I’m sitting at the Aeroporto Francisco Sá Carneiro in Porto, Portugal waiting for my flight back to London. This is a really new, modern place: flat screen tvs everywhere, lots of glass and metal architecture, etc. It can’t be more than a decade old, probably less. Everything is very efficient as well.

There’s only one problem with this airport as far as I’m concerned: its name.

Carneiro was a fairly popular Portuguese politician who died in 1980. He died in a plane crash while en route from Lisbon to Porto.

That’s right, an airport named after a man who died in a plane crash while en route.

The Wikipedia entry for Carneiro mentions that the airport was named after him, “despite objections that it would be in bad taste to name an airport after someone who died in a plane crash.” Leaving the taste question aside, I think it’s a little bit unsettling for those of us passengers who worry (perhaps irrationally) about air safety.

But, as far as ironic names are concerned, I think this one takes the cake for airports. Before I found out about Carneiro, I felt that honor should go to Reagan National Airport in D.C. - honoring someone who fired the nation’s air traffic controllers - but move over DCA, as far as names go, you’ve got nothing on OPO.

Portugal’s assumption of the European Union Presidency prompts The International Herald Tribune to write about the country’s relationship with Europe.

Although I’ve only been here a short while, and I’ve just seen most of the tourist attractions and historical sights in Lisbon and Porto, one of the observations I’ve made about the country is that it seems much more comfortable with its history of exploration and overseas empire than other European nations. The article explains some of the reasons why this could be the case, as well as why Portugal in some ways is more attached to its former colonies than it is to the EU.

In this old and nostalgic capital, filled with grand monuments to the navigators who helped create Europe’s first overseas empire in the 15th century, one begins to understand why the Portuguese have never completely learned to love the latter-day empire of sorts known as the European Union.

On the surface, it would seem natural that Portugal, a small country of 10.6 million people that shed an authoritarian regime, would have an instinctive affinity for the EU. The Union has been an anchor of democracy since the revolution that overthrew the dictatorship here in 1974. It has pumped nearly 50 billion euros into Portugal’s economy since the country joined the EU in 1986 and helps it to have influence beyond its size on the world stage.

Yet Portugal has an ambivalent relationship with the bloc of 480 million people it will now lead as EU president for the next six months. It is sometimes said here that Europe was the last continent to be discovered by the Portuguese.

‘We were the first European country to have an empire and the last one to give it up,’ said Jaime Nogueira Pinto, a biographer of Antonio de Oliveira Salazar, the dictator who ruled Portugal for nearly 50 years. ‘So the Portuguese, more than most, are sensitive about losing our national identity.’

The complete article from The International Herald Tribune: “Portuguese resent EU as they take its helm”

After my pleasant flight to Lisbon Monday evening I was fairly tired and wanted to get right to the hotel. There was a relatively short wait to clear Portuguese immigration and passport control. I was a bit confused to see the labels on the three lines: citizens of Portugal, citizens of Portuguese-speaking countries (Brazil, Mozambique, and several other former colonies), and citizens of European Union countries. What about the rest of us? It’s quite possible that I missed a sign or mis-read one because I was extremely tired at this point. I just went in the EU queue and was fine.

My guidebook and internet reading told me that I should go to the Tourist Information desk to purchase a taxi voucher instead of just selecting a taxi outside. There is a slight premium but a few euros for convenience after a long day and flight seemed to make sense (what “American” logic!). The desk employees were extremely nice and helpful, although they seemed almost skeptical that I wanted to purchase the voucher which made me chuckle to myself. Maybe that is a good sign that there is no longer an issue with taxi drivers overcharging passengers, or just a sign that few people take advantage of the service.

It was about 15-20 minute drive to the hotel. My taxi driver knew a little English, and we talked a little. I got the distinct impression that the hotel I was staying at, the Sheraton Lisboa, was a high-end hotel and I think he was trying to figure out how or why a young guy in jeans and a baseball cap was staying there.

The hotel was spectacular, and definitely every bit the five star place it was made out to be by the guide books. It seemed to cater to a business traveler clientele, I think I was the only person not in a suit in the lobby around 9pm when I finally arrived to check in.

I was so exhausted that I went to sleep almost immediately after I got to the room. The next morning I woke up at a relatively reasonable hour in the morning and started to explore the city.

I walked from my hotel a few blocks to the Marques de Pombal statue which is in the middle of a large roundabout where several main streets intersect. Adjacent is the Parque Eduardo VII, a large park with hot and cool greenhouses in addition to grass, pathways, and water feature. I also discovered a Francisco Botero statue in one part of the park which seemed to fit the landscape perfectly. The park was named after King Edward VII of England who came to Lisbon in 1903.

