Browning's use of a light, tripping rhyming stanza is part of his ironic view of the question the poem is asking; the answer, of course, is that cities come and cities go, leaving their fascinating ruins behind, but love between individual humans endures and is never destroyed.
PAGE 1 Travel TRAVELING GREEN IN THE BLUE MOUNTAINS Jennifer Conlin says the Blue Mountains in New South Wales can be an excellent "eco-light" trip for novices of environmentally friendly nature travel -- sandstone plateaus, deep gorges and canyons, secluded rain forests and ancient trees.
Though the team of director James Ivory and producer Ismail Merchant (along with writer Ruth Prawer Jhabvala) had been turning out elegant, literary period pieces since the late 60s, this effervescent, gossamer-light trip into the Edwardian grand tour served as a handbook for a very Thatcherite sense of style.
I'm thinking of making a northern lights trip for my birthday with a group of friends.
This escorted four-night Killer Whales and Northern Lights trip to Iceland was provided by Discover The World (01737 214252, discover-the-world.co.uk).
Touring trim ($1,455) adds 17-inch alloy wheels (with the 4) or 18-inch wheels (with the V-6), a power driver's seat, push-button starter, fog lights, trip computer and an interior upgrade.
This is borne out by the popularity of Astronomy Tours' eight-day Icelandic Northern Lights trip (£1,529 including flights), which mixes daytime adventures in Iceland's remote north-east with night-time gazing; departures coincide with the new moon to ensure the darkest of skies.
On Intrepid's new eight-day Alaska Northern Lights trip from Anchorage to Fairbanks, guests get to snowshoe through Denali national park to look for moose, wolves and bears (with an optional flight over Mount McKinley, the highest mountain in North America), walk among reindeer in Fairbanks and unwind in natural thermal waters at the Chena hot springs.
As those who return home disappointed from a northern lights trip can testify, we can't really predict auroras.
