Moderately interesting Finding Purpose class today. We first talked about learning types: visual, auditory, and kinesthic. I am definately a visual learner. I unfocus my eyes when I'm talking and recalling information as an image, I notice textures, light, and colors first and foremost when entering a new space. Visual learners like to write stuff down and see it to understand it. According to his definitions, we talk quickly and with a higher voice. Many architecture people are visual learners. What I found interesting was that the instructor talked about working with construction crews, and how they are overwhelmingly made of Kinesthic learners. How they feel is very important to them, and they seldom hold back thier emotions. Kinesthic learners have to move, and learn by manipulation of phyiscal things. They build because they like building. It occured to me that this could be one of the root causes of the antagonism between architecture types and construction/contractor types. We process and work in completely different ways.
The other interesting thing was a quote he had at the end, mistakenly attributing it to Everest summiter Edmund Hillary and not the German philosopher Goethe.
Concerning all acts of initive and creation, there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splended plans: that the moment one definately commits oneself, then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise would have occured.
I found this highly interesting for a number of reasons. The first thing I thought of was the absolutely fantastic luck we had in Europe traveling with Chase. My luck was ill before we met, and vastly improved with him around. We would make rail connections with minutes to spare, find places to stay when we really needed them, find interpreters and good samaritans at crucial junctions, make and even subverted the evil Russian embassy bureauocracy. We were never mugged, scammed (while togather), and we had nothing stolen from us. I would have sworn we had a guardian angel standing over us.
In these circumstances, where we just WENT to Gimmelvalt without calling to see if they had any space, the only hostel there, they had space available for us. It was there or nowhere. We HAD to make the train to scandinavia. We would have missed it if the one platform conductor hadn't found us again on a different stair and sent us on our way to the right station where it was delayed. When we arrived in Budapest, with no clue of where the hotel was, who did Chase find in our car but an english-speaking member of the department of tourism with good maps and directions?
What was behind this phenomenal luck? We were traveling all or nothing, and I was initially discomforted by our lack of fallback plans and insurance. We made bold moves, like going to Budapest. Was it the movement of Providence that bathed us in such great luck? Was it something more prosaic like if we had had a backup plan in place, we wouldn't have hung around the train station trying to figure out what to do when the conductor found us? Did we generate our own luck by sheer determination of acomplishing the task at hand? Whatever the effector, the cause of boldness and totally committing seemed to do the trick.
This runs counter-intuitive to me, who always has a backup plan, and always has a schedule, especially concerning travel. My travel experiance with my family is "plan and expect for the worst to happen, and something disasterous happens at least once on every trip." Chase's travel philosophy is "Everything will work out fine" and the more adventurous we were, the less we worried about things going bad. I literally felt lucky, like I was surrounded by a golden aura. I need to work on developing this, especially as I tend to procrastinate and have difficulty initiating things. Creativity and Initive. How far apart are they?
Sep 20, 2005
Sep 19, 2005
Alec In Narnia
As some of you might be aware, the movie adaptation of C.S. Lewis' The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe is coming out in december. I had never read the books, and not wishing to miss out on a childhood meme, I read the first two books in the Chronicles of Narnia series. These books are brilliantly written, not as textured and descriptive as the Harry Potter series, nor as breathlessly fantastic and boring as Tolkien. Lewis uses simple, powerful prose, which does a geat job for description without being overly descriptive. What I found really intersting was that these stories are plainly allegorical for major events and themes in the Bible.
The Magician's Nephew has Genesis re-enacted, with Aslan the Great Lion (God) literally singing the world of Narnia into existance and calling forth all life from the ground. The children (adressed as Sons-of-Adam and Daughters-of-Eve) who enter that world inadverantly bring the Witch, personification of timeless evil, thereby tainting the land. Thier penance must be to seek out The Apple tree, and bring a fruit back to Aslan. There is temptation, hardship, and moral dillemas in this children's book. In the end, of course, Aslan makes everything right again.
The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe is a take on the Passion. A child sibling defects to the Witch's side out of petty emotions. When she demands his blood on old magic grounds, Aslan sacrafices himself to save the boy. He is bound, shaved, and subjected to ridicule, torment, and then killed. At dawn, a stoke of lighting splits the massive sacraficial stone, and Aslan reappears to battle and destroy the Witch and drive evil from the land, returning animals and people back to life from the Witch's stone curse.
This is pretty heady stuff for young children's books. I'm interested to read the rest of the series. Other books I'm reading inlcude Blink, a book about developing the ultra-quick subconscious decision making which people call instinct.
I did get my hair cut, I got a $5 off coupon for a hairstylist place called Grooming Humans so I got a shampoo, cut, and style for 17 dollars, just five bucks more than having Laquisha do it over at CostCutters. It's shorter, but looks pretty good.
This weekend, I worked on various homework, and went salsa dancing sunday night. I'm surprised by how much I still remember. At least we dont have to go to that class.
The Magician's Nephew has Genesis re-enacted, with Aslan the Great Lion (God) literally singing the world of Narnia into existance and calling forth all life from the ground. The children (adressed as Sons-of-Adam and Daughters-of-Eve) who enter that world inadverantly bring the Witch, personification of timeless evil, thereby tainting the land. Thier penance must be to seek out The Apple tree, and bring a fruit back to Aslan. There is temptation, hardship, and moral dillemas in this children's book. In the end, of course, Aslan makes everything right again.
