant Stalinist architecture.