Ancient Logic

The stars aligned this year and allowed me a chance to visit my brother and his family in the Top End. Mostly this trip was my chance to see my two nephews and catch up with my brother and sister-in-law. However, another part of the trip was a sincere interest in the town in which they live: Darwin.  A beautiful sunset on one of my last days in Darwin. (2017) I'm going to venture a guess and say that you might not often spare a thought for this city. In the modern era I can think of only three reasons it may have come to your attention: 1) It is the capitol city of the Northern Territories and the largest city on the northern coast of that great continent (although largest is truly a relative term here) 2) It was in a few scenes of Australia, that historical epic a few years back starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman 3) It's the site of a small contingent of US Marines stationed in the Pacific Rim as part of the Asian Pivot initiated by President Obama. Darwin wa...

So after a swift reboot of our trip to Barcelona, things improved. After basking in the AC for an hour or two, we set off for Montjuïc, the site of the National palace, the Joan Miro museum and the Olympic venues from the 1992 games. The walk up to the palace from the Espanola Metro stop is pure photo-bait. The cascading terraces matched with fountains creates the spectacle, the unexpected escalators leading almost all the way to the top was an unexpected treat. In addition to housing examples of Gothic and Medieval art from Spain, the National Palace also provided one of the better views of downtown Barcelona. The Joan Miro museum is nicely structured as an overview of his work but at that point in the day we starting to lose steam. After we left it was a short walk to a funicular leading down to Paral-lel and then a short tour of the famous shopping district La Rambla. The next day we found another funicular (this one closer to what I think people mentally picture...

Our arrival at the Orly Airport outside of Paris for our Transavia flight to Barcelona offered a foreshadowing of what we would encounter the next couple of days. Approaching the check-in desk we saw an impossibly long line at complete stand-still. Lauren went ahead and discovered that, yes, this was our  line. We settled in for a long wait, the line inching along, the time until our flight drawing nearer and nearer. Josh referred to this as the First Circle of Hell, but we weren't worried. We still had an hour and a half before our flight. Then we had an hour. Then 45 minutes. Eventually an attendant strolled past asking for passengers going to Barcelona. Identifying ourselves, the attendant escorted us to another shorter, but equally immobile line. "Second Circle of Hell," Josh observed. Another ten minutes passed and a second attendant strolled past asking again for passengers bound for Barcelona to wait in one final, very short line. Third Circle. Once past ...