The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe is a take on the Passion. A child sibling defects to the Witch's side out of petty emotions. When she demands his blood on old magic grounds, Aslan sacrafices himself to save the boy. He is bound, shaved, and subjected to ridicule, torment, and then killed. At dawn, a stoke of lighting splits the massive sacraficial stone, and Aslan reappears to battle and destroy the Witch and drive evil from the land, returning animals and people back to life from the Witch's stone curse.
This is pretty heady stuff for young children's books. I'm interested to read the rest of the series. Other books I'm reading inlcude Blink, a book about developing the ultra-quick subconscious decision making which people call instinct.
I did get my hair cut, I got a $5 off coupon for a hairstylist place called Grooming Humans so I got a shampoo, cut, and style for 17 dollars, just five bucks more than having Laquisha do it over at CostCutters. It's shorter, but looks pretty good.
This weekend, I worked on various homework, and went salsa dancing sunday night. I'm surprised by how much I still remember. At least we dont have to go to that class.
Sep 14, 2005
A very special brick
Good, easygoing day today. Finished my paper comparing the architectural spaces, although I still need to sketch an image of the law library. In studio, I took pictures of my model. I'm really impresed with how it turned out and it still surprises me by the way sunlight hits it. Our "interim" project is pretty fun: we're photographing our models. First a series of plain elevations, then some "sexier" shots with interesting angles, details, connections, lighting, etc. The last part is the creation of a photomontage to see what further ideas can be pulled out.
When I came in to work at the library today, I found Jen working with white gloves on at the reserved collections room. The architecture library has absolutely tons of original material concerning the Arizona Biltmore, photos, menus, preliminary sketches, original correspondance between the architect Albert McArthur and Frank Lloyd Wright. Among more intersting items in the collection was a brick from the construction which had been carefully wrapped for preservation purposes. Jen was doing a report on the Biltmore for her interior design history class, and what she found when I told her about the library collection was so in depth and interesting, she kept reseraching and reading far beyond what she needed.
The interest comes from the dynamism between Albert McArthur, a student under Wright for two years, and Mr. Wright himself. Of Wright's proteges, only McArthur really suceeded independnatly. A controversy which has never been adequately closed is how much of the Biltmore did Wright actually design, and most of the material in the collection centers on this.
Basically, McArthur's enterprising brothers financed a massive resort in phoenix, and wanted him to design it. McArthur was up to the task but wanted to use a concrete block bulding system developed by Wright. He wrote Wright to ask if he could use the system. We have Wright's written response, in which he essentially invited himself over to "possiblly asist and supervise." Other documents we found talked about Wright's financial and design crisis just prior, when he was threatened with losing Taliesin, and he had been out of work for awhile. A few years before this, Wright's own prized resort, the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo, had just been destroyed, and I wonder if he saw this as a second chance, even if only subconsciously.
Wright claimed he had a patent on the building system and charged McArthur a good sum of money for the use of it. About the time when the resort opened, it became clear that Wright had never filed any kind of patent for it at all. In the time between this, Wright moved his family to Phoenix and, according to his wife's book, made a lot of sketches, drawings, and design decisions about the hotel. We do see these sketches in her book, but not in the collection, and we dont know if these were sketches he made based on McArthur's plans, or if it went the other way around. We have a written affadavit, signed by Wright, that he had nothing to do with the Hotel's design, but the nature of the note seems somewhat amiss.
McArthur, for that matter, never liked Wright that much (he only spent 2 years as a fellow), and though he took a lot from his designs and style, they seemed to be at odds, as the patent episode demonstrates. To make a long story short(er), The hotel, which had Wright's trademark style, opened to great fanfare and accolades. All of a sudden, Wright wasn't so eager to dispell the idea that he'd had nothing to do with it's construction. He contradicts himself in several places and never makes a really clear stand. To me, it seems like the classic Mentor-Mentee relationship at its ultimate culmination: the mentor views the mentee as not having what it really takes, and the mentee seeing himself as equal to the mentor.
The mentee in question, Albert McArthur, was a really brilliant guy. We have his detailed and immacualte notes, equations, and essays. He studied quantum and light physics in college, where he developed an independant color theory which he continued to develop and exploit for the rest of his career. His color theroy is really interesting as he associates and compares colors to musical notes. The brightest, most intense colors occur at certain wavelengths, i.e. octives of music, and he actually derived the trademark shape of the masonry block at the Biltmore from a musical composition which was converted first to color, then into sculpture. It's really interesting to see the his handwritten notes firsthand, and peice these things togather yourself. It's an adventure, a mystery. There's enough material here to develop a thesis on it.
In more mundane news, I need a haircut.
When I came in to work at the library today, I found Jen working with white gloves on at the reserved collections room. The architecture library has absolutely tons of original material concerning the Arizona Biltmore, photos, menus, preliminary sketches, original correspondance between the architect Albert McArthur and Frank Lloyd Wright. Among more intersting items in the collection was a brick from the construction which had been carefully wrapped for preservation purposes. Jen was doing a report on the Biltmore for her interior design history class, and what she found when I told her about the library collection was so in depth and interesting, she kept reseraching and reading far beyond what she needed.
