The Neutral Zone

Day 1 We arrived in Provence and it is exactly as we expected: a Mediterranean climate with rolling hills that are spotted with lavender fields. We're staying in Arles, which like many towns in Provence, is replete with sun washed, ochre buildings and faded blue shutters. Arles was a significant city during the Roman Empire. The Romans built two substantial buildings which are still in use today: The arena/or amphitheater is used for bullfights and perhaps other events. The Roman theater is used for concerts and plays. We visited these and several other monuments when we arrived, including the Church of St. Trophime and its adjoining cloister, the crypts under the old roman forum, as well as the old Roman bath house.  Arles is where Van Gogh descended deeper into madness. He cut off his ear and ultimately entered a nearby asylum a year or two after he arrived here. This isn't necessarily a point of emphasis in the town's promotional materials, which is however eager to poin...

Dear Reader: We visited Italy twice in two weeks in November 2021. This blog has been sitting in my drafts folder since then. I am publishing it now because my family will shortly be arriving in Rome and I have little confidence that they will manage this trip successfully without my guidance. Without further ado:  -------- Our first trip was a weekend jaunt to Milan and our second trip was a weeklong sojourn to Rome during the week of Thanksgiving. Over the course of our several travels, we've developed a sociological theory: the triangle of rules. We believe that rules can roughly be arrayed in a triangle, with the points being actual rules, aspirational rules, and inscrutable rules. Societies can be positioned in the triangle based on the extent to which certain types of rules dominate the social contract. Actual rules are written rules with prescribed penalties that are respected and enforced. In Switzerland, there are many of these: trash may only be disposed of in specially m...

Paris, France - We've returned to Europe for a three-week sojourn in France, Switzerland, and the UK. We're obviously very excited. We arrived in Paris Sunday around 11AM. Our approach to jet lag is akin to tearing the bandaid off quickly: We purposely sleep little if at all on our transatlantic flight (below is a photo of Hannah, trying not to sleep on the flight), consume copious amounts of caffeine after we land, slowly descend into irritability and mild delirium, and then collapse after staying up as late as we can on our first night in Europe. Our body's, overcome by shock from this maltreatment, eagerly accept a full night's sleep, even if it's offered at an hour that's entirely out of keeping with our normal schedule. Works like a charm.  After depositing our things at the hotel, we aimlessly wandered around Paris for a few hours before meeting up with Maggie, an acquaintance of Hannah's from work. Maggie took us to the wine bar Delicatessen where we ...