I then walked down Av da Liberdade toward the Praca Dom Pedro IV. This 20 minute walk gave me a sense of the beauty and the history in the city. Av da Liberdade is a wide boulevard, with very wide tree lined sidewalks. It is almost possible to forget the traffic going by on the street. The sidewalks are all tile mosaics, perhaps cobblestone is more accurate although the individual stones are much smaller than traditional cobblestones. There are repeating designs in the sidewalks that continue for miles. In fact, during my entire time in Lisbon I never saw a concrete smooth paved sidewalk.

The buildings are relatively unobtrusive and retain a certain amount of aesthetic consistency. Looking at them reminded me of Buenos Aires, Argentina, also a bit of San Francisco as well.

Overall, my initial impression is that this is a beautiful city with so much history to see. I am going to wish that I was here longer, and I will definitely want to come back!

I flew to Lisbon Monday evening, July 16th, on the Portuguese national airline, TAP Portugal, which also happens to be a United Airlines partner and Star Alliance member. The flight was fairly normal; it’s always amazing to me how equalizing the air travel experience is regardless of which country or carrier. Boarding passes contain the same information, the safety demonstration is basically the same, there’s an in-flight magazine, etc. The TAP magazine, incidentally, had split pages with articles in English and in Portuguese which was really neat. Some of the translations were slightly off but no complaints.

What set this flight apart, and called attention to the deficiencies of US airline practices, is that all passengers were served a hot meal with all beverages complimentary on a two hour flight. The meal was actually pretty good, certainly not the quality I would expect at a nice restaurant for dinner but still much better than some meals I’ve had in my life. On a two hour flight in the US passengers are lucky if they get a small snack bag of pretzels. United doesn’t even sell its snack boxes to economy class passengers on flights less than 3 hours. I’m not surprised that the TAP flight experience was superior in this regard, because several years ago on a one hour flight from Bangkok, Thailand to Phnom Penh, Cambodia there was a full meal service for all the passengers on the entire plane, complete with wine, dessert, and coffee.

I should also add that this plane ticket was anything but outrageously expensive. Total price including taxes and factoring in the exchange rate was about $100. My only uneducated guess as to how TAP, Thai Airways, and other international carriers are able to offer this level of service while their American counterparts (including their supposedly interchangeable Alliance partners, not just the discount competitors) keep cutting amenities is that labor costs much be much lower. Airplanes, airplane parts, jet fuel, etc. are all commodities sold on an international market and I would assume that TAP doesn’t pay less for its Airbus A320 than United pays for its. Airport operation costs probably vary as well, but labor costs in my mind would trump these.

I do not know if this hypothesis is correct, and I certainly do not know enough about the airline industry to even venture possible solutions. Certainly American airline employees’ unions are too powerful to ever accept massive wage concessions (the unions representing United employees were reluctant to give concessions even after 9-11 when the entire company was teetering on the brink of liquidation). Airline management does not seem any more flexible, after all, these were the people who thought up taking away complimentary meals and selling snack boxes to save money in the first place.

Still, I wonder if more Americans flew short haul flights between two international destinations if there wouldn’t be more popular clamoring for better service. At the very least, more people would be asking the question of US carriers instead of assuming that low cost, short distance flights mean poor to no amenities / service.

Philip Johnson’s legendary Glass House, along with a number of other structures on his estate, is now open for public tours. I’m definitely adding this to the places I would like to go and see! Of course, according to the article, the tours are sold out for the next year or more already.

Also of note is the fact that the museum curators made extensive use of Apple products for the design of informative exhibits. The Apple Pro page contains a profile showcasing the technology that is used at the Glass House.

The New York Times features a review of the architecture of the Glass House as well as a brief over view of Philip Johnson’s relationship to the architectural movements of the twentieth century.

It is unlikely that any single person will ever hold so much sway over the profession again, but we are beginning to view his legacy with a bit more clarity.

Nowhere is this more evident than at the 47-acre estate that Johnson built for himself here over a span of nearly 50 years and that opened to the public last month. A collection of 14 structures that includes the legendary Glass House, completed in 1949; a guesthouse; an art gallery; and a sculpture pavilion, the complex survives as an enticing voyage through the ups and downs of late-20th-century architecture set in a dreamy landscape of rolling lawns and maple trees.

But as imposing as it is as a historical landmark, it is as telling about his weaknesses as a designer as about his influence as an advocate for architecture. Its uneven collection of architectural follies is an expression of a man more notable for a restless imagination and insatiable cultural appetites than for his gifts as an architect.

Take the Glass House. For all its fame, the house is an imperfect work. A simple glass box supported by slender steel pillars, it was once one of the most famous houses in the United States. To sit here with Johnson was to enter the heart of the American cultural establishment, and its celebrity may have done more to make Modernism palatable to the country’s social elites than any other structure of the 20th century.

It is also a legitimate aesthetic triumph. On a gorgeous New England day, the play of its glass surfaces creates a layering of images, from reflections of the surrounding trees to the shadowy silhouettes of people walking around inside. And the classical references alluded to by its thin brick base and the symmetrical proportions of its frame demonstrate the range of Johnson’s historical knowledge.