The interest comes from the dynamism between Albert McArthur, a student under Wright for two years, and Mr. Wright himself. Of Wright's proteges, only McArthur really suceeded independnatly. A controversy which has never been adequately closed is how much of the Biltmore did Wright actually design, and most of the material in the collection centers on this.
Basically, McArthur's enterprising brothers financed a massive resort in phoenix, and wanted him to design it. McArthur was up to the task but wanted to use a concrete block bulding system developed by Wright. He wrote Wright to ask if he could use the system. We have Wright's written response, in which he essentially invited himself over to "possiblly asist and supervise." Other documents we found talked about Wright's financial and design crisis just prior, when he was threatened with losing Taliesin, and he had been out of work for awhile. A few years before this, Wright's own prized resort, the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo, had just been destroyed, and I wonder if he saw this as a second chance, even if only subconsciously.
Wright claimed he had a patent on the building system and charged McArthur a good sum of money for the use of it. About the time when the resort opened, it became clear that Wright had never filed any kind of patent for it at all. In the time between this, Wright moved his family to Phoenix and, according to his wife's book, made a lot of sketches, drawings, and design decisions about the hotel. We do see these sketches in her book, but not in the collection, and we dont know if these were sketches he made based on McArthur's plans, or if it went the other way around. We have a written affadavit, signed by Wright, that he had nothing to do with the Hotel's design, but the nature of the note seems somewhat amiss.
McArthur, for that matter, never liked Wright that much (he only spent 2 years as a fellow), and though he took a lot from his designs and style, they seemed to be at odds, as the patent episode demonstrates. To make a long story short(er), The hotel, which had Wright's trademark style, opened to great fanfare and accolades. All of a sudden, Wright wasn't so eager to dispell the idea that he'd had nothing to do with it's construction. He contradicts himself in several places and never makes a really clear stand. To me, it seems like the classic Mentor-Mentee relationship at its ultimate culmination: the mentor views the mentee as not having what it really takes, and the mentee seeing himself as equal to the mentor.
The mentee in question, Albert McArthur, was a really brilliant guy. We have his detailed and immacualte notes, equations, and essays. He studied quantum and light physics in college, where he developed an independant color theory which he continued to develop and exploit for the rest of his career. His color theroy is really interesting as he associates and compares colors to musical notes. The brightest, most intense colors occur at certain wavelengths, i.e. octives of music, and he actually derived the trademark shape of the masonry block at the Biltmore from a musical composition which was converted first to color, then into sculpture. It's really interesting to see the his handwritten notes firsthand, and peice these things togather yourself. It's an adventure, a mystery. There's enough material here to develop a thesis on it.
In more mundane news, I need a haircut.
Sep 13, 2005
INTJ
Short post today, just feeling whupped by tuesdays.
We scored our Myers-Briggs test today. The test was actually developed by a mother and daughter, based on the work of Carl Jung and his theories of introversion and extroversion.
I was an INTJ: Introvert, iNtuitive, Thinking, and Judging. There were about a dozen other INTJs in the class when he asked, everyone was an architecture major. The prof said that many architects are INTJs. It was interesting to see what personality types were most heavily represented in the design field.
We also learned a bit about our 'inferior' type, the one which fails when we're under stress. The sheet listed 'sensing' as INTJ's inferior type, and while it listed exactly things which put us under a lot of stress, the reaction, the failure of sensing, I wasn't too sure about. It said we overindulge in sensing without enjoyment, like turning on music or tv or a movie and not cognizently watching it. It also talked about feelings of being overwhelmed with sensory data, and viewing the world as an enemy. The list of things which help read like a self-manual for me: "space", quiet, natural surroundings, using thinking to find solutions, etc.
Current stress triggers: 5 page paper due thurs comparing two architecture spaces. I have 2.5 paragraphs done on it. At least I have the notes and photos. I'm more than 50 pages behind with my History of Architecture readings. We've just been really busy at the library. The arch library is slowly circulating in 5,000 new books which need to be processed, plated, and shelved.
We scored our Myers-Briggs test today. The test was actually developed by a mother and daughter, based on the work of Carl Jung and his theories of introversion and extroversion.
I was an INTJ: Introvert, iNtuitive, Thinking, and Judging. There were about a dozen other INTJs in the class when he asked, everyone was an architecture major. The prof said that many architects are INTJs. It was interesting to see what personality types were most heavily represented in the design field.
We also learned a bit about our 'inferior' type, the one which fails when we're under stress. The sheet listed 'sensing' as INTJ's inferior type, and while it listed exactly things which put us under a lot of stress, the reaction, the failure of sensing, I wasn't too sure about. It said we overindulge in sensing without enjoyment, like turning on music or tv or a movie and not cognizently watching it. It also talked about feelings of being overwhelmed with sensory data, and viewing the world as an enemy. The list of things which help read like a self-manual for me: "space", quiet, natural surroundings, using thinking to find solutions, etc.
Current stress triggers: 5 page paper due thurs comparing two architecture spaces. I have 2.5 paragraphs done on it. At least I have the notes and photos. I'm more than 50 pages behind with my History of Architecture readings. We've just been really busy at the library. The arch library is slowly circulating in 5,000 new books which need to be processed, plated, and shelved.
