May 23 2010
I first visited Arles two years ago. The well-preserved Roman ruins captured my imagination. I wrote the following account in a local restaurant that very day. On my second visit, I was equally impressed with the city. (November, 2007) The Roman Amphitheater or Arles sits at the highest point in the city and still dominates [...]
Apr 08 2010
Sadly, you don’t hear engineers discussing art very often. I personally enjoy painting, sculpture and architecture very much. I did my humanities cognate in Art History – which really only means I took a few introductory courses in architecture and Egyptian archeology. One thing they love to teach in art history is precedent. Who’s work [...]
Mar 03 2010
Traveling through the French countryside, I was at first impressed by the all 800-year-old edifices that I encountered. Six months later, and a hundred old churches later, my expectations for a historic structure changed drastically. It is amazing that any churches and castles have survived for centuries, but what makes one church worth preserving while another crumbles. [...]
Dec 23 2009
The Pax Romana, or Peace of Rome, encompassed two remarkable centuries of western history. From 27 B.C. to about 180 A.D., Rome consolidated its power within borders that included the entire Mediterranean region and extended as far north as the British Isles. It’s thought that citizens could travel from Alexandria to Paris using the same [...]
Dec 07 2009
The city of Orange is home to the most complete Roman theater in all of Europe. In fact, only two other Roman theaters in the world can boast of having a similarly preserved stage wall – the backdrop for any production performed on stage. The theater of Orange miraculously avoided destruction by a series of [...]
Nov 25 2009
Millau is an otherwise quaint French town located at the confluence of the Tarn and Dourbie rivers. It is the ideal launching point for dozens of scenic tours through the beautiful Aveyron region. Tour guides for the area would have highlighted the proximity to Roquefort-sur-Soulzon, home of the famous blue cheese, or the sordid history [...]
Nov 17 2009
Since July, I’ve been living in the South of France, exploring the local culture, geography and historic marvels. Periodically, I’ve been sharing some of the interesting engineering-related stories that I’ve uncovered. You can read about more of my ongoing adventures at http://mistralwriter.blogspot.com Even in these technologically advanced times, the massive Roman structures of the first [...]
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