Bringing Summer to an End

I’m counting down the seconds. The plan was conceived as an idea thrown around while sitting around at a cafe. “What if we visited Europe at the end of summer?” I asked her, her reply was “I’m not sure if I can afford it.” A few weeks after the conversation, and in the way all good ideas materialize into reality, the seed grew in her head thoughts of the trip invaded her thoughts. She would day dream about it, and later tally up her funds to see if the trip could become reality. All the sudden she couldn’I wasn’t expecting the idea to materialize, but one day while on the phone she said we should look into flights, and that we did. Within a few days I had worked out an itinerary, and the bookings were finalized.

Ever since I got back from backpacking trip last summer, there isn’t a day goes by where I don’t remember an incident, a conversation, or a beautiful sight from the few months I spent in Europe. My ideal trip back to Europe would have been in concentrated on southern Spain, but she had always dreamed about seeing Paris, and Barcelona, and I couldn’t blame her. I only scratched the surface last time in Paris, and would not mind another trip to the elegant capital. Being an avid architecture admirer, how could I say no to Barcelona, home to Gaudi’s best works. In fact my only regret from my previous trip is not visiting every major Gaudi work in the city. But surely, since we’re making our way to the beautiful continent I had to visit something new, and the answer to my craving was in Portugal. She had me at Port Wine. The simple, picturesque city of Porto will be our second stop and our place of rest and relaxation of the trip. My argument for the visit... any city that has a wine named after it is worth a visit.

Departure is on Friday evening, and the duration is a mere 9 days. We land in Paris, spend a few days and from there fly to Porto. We spend two nights in Porto and finish the trip off in Barca. A proper trip would have been at least two weeks long, but the realities of working life creates limitations. For now I can get back to my day dreaming, and perhaps make some calls to Perimeter Institute to see if they had come up with a way to pause time.