Motion

It took a little work to find a unifying theme for this post, so we had to go pretty abstract: Motion. Color ('colour') was also a possibility, but we've sort of used that one before.

1. Motion in Melbourne

If you look close on the right, you can see someone kite-surfing. There has been a lot of it recently in the bay. It seems insane: strong winds pick up, and some group of people react with "I should tie myself to a giant kite and get into the water!" They move incredibly fast, and somehow (as far as we've seen) manage to avoid hitting each other or running into piers.

One can move around the city here colorfully without kite-surfing, though.

These are two scenes from an underpass at a tram station near us. Pretty amazing - it looks like a number of artists came together to do this. The tram station is one we'll probably be using more, because...

2. Moving apartments in Melbourne

Since our last post, we found a new apartment. We feel extremely lucky to have had a few months to get to know the city before having to go on the apartment search. But when we did go looking, we had pretty good luck - looked at five places, applied for two, and were offered both. The new place (which we won't fully move into until later in the month) is further from the bay, but closer to trams, trains, and more cafes. Here are a few pictures:

Stained glass in the entryway to the building.

More colorful glass (though not as intense). This is the door to the bedroom.

This is the living room. It sort of reminded us of our beloved Brooklyn apartment: high ceilings, tall windows, a little bit of a funky vibe, and a fireplace (you can see part of the mantle on the right).

And this is our courtyard. It's in the back of the building, so we can keep our bikes and such back here without worrying. It also looks like a great spot for a vegetarian barbeque.

3. Marmite, imported and non-

As part of our move, we took over some things from a couple friends who are about to leave Australia for England (one of them is a philosopher). They're British, and have strong views on Vegemite vs. Marmite. Turns out that there is a difference between Australian Marmite and UK Marmite. In helping them clear out their pantry, we inherited their supplies:

The UK Marmite is in the middle, the Australian on the right. And, indeed, the UK one was much more pleasant. Colin has acquired the taste for Vegemite, and the UK Marmite went down easily, but he'll have to build up to having the Aussie Marmite regularly (though he can imagine it being good on a veggie burger with avocado... perhaps at a veggie barbeque hosted in our new courtyard?).

4. Flying around the world

Not quite all the way around, but halfway and back. Colin went to a Kant conference in Miami last week. He spent more time sitting in a plane than sitting at the conference, but it was more than worth it. The conference itself was fantastic - 12 fantastic Kant scholars (and Colin) arguing about Kant for two days. It's kind of a blur in retrospect...

(This is downtown Miami, as seen from a cab while going from the University of Miami to Miami Beach, where we were all staying.)

But here's one story: after the second day of the conference, we stayed out pretty late on Miami Beach. At some point, there were four of us left chatting in a bar, all of us glasses-wearers. Four people wearing glasses in a bar isn't a strange site in most parts of the world, but apparently it is in Miami. A beach-y looking couple came up to us, and asked if we were German physicists. They said they'd been trying to guess who we were, and that the glasses somehow suggested that. Close! ('German physicist' isn't that far from 'Specialist in German metaphysics'). They didn't even have anything obvious to suggest the 'German' part - the German part of our group hadn't come to that bar with us.

The lesson being: don't underestimate beach-y Miami types.

Colin made another stop on the same trip. Since, according to his new sense of distance, Miami is 'right next to' Atlanta, Georgia, Colin spent a couple nights in Atlanta with his brother Peter, who lives there. Here are the brothers:

It was a great stay, even if it was too short. Peter was an excellent host. We ate a lot, talked a lot, and drove around the city a bit. Here is a paradigmatic Atlanta scene...

Stuck in traffic, with a Baptist church in the background.

Stay warm, friends up north! We're sending warm thoughts your way...