Sep 12, 2005
crit!
Crit: short for critique in architecture, where projects are presented, discussed, and criticized.
We had our first crit of the year today. For once, I was done ahead of schedule. I finished my model saturday, finished the drawings sunday, and had all my presentation materials ready an hour before the crit at 2. And I never stayed in studio past midnight, either.
One of the things I love about studying architecture is the time right before review. It's an intense time. People are puting final touches on thier models and drawings, setting up thier presentation area, checking out each others' work. The Project is finally done, for good or ill. The end of the long and weary road has been reached, and whether it ends in failure or sucess, the end is a celebration in itself. People dress up more for critiques, they're jazzed, buzzing, and chatting. It's a bit like show-and-tell combined with art class; everyone wants to show what they've done. It's a culmination of a lot of work.
Our crit had an usual format. They crammed all 48 of us into one studio WITH our models and drawings (thereby tripling it's normal density) and the first thing we did was go around and give the basic idea of the project in one minute or less.
For an identical problem with harsh constraints, we had a dizzying array of different projects. There was a small group of maybe five projects which were very similiar, but most were completely different from each other. Out of 48 people, only a few other people had a roof that wasn't perfectly flat, and only one other person had a roof that wasn't made of horizontal planes.
I was also surprised by the high level of craft people had in thier models. There's definately an improvement since last year. I guess those with better craft got in because thier portfolios demonstrated thier commitment to quality craftsmanship. We had two outside reviewers who worked with architecture firms, but the one in my more intense crit group left right before getting to my project. The woman who critiqued my project teaches one of the other third year studios and is fanatically by the project. I overheard her say that there was supposed to be only ONE opening in the structure as only one opening was described in the program. I guess she doesn't like to think outside the box.
Anyway, she didn;t hate my project, but I got the impression that she thought I had squandered this assignment. From her perspective, this assignment was about developing real-world solutions using real world connections. My take on the assignment was that this was for material and form explorations. We're both right, in a sense; it's just the inherant problems of building without a real program or context. She, and some other students, thought my project was too sculptural and had too much going on. I can appreciate both these comments. When designing the roof, I thought more about the opportunities and challenges of working with the torqued surface rather than the space which it defines.
As to the too-much-going-on critique, I suppose I should take it as a compliement that I had a lot of really good ideas that dilute each other. For instance, an angle becomes much more pronounced when its next to a straight line or a right angle. Throw a bunch of angles togather and you lose context of what is supposed to be straight- the angles lose thier angularity.
At any rate, this was what my studio prof said last time I talked to him, although I disagreed with him at the time. I was just really excited about the torqued roof structure, and it does look really cool. All in all, it was a good crit, although I wish I had more people review it. A lot of students took pictures of it, and I took pictures of a lot of other student's models I thought were interesting. Jen and a bunch of interior girls dropped by to watch the crit in process, and even without knowing I'd designed it, they went straight to my project because everyone else had basically a box. From here, I go on to plus/delta my design and design process.
Media I'm Grokking: Chronicles of Narnia, starting with Magican's Nephew. The Gorillaz Demon Days. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00082IJ08/qid=1126580951/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-2460545-4086348?v=glance&s=music&n=507846It's kind of poppy but extremely varied from electronic funk to dennis hopper reading a short story interspaced with melodic lyrical interludes. Also stuff by Cake is really cool.
We had our first crit of the year today. For once, I was done ahead of schedule. I finished my model saturday, finished the drawings sunday, and had all my presentation materials ready an hour before the crit at 2. And I never stayed in studio past midnight, either.
One of the things I love about studying architecture is the time right before review. It's an intense time. People are puting final touches on thier models and drawings, setting up thier presentation area, checking out each others' work. The Project is finally done, for good or ill. The end of the long and weary road has been reached, and whether it ends in failure or sucess, the end is a celebration in itself. People dress up more for critiques, they're jazzed, buzzing, and chatting. It's a bit like show-and-tell combined with art class; everyone wants to show what they've done. It's a culmination of a lot of work.
Our crit had an usual format. They crammed all 48 of us into one studio WITH our models and drawings (thereby tripling it's normal density) and the first thing we did was go around and give the basic idea of the project in one minute or less.
For an identical problem with harsh constraints, we had a dizzying array of different projects. There was a small group of maybe five projects which were very similiar, but most were completely different from each other. Out of 48 people, only a few other people had a roof that wasn't perfectly flat, and only one other person had a roof that wasn't made of horizontal planes.
I was also surprised by the high level of craft people had in thier models. There's definately an improvement since last year. I guess those with better craft got in because thier portfolios demonstrated thier commitment to quality craftsmanship. We had two outside reviewers who worked with architecture firms, but the one in my more intense crit group left right before getting to my project. The woman who critiqued my project teaches one of the other third year studios and is fanatically by the project. I overheard her say that there was supposed to be only ONE opening in the structure as only one opening was described in the program. I guess she doesn't like to think outside the box.
Anyway, she didn;t hate my project, but I got the impression that she thought I had squandered this assignment. From her perspective, this assignment was about developing real-world solutions using real world connections. My take on the assignment was that this was for material and form explorations. We're both right, in a sense; it's just the inherant problems of building without a real program or context. She, and some other students, thought my project was too sculptural and had too much going on. I can appreciate both these comments. When designing the roof, I thought more about the opportunities and challenges of working with the torqued surface rather than the space which it defines.
