Museum in Vitra... Just over the border in Germany

Furniture Museum by Frank Ghery
Inside the museum, those green things had videos in them
More furniture
Concrete speakers and turn table

Thermal Baths

Peter Zumthor: Thermal Baths at Vals, Switzerland

Zurich, Switzerland!

Venice: Just about the coolest place I have ever been in my entire life. I mean, who else has canals and rivers for roads? Definitely an awesome place to visit


Venice at just about sunset...

Chiesa di San Marco and the piazza

In Venice, one of the very highly decorated churches which is almost directly on the water, just like everything else in Venice...

The lambo in florence...

Florence pics!!!

Finally, a new post!

Alright, I'm sorry for the delay. I know it's been a really long time since I posted anything on the blog but I have over a months worth of pictures from all over the place. We just got home (Rome) from our Northern Italy trip, it was incredible. Our first stop was Florence and we spent 3 nights there. There are so many people who speak english there. I think I heard more english than I heard Italian. Anyway, we saw the famous "David" by Michelangelo. This is the statue of David from the story of "David and Goliath," when David slays the giant Goliath with his sling shot. The basis for the story is the underdog wins. We also saw the famous Duomo that you could climb to the top of and look out over the whole city of Florence... dont worry, I have pictures. We went inside this huge indoor market and had the chance to taste the different types of aged vinegars they had to offer. The vinegar was aged for over 10-15 years and instead of having the sour taste it usually has, it was more of a sweet taste. And of course some of our friends bought Florence leather, and of course we have 3 large steak dinners. The second steak dinner night we have a fillet that was covered with the aged vinegar and it was amazing. We were in Florence for St. Patrick's day, and at a few places they try to celebrate like the americans do, but nothing can really compare to the way CUA does it, haha. Spiro, Owen, and I sat down and got a cariacature of the 3 of us together which was absolutely hilarious, I'll have to scan it in later and post it. Well thats it for Florence, stay posted for the next episode of my trip.

First Project

Me, Spiro, and Mount Vesuvius (it's on the right side with snow on it which is very rare. If you didn't know, thats the vulcano that destroyed Pompeii like a gillion years ago, im too lazy to look up the date.

Cefalu
(yea i took that pic)

monreale

Southern Italy was a blast. It's a logn story so i'll let the pictures tell it... if they work...
train from Rome to:
Naples
Overnight boat to:
Sicily... more specifically Palermo
Bus ride to:
Monreale
Erice
Segesta
Cefalu
Castelbuono
Then boat and a train ride back to Rome

23 hours and going strong

I came to studio yesterday, saturday, at 4 PM to try and get some more work done on my project. I was on such a roll that before i knew it, it was 4 AM and I didn't want to leave. I was watching episodes of Entourage and movies like Borat, Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle, and lastly John Tucker Must Die while making huge progress on my project. I was just finishing up my last project as John Tucker Must Die was ending and i realized that it was 3 PM on Sunday... I didn't leave studio, or sleep, for over 23 hours and Im still going strong. I cant wait until tomorrow for the crash to hit right about when we're supposed to be presenting our project but hey, thats the life of an architect. Im the only one finished at this point and thats good because the Patriots play the colts tonight and i need not worry about work while i'm watching intently. Alright well thats it for now, i'll let you know how the project goes tomorrow... ciao

Saldi was crazy. I got a Puma Ferrari jacket, some sweet new shoes and a white button down. The government sales go on for a week I think. Saturday night was fun. We went over to Trastevere which is across the river (about 10 minute walk) to check out the scene. It was pretty lively over there as well. We met up with Dave and hung out for a big then went back and checked out this new Irish pub called Scholars Lounge which was awesome because they had American football on and that was good to watch. The games dont go on until 10:30 then 2 o clock, the good thing is that the pub stays open until 4 am so we could watch the games.

Sunday night rolls around and we went to watch the Patriots game at another irish pub (only because they play american football there). The bartender is very cool, his name is Giles (pronounced Jiles) and he's from Milwaukee, MN. PATRIOTS WON!!! Then we went to bed. Monday morning was paper work for this stupid Permesso, then we went to Santa Maria in Trastevere which was a church tucked into a small piazza and it was pretty cool. It was unbelievable on the inside. After studio we had a nice pre-paid dinner with the university of washington students, which was nice. Then today all we had was italian in the morning and studio. Thats it for now...

week one and done

Heading into the weekend we're flying on all cylinders... This week was incredible. We went to the Pantheon, Compidoglio, and Villa Giulia as well as passed by the Spanish Steps and checked out the shopping areas for the government sales (saldi) starting tomorrow (saturday). We have a sketchbook review due on monday, we're going to play soccer on sunday, and shopping and work tomorrow. This was just a quick update, there will be more to come im sure... ciao

Buongiorno Roma

I arrived with a few of my friends in Rome on Friday, January 5th at around what felt like 8 AM but it was really 2 PM. My friends were John, Owen, Ryan, and Adam and it turns out that Adam lost his luggage somewhere along one of his many flight connections from Ohio to Rome. We waited around for a couple hours to try and find his bag but to no avail, it was lost. We took a taxi for 45 euro to Piazza Compo di Fiore in the heart of Roman world... This is actually where we live and the site was incredible. The streets would not be able to fit an escalade going one way, but the smart Europeans have designed 2 seater "Smart" cars that are about 4 1/2 feet tall and are as long as a regular american car is wide. The crazy motorists on their "motorino's" zip around through the streets with no caution whatsoever and we all almost got hit a few times but we're used to them now. We arrived at our apartment in the middle of Compo di Fiori (field of flowers) as the vendors were closing up their tents full of fresh veggies (vegitale) and fruit (frutta) and meat (carne) and cheese (formaggio). My roomate Spiro was already here with a couple other friends like my freshman year roomate Jake, and others like Brian, Marco, Eleni, and Erin Tumey. We set everything down and set up our rooms. We all went to dinner at the pizza place called Pizzaria da Baffetto which means mustache because the owner has a big mustache, it was pretty awesome. After dinner our teacher took a few lucky students including myself out to our first architecture experience at this bar called Fluid. The interior was filled with incredible use of materials for the bar, walls, bathroom and stuff. After that, me and spiro went out to meet a few people at the american bars to get a feel for what the nightlife would be like. It was very lively and the caffes and bars are literally as close as 3 yards from our door. I am starting to like cappuchino... end of night uno