Yet it is also easy to see why Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, a pillar of early Modernism and Johnson’s mentor, stormed out in a huff when he saw it. The house was famously influenced by Mies’s Farnsworth House, which was designed before Johnson’s Glass House but built, in Illinois, several years later, leaving the impression that the student had leapfrogged over his master. More important, Johnson’s vision lacked the intellectual rigor and exquisite detailing that were so critical to Mies’s genius. The steel I-beams that mark the corners of the Glass House are clumsily detailed — especially disconcerting in a work of such purity.

The complete article from The New York Times: “Through a Glass, Clearly, a Modernist’s Questing Spirit”

Travel journalist Rick Steves writes about visiting Gibraltar. Most of the article is a bit fluffy and superficial but there are a few interesting points.

I knew, for instance, that it would have a unique legal status based on its geography, but I had no idea about the Anglican Church there.

Along with being “not Spanish,” the colony is part British and part Gibraltarian. They have the big three-pronged English electrical plugs, their own currency (it’s the pound sterling — but, like Scotland, they have their own version), and their own Web domain (gi). Gibraltar’s Anglican Church is proudly “headquarters of the Anglican Church in Europe” (not very centrally located for the business of administering that vast parish).

The extent that Britain and the British Empire are celebrated there is interesting to me as well. Maybe it is just a gimmick to lure tourists, but the fact that the residents have chosen to remain British seems to suggest that the affiliation is significant culturally as well.

Old England seems to permeate the island. As we drove high above the port, my taxi driver pointed down to a tiny breakwater and said, “That’s where they pickled Admiral Nelson after the Battle of Trafalgar.” (While the Brits won the battle, Nelson died, and, according to legend, his body was preserved in a barrel of spirits for the trip back to London.)

The complete article on CNN.com: “Got married in Gibraltar near Spain”

About half an hour south of the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, lies
a disturbingly peaceful grassy field. The killing field of Choeng Ek is one of
the many places where thousands of Cambodians died at the hands of other
Cambodians.

Excavated mass graves have yielded a gruesome harvest of human bones,
some still covered in ragged clothes.

In the middle of the field, a glass memorial encloses about 8,000 skulls,
some visibly shattered in the act of murder. Each skull, one shudders to
realize, belonged to a human being, a life extinguished in an orgy of violence
during the days of Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge regime in the 1970s.

It is a perilous practice to compare tragedies. But few countries have
suffered as much as Cambodia. And yet, 25 years after Vietnamese forces
overthrew the Khmer Rouge and its bloodthirsty leader, Pol Pot, there is
little understanding of what exactly happened during Cambodia’s nightmare.

The full article from the San Francisco Chronicle: Cambodia’s killing fields hold the key to a horrible truth

During Cambodia’s long nightmare of civil war, genocide and foreign occupation, concern for its archaeological treasures took second place. But now, after more than a decade of peace, an international campaign to rescue Angkor Wat and other centuries-old temples is being hailed as a model for safeguarding the ancient sites of Afghanistan, Iraq and other nations enduring war.

Involving some 40 major monuments and hundreds of smaller sites spread over 160 square miles, the restoration work in the region may take another 25 years or more. Yet an initiative — led by France and Japan and coordinated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization — has demonstrated a rare commitment to preserving a miracle of human ingenuity in a country too poor to do so itself. Around many temples are cranes, scaffolding and armies of workers. Archaeologists, architects and engineers from a dozen countries are also working at the sites, while Cambodian guards and police provide security. ”A system is in place that insures cooperation,” said Ros Borath, the deputy director-general of Apsara, the Cambodian government agency that has overall responsibility for the program.

There are already significant results. Since the creation of an International Coordination Committee in 1993, the area has been cleared of 25,000 land mines, including 3,000 inside temple grounds. Looting of statues and friezes has stopped, and the international traffic in stolen artifacts has been disrupted. Roads have been paved, and there is a new visitors’ center. So far $50 million has been spent on 100 or so restoration projects, with $5 million continuing to be invested here annually.

At a conference in Paris in November, Unesco’s director-general, Koichiro Matsuura, said, ”What has been learned in this decade, and is still being learned, could serve as a model for the rehabilitation of other ancient sites in post-conflict situations — such as Bamiyan in Afghanistan or the Mesopotamian legacy in Iraq — that have suffered from neglect, wanton destruction and the devastation of war.”

There is talk of creating a Charter of Angkor, which would detail the institutional structure and the new scientific techniques and ethical standards that have been applied here and that might also work elsewhere. There is no international campaign to protect and restore archaeological sites in Afghanistan and Iraq. Still, having survived the stranglehold of a jungle, occupation by Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge guerrillas and uncontrolled pillaging, the Angkor region is facing a new challenge posed by success.

The full article from the New York Times: After the Nightmare, Saving Cambodia’s Treasures