As to the too-much-going-on critique, I suppose I should take it as a compliement that I had a lot of really good ideas that dilute each other. For instance, an angle becomes much more pronounced when its next to a straight line or a right angle. Throw a bunch of angles togather and you lose context of what is supposed to be straight- the angles lose thier angularity.
At any rate, this was what my studio prof said last time I talked to him, although I disagreed with him at the time. I was just really excited about the torqued roof structure, and it does look really cool. All in all, it was a good crit, although I wish I had more people review it. A lot of students took pictures of it, and I took pictures of a lot of other student's models I thought were interesting. Jen and a bunch of interior girls dropped by to watch the crit in process, and even without knowing I'd designed it, they went straight to my project because everyone else had basically a box. From here, I go on to plus/delta my design and design process.
Media I'm Grokking: Chronicles of Narnia, starting with Magican's Nephew. The Gorillaz Demon Days. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00082IJ08/qid=1126580951/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-2460545-4086348?v=glance&s=music&n=507846It's kind of poppy but extremely varied from electronic funk to dennis hopper reading a short story interspaced with melodic lyrical interludes. Also stuff by Cake is really cool.
Sep 9, 2005
Statics with Mike and Pete
My most challenging class so far has been Building systems 1. The teacher is a professional mechanical engineer with his own contracting firm. However, he has never taught a college class before. I have a nagging feeling he's doing this because the architects he deals with have no clue what he's talking about in structure. This sets up an interesting personality conflict in class. The teacher talks like a contractor and moves really quickly because its second nature to him, skipping the little steps in the problems. There's so much he's got to cover, he can only outline the reactions at this point. The class of architecture students is extremely detail oriented; we want to know exactly how everything works. One class he drew a framing diagram with a bunch of joists 4' on center (neglecting to explain what "on center" meant) spanning two beams. He started doing the math for one of the joists, and half the class became really flustered because he didn't explain which particular joist he describing. With his limited experiance, it took him five minutes to explain that it didn't matter which one he was describing becuase the forces and loading on them were the same. When one guy asked which end the reaction forces were occuring, he told him that it didn't matter, becaue it was an equally loaded beam and the forces were the same at either end. "You can call it x and y, a and b, or mike and pete as long as you're consistant". We all thought this was highly amusing. He also told us to return the textbook (which I didn't pick up yet ha-ha) because it was useless and spend the money on beer.
The last two weeks we covered the very basics of beams, loads, and construction materials in a really fast overview. This week, we started on the math. None of us have ever done anything remotely like this yet, so its really taking us awhile to get the hang of it. At this point, given a total load per square foot on a floor supported by a frame, we can calcualte the pounds/ft on any beam or joist, the total load on any beam, and the reaction loads at the ends of any span. Ultimately, this tells us how much loading is on the collumns and how strong the collumns need to be. This is actually pretty easy stuff once one understands the why and the units. Anyway, at the end of the class, we should be able to calculate loading on any part of a building, draw loading and moment diagrams, and calculate bending and shear forces.
First project is due monday! I've finished the two walls and most of the framing. Just need to work on the windows. Here's a computer model of it:
click for larger view
The last two weeks we covered the very basics of beams, loads, and construction materials in a really fast overview. This week, we started on the math. None of us have ever done anything remotely like this yet, so its really taking us awhile to get the hang of it. At this point, given a total load per square foot on a floor supported by a frame, we can calcualte the pounds/ft on any beam or joist, the total load on any beam, and the reaction loads at the ends of any span. Ultimately, this tells us how much loading is on the collumns and how strong the collumns need to be. This is actually pretty easy stuff once one understands the why and the units. Anyway, at the end of the class, we should be able to calculate loading on any part of a building, draw loading and moment diagrams, and calculate bending and shear forces.
First project is due monday! I've finished the two walls and most of the framing. Just need to work on the windows. Here's a computer model of it:
click for larger view
Sep 7, 2005
Arizona State University of Tulane
My studio project is on track. Last night I worked till midnight finishing the formwork for my second wall. The second wall has a 4" wide round opening in it, so I used an old movie cup. I poured it this morning around 11, and it turned out pretty well. With both walls poured, I've begun work on the basswood frame structure.
A new guy came into our studio and was looking around at our projects. I got to talking to him and it turns out he's the first student from Tulane coming here. He was beginning their third year architecture program when they evacuated the school- apparently on freshmen move in day. He, and probably a quite a few classmates, will be joining us for the rest of the semester in our studios and other coursework. The current director of the college of design formerly taught at Tulane, and so encouraged thier architecture people to come over here. In fact, thier entire 5th year thesis students AND faculty will be taking up residence here. At any rate, ASU is set to become the new Tulane architecture campus.
The guy in our studio wansn't able to take anything from his studio with him, so now he has to go and restock everything! He said he spent about a hundred dollars on "small stuff" like pens, notebooks, and drafting supplies. He doesn't even have a board to work on, and the school is scrambling to find enough deskspace. Should be an exciting year.
