diff --git a/_drafts/mr-worldwide-pt-1-europe.md b/_drafts/mr-worldwide-pt-1-europe.md index 0046334..3ffd337 100644 --- a/_drafts/mr-worldwide-pt-1-europe.md +++ b/_drafts/mr-worldwide-pt-1-europe.md @@ -615,3 +615,79 @@ only disturbed by one or two couples sharing the view in all that time. I had originally planned to head back to Munich after Granada, but after talking with a lot of people who told me I _had_ to go to Portugal, I booked a bus to Lisbon at the last minute and set off. And damn I'm glad I did. + +## Lisbon, Portugal + +Sometimes called the San Fransisco of Europe, Lisbon is a city with beaches, +historical buildings, perfect weather all-year round, earthquakes, and a large +orange-red suspension bridge across a bay. Unlike San Fransisco, it's an +affordable place to visit and the people who live there haven't been priced out +by tech companies ([yet][google-lisbon]). + +Part of why I liked Lisbon so much is that, while tourism is an absolutely huge +industry, it didn't really feel that way. The Baixa district, where my hostel +was, was certainly an area just for tourists. But it wasn't very big, and once +outside of it you find yourself in somewhere like Alfama, which has been a +blue-collar district since the Moorish invasion, and retains its winding +cobblestone streets and narrow alleys. If you look at the skyline of Lisbon you +won't find any highrises or office buildings, just 4 to 5 story apartment +buildings and churches. It's a city meant for people to live, first and +foremost, with business being secondary. And so, despite being the biggest city +in the country, and 9th most visited city in Southern Europe, it still feels +quiet and cozy. + +{% include image.html + src="mr-worldwide/lisbon-2018.jpg" + descr="The facade of a museum I was too poor to go in. Lisbon, 2018" + %} + +Another part of what made Lisbon stand out to me was the hostel I stayed in, and +the people I met there. The hostel was _cozy_. There was a small dining area +with a single long table, a small living room with couches and chairs +arranges in a circle, a decked out kitchen that anyone could use, and free +sangria every evening. Rather than focus on partying and yolo and whatever, the +owners focused on making it a home, where people would cook and eat and talk and +hang out together. So that's what we did, every night, and in the mornings we'd +meet up one more time to eat unlimited free pancakes from the kitchen. It was an +amazing time. + +While I was there, a museum had an exhibit devoted to M.C. Escher, the Dutch +artist known for his tesselations, fractals, and generally paradoxical work. +Escher had always been an artist I was aware of, and then I read the book +_Gödel, Escher, Bach_ by Douglas Hofstadter and became even more interested. So +I couldn't pass up the chance to see his work in person. And boy, did it leave +an impression on me. + +Having traveled to Córdoba and Granada in his early twenties, Escher was +impressed by the Moorish architecture, specifically the tesselating tile +patterns they used in decoration. He began trying to replicate their work, and +ended up following what amounted to a mathematical investigation of geometry, in +the context of art. The museum presented his work in largely chronological +order, and, in seeing the progression of his ideas over decades, it really +struck me both what a genius he was and how dedicated he must have been to have +spun his wheels on the same problems for most of his life. + +
+{% include image.html + src="mr-worldwide/lisbon-escher-2018-0.jpg" + inline=true + %} +{% include image.html + src="mr-worldwide/lisbon-escher-2018-1.jpg" + inline=true + %} +

Tesselations, paradoxes, and tricks of perspective, Lisbon, 2018

+
+ +For the rest of my trip, even through Asia, I would spend my time doodling +tesselations of my own, trying to find the tricks that Escher found which let +him make such complex images. I would find some, but certainly Escher still has +the leg up on me. + +Having traveled most of Southern Europe at this point I flew back to homebase, +Munich, to recuperate and take figure out what my next steps would be. I left +Lisbon promising myself that I'd be back, even considering finding a way to live +there one day. While my life plans have since changed, it's not something I've +totally ruled out. + +[google-lisbon]: https://econews.pt/2018/01/29/from-google-to-amazon-technological-companies-are-moving-to-portugal-why/ diff --git a/img/mr-worldwide/lisbon-2018.jpg b/img/mr-worldwide/lisbon-2018.jpg new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f3eb588 Binary files /dev/null and b/img/mr-worldwide/lisbon-2018.jpg differ diff --git a/img/mr-worldwide/lisbon-escher-2018-0.jpg b/img/mr-worldwide/lisbon-escher-2018-0.jpg new file mode 100644 index 0000000..749ad22 Binary files /dev/null and b/img/mr-worldwide/lisbon-escher-2018-0.jpg differ diff --git a/img/mr-worldwide/lisbon-escher-2018-1.jpg b/img/mr-worldwide/lisbon-escher-2018-1.jpg new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cb5f897 Binary files /dev/null and b/img/mr-worldwide/lisbon-escher-2018-1.jpg differ