A new guy came into our studio and was looking around at our projects. I got to talking to him and it turns out he's the first student from Tulane coming here. He was beginning their third year architecture program when they evacuated the school- apparently on freshmen move in day. He, and probably a quite a few classmates, will be joining us for the rest of the semester in our studios and other coursework. The current director of the college of design formerly taught at Tulane, and so encouraged thier architecture people to come over here. In fact, thier entire 5th year thesis students AND faculty will be taking up residence here. At any rate, ASU is set to become the new Tulane architecture campus.
The guy in our studio wansn't able to take anything from his studio with him, so now he has to go and restock everything! He said he spent about a hundred dollars on "small stuff" like pens, notebooks, and drafting supplies. He doesn't even have a board to work on, and the school is scrambling to find enough deskspace. Should be an exciting year.
Sep 6, 2005
Birthday Weekend
What a weekend! Friday night, Jen and a bunch of our friends from architecture went out to a college pizza joint, like Greasy Tony's, and then went on First Fridays in downtown Phoenix. Every first friday of the month, the galleries in downtown phoenix all open. There's a few particular areas along Roosevelt where there's a local art community. The galleries here range from very professional galleries to tiny homes people have converted the first floor of into their personal galleries. There's lots of live bands, a fair amount of drinking, and huge crowds. All types of people come out: matrons with baby buggies, I ran into a guy from Habitat down there, and tons of design students, artists, and artist/designer wannabes. This time, we spotted Dan Hoffman, one of the tenured professors taking in the artwork. One of the places, Monorchid, is an amazingly cool designers collective in a spectacular building of glass, concrete, and steel inside an old warehouse. It contains a huge gallery space, a private gallery/function space, library, and offices.
Saturday night I went to a party with some friends and afterwards, when I passed midnight, I made a mojito back at thier house. Everyone I talked to at the party couldn't beleive I wasn't going to do 21 shots of hard liquour or do the "Power Hour" where one goes and drinks for a solid hour at a bar. Such is the school I attend.
Sunday, I went over to Jen's and she made me french toast for breakfast. Then we went to see March of the Penguins. While I liked it, it wasn't exactly a billion dollar blockbuster. Afterwards, I bought a new pair of shoes to replace my sketchers, and a found a really good deal on some Bass leather sandals 60% off. That evening Jen took me out to AZ/88 a trendy American restaurant in Scottsdale.
Labor day, I spent working on my studio project, finally finishing the corrugated wall pour around nine pm. Today is long Tuesday. The human factors class is putting me to sleep, although the Finding Purpose class was theraputic as usual. It helps that the teacher is an acutal therapist. I'm looking more and more at architecture firms nearby. My top three local picks would be Will Bruder, Rick Joy, and Antoine Predock. It's really good working in the library because it exposes me to so much. We get new books in all the time, and I always take time to skim the books I'm shelving.
Speaking of which, I got my paycheck today which made me feel good. I can't beleive I'm being paid for this, especially after Ross and the bookstore. Granted, its not much, just $6 an hour, but for the actual time spent doing library "work" I think I'm actually making $18 an hour since I only do "work" about a third of the time.
Saturday night I went to a party with some friends and afterwards, when I passed midnight, I made a mojito back at thier house. Everyone I talked to at the party couldn't beleive I wasn't going to do 21 shots of hard liquour or do the "Power Hour" where one goes and drinks for a solid hour at a bar. Such is the school I attend.
Sunday, I went over to Jen's and she made me french toast for breakfast. Then we went to see March of the Penguins. While I liked it, it wasn't exactly a billion dollar blockbuster. Afterwards, I bought a new pair of shoes to replace my sketchers, and a found a really good deal on some Bass leather sandals 60% off. That evening Jen took me out to AZ/88 a trendy American restaurant in Scottsdale.
Labor day, I spent working on my studio project, finally finishing the corrugated wall pour around nine pm. Today is long Tuesday. The human factors class is putting me to sleep, although the Finding Purpose class was theraputic as usual. It helps that the teacher is an acutal therapist. I'm looking more and more at architecture firms nearby. My top three local picks would be Will Bruder, Rick Joy, and Antoine Predock. It's really good working in the library because it exposes me to so much. We get new books in all the time, and I always take time to skim the books I'm shelving.
Speaking of which, I got my paycheck today which made me feel good. I can't beleive I'm being paid for this, especially after Ross and the bookstore. Granted, its not much, just $6 an hour, but for the actual time spent doing library "work" I think I'm actually making $18 an hour since I only do "work" about a third of the time.
Sep 3, 2005
Do you know what it means to miss New Orleans...
What has happened in New Orleans is so appalling its almost surreal. Images coming out of the area look like bangladesh, and not one of the cultural capitals of the south. The aftermath of the destruction of the storm is a powerful reminder of the fragility of society. I was listening to an NPR interview with the head of the National Emergency Response department concerning the New Orleans Convention Center, and it highlighted the entire issue. NPR's reporters on the site described utter scenes of horror and chaos, 12 year old girls being raped, a mob driving off a battalion of police officers, rampant looting, and geriatrics lying dead on the side of the road. Even more appalling was the the head guy's outright denial that there was an issue with the convention center. The NPR interviewer, a station which is notorious for its sedate interviews, was absolutely livid with the national department head because he was refusing to send aid to the 2,000 people in the convention center because he hadn't been alerted to them through the proper channels. These people have had no food, water, or medical supplies since the disaster struck. On the other line, the reporters, actually on the site, were even more livid at hearing the department head dismiss their reports as "anecdotal" and thier bitterness at how the situation was being handled came pouring out in their speech. A few hours later, the department head recieved the report about the convention center.
Apart from the governmental response, I've been dismayed by the actions of the people living in the city. I can understand people who dont want to leave because they have no car, nowhere to go, or no money to get themselves anywhere, and people who are just plain uneducated and stupid. What I can't understand is the looting, shooting, and lawlessness. I've heard stories about people looting wal-marts for food and distributing that out, but what's with the all the looting elsewhere? Do these people think the commerical market is going to come back to town next week? Do they think that rapes and murders are OK now since there's no one around to punish them? These people are savages, they don't understand what a society is, nor will they ever belong to one.
What a mess. I was really hoping to spend some time down there, getting back in touch with my birthplace, enjoying spicy cajun food and jazz. It's going to take at least a year to get New Orleans back on it's feet. At least the French had the good sense to found the French quarter on high ground. I was talking to the janitor back in the architecture building, and it turns out he's also from LaPlace. He was amazed to find someone who actaully knew where it was, let alone come from there. Small world. Oh, here's a computer model of my architecture project so far.
Apart from the governmental response, I've been dismayed by the actions of the people living in the city. I can understand people who dont want to leave because they have no car, nowhere to go, or no money to get themselves anywhere, and people who are just plain uneducated and stupid. What I can't understand is the looting, shooting, and lawlessness. I've heard stories about people looting wal-marts for food and distributing that out, but what's with the all the looting elsewhere? Do these people think the commerical market is going to come back to town next week? Do they think that rapes and murders are OK now since there's no one around to punish them? These people are savages, they don't understand what a society is, nor will they ever belong to one.
What a mess. I was really hoping to spend some time down there, getting back in touch with my birthplace, enjoying spicy cajun food and jazz. It's going to take at least a year to get New Orleans back on it's feet. At least the French had the good sense to found the French quarter on high ground. I was talking to the janitor back in the architecture building, and it turns out he's also from LaPlace. He was amazed to find someone who actaully knew where it was, let alone come from there. Small world. Oh, here's a computer model of my architecture project so far.
Aug 30, 2005
Procrastination: I'll tell you about it later.
My 'terrible tuesdays' aren't as bad as I had feared. In architecture history we learned about cave paintings and stonehenge. Our reading homework is one chapter of the textbook a class, begining with chapter one. My finding purpose class was really interesting. The professor who teaches it studied art and design, but eventually became and still is, a practicing therapist. Today we talked about effective time management skills and it really started to ring a bell for me. He talked about time as a space, an area of hour blocks, with 168 blocks in a week. Many "technical errors" we make when planning I found myself I make.
Errors:
Tasks don't have a home -you don't set aside a specific time or occation to get the task done
Tasks are overly complex -needs to be broken down into simpler steps
Clean up my workspace -ordered, structured work areas translate to better efficiancy
He also talked about obsticles to good time management, various ways to prioritize your tasks, and about procrastination as a major impediment to good time management. He described procrastination as having two causes: 20% of the time you dont want to do it, but 80% of the time its caused from a fear of failure, a major fear of perfectionists. In a hall of design and architecture students, this really struck a strong chord. Ways to combat it were to just to start doing something, anything to get over that initial intertia, and giving it a home in your time/space.
What I found particularly interesting was his point on creativity and structured time. He said that structing your time actually increases your creative potential, as long as you set aside time for dreaming, zoning out, brainstorming etc. I'm not sure, but I'm willing to give it a try.
There was an interesting bit about prioritzing tasks, and how people who categorized the tasks 1-3 in importance always got the 3 tasks done, but seemed to finish the 1 tasks, even though they had very high personal priority. To combat this, he recommended something he does every day, which is to write down the three most important, vital things to get done that day in the morning, and to check back and see how you're doing 4-6 times a day. I think this is a great idea. I'm going to get my whiteboard and make a three line chart.
One last thing he talked about was the system of evaluating how he did for the day using the plus/delta system. It really reminded me of dad, when he talked about plus/deltas for road trips and other things. I miss them, they'd really enjoy this 118 degree weather back in chilly (for an arizonan) weather back in Moscow.
Anyway, today on my work, I flipped through a book on prision design and fallout shelters in the 1950s-onward.
Errors:
Tasks don't have a home -you don't set aside a specific time or occation to get the task done
Tasks are overly complex -needs to be broken down into simpler steps
Clean up my workspace -ordered, structured work areas translate to better efficiancy
He also talked about obsticles to good time management, various ways to prioritize your tasks, and about procrastination as a major impediment to good time management. He described procrastination as having two causes: 20% of the time you dont want to do it, but 80% of the time its caused from a fear of failure, a major fear of perfectionists. In a hall of design and architecture students, this really struck a strong chord. Ways to combat it were to just to start doing something, anything to get over that initial intertia, and giving it a home in your time/space.
What I found particularly interesting was his point on creativity and structured time. He said that structing your time actually increases your creative potential, as long as you set aside time for dreaming, zoning out, brainstorming etc. I'm not sure, but I'm willing to give it a try.
There was an interesting bit about prioritzing tasks, and how people who categorized the tasks 1-3 in importance always got the 3 tasks done, but seemed to finish the 1 tasks, even though they had very high personal priority. To combat this, he recommended something he does every day, which is to write down the three most important, vital things to get done that day in the morning, and to check back and see how you're doing 4-6 times a day. I think this is a great idea. I'm going to get my whiteboard and make a three line chart.
One last thing he talked about was the system of evaluating how he did for the day using the plus/delta system. It really reminded me of dad, when he talked about plus/deltas for road trips and other things. I miss them, they'd really enjoy this 118 degree weather back in chilly (for an arizonan) weather back in Moscow.
Anyway, today on my work, I flipped through a book on prision design and fallout shelters in the 1950s-onward.
Aug 28, 2005
Pictures from the first week of school
Washing clothes at the laundromat, our pink paper tower in History of Architecture, and my desk in the studio of the architecture building.
Aug 26, 2005
first week in review
Tuesday and thursday, I went to the history of architecture lecture at 10:40, my earliest class of the week. It's taught by this thirtyish bookish guy who lookes exactly like an architectural historian. He's got brylcreamed hair with a huge side part, round glasses, and a high nasal voice. He is however, very energetic and almost manic about the subject, describing how we'd "go across the sweeping expanse of asia to see the great wall, the forbidden city, and japan" like a radio announcer talking about a grand prize vacation. Jen's also taking the class to get more of a taste of architecture. Thursday we were given an in class assignment to build a tower out of six sheets of pink paper that had to be 44 inches tall (4 sheets high). It also had to withstand a "wind test" of a sheet of paper waved in front of it. Jen and I teamed up with another archtiecture student and we built a really nice looking tower with a triangular cross section.
After that, I went to my structures class. This is interesting as its taught by a professional contractor. The downside is that he was alerted he'd be teachign the class less than a month ago, and he's never taught before. It's good because he knows so much from the real world, and how the architect-contractor relationship works, but he doesnt know what we dont know, so we have to stop him constantly to slow him down and explain terms like "kips" etc. Lots of cool engeneering stuff.
After structures comes Finding Purpose, a class that is both required in upper division, and came recommended from a friend who'd already taken it. Basically, its a class about finding your personal direction, exploring alternitives in life and your career, managing time, etc. We're taking the Myers-Briggs test next week, and apparently we also go over things like interviews, and other real-work stuff. There's virtually no homework, just a journal after each class, and the final project is a 5 page autobiography. A nice, relaxing class.
The last class of the day is Human Factors, a class on designing ergonomically and humanistically with anthropometrics. Not a whole lot of fun at this point, but we'll see how it goes.
This week, I worked 14 hours at the library, although I'm still getting the hang of closing it all down. Last night, Jen and I went to the double feature at the drive in. In the sweltering heat, we watched The 40 year old virgin and The Wedding Crashers. I was surprised about how much I actaully enjoyed both of them. Today, friday, I had no classes. Sweet. I just worked in studio for about six hours on my project.
After that, I went to my structures class. This is interesting as its taught by a professional contractor. The downside is that he was alerted he'd be teachign the class less than a month ago, and he's never taught before. It's good because he knows so much from the real world, and how the architect-contractor relationship works, but he doesnt know what we dont know, so we have to stop him constantly to slow him down and explain terms like "kips" etc. Lots of cool engeneering stuff.
After structures comes Finding Purpose, a class that is both required in upper division, and came recommended from a friend who'd already taken it. Basically, its a class about finding your personal direction, exploring alternitives in life and your career, managing time, etc. We're taking the Myers-Briggs test next week, and apparently we also go over things like interviews, and other real-work stuff. There's virtually no homework, just a journal after each class, and the final project is a 5 page autobiography. A nice, relaxing class.
The last class of the day is Human Factors, a class on designing ergonomically and humanistically with anthropometrics. Not a whole lot of fun at this point, but we'll see how it goes.
This week, I worked 14 hours at the library, although I'm still getting the hang of closing it all down. Last night, Jen and I went to the double feature at the drive in. In the sweltering heat, we watched The 40 year old virgin and The Wedding Crashers. I was surprised about how much I actaully enjoyed both of them. Today, friday, I had no classes. Sweet. I just worked in studio for about six hours on my project.
Aug 22, 2005
Salt River Tubing and First Day of School
I spent the last day of summer doing the ultimate college break/arizona thing: I went tubing on the Salt River. I drove out with a bunch of friends from the architecture/design house (a minivan comes in handy) and one other car. There were about 10 of us, and we stopped for lunch at a Sonic on the edge of the city and for a second cooler. We drove out to the meeting point where we rented our inner tubes and hopped on a blazing hot bus for a five minute drive out to the beaching site.
It was a scorching day into 108 when we started around 1 in the arfternoon. More experianced people brought sheets they laid on the innertube as a kind of seat. We lashed the coolers to another inner tube and as a huge group, floated gently down the river. The river was mostly filled with 20-30 year olds, and most were holding cans of beer. It's a very relaxing way to meander your way, enjoying the view, working on the tan, and occationally soaking yourself to keep cool. At one point of the river, there was a small ledge that people jumped off, which seemed like a particualrly bad idea considering that the people who were doing it had had a lot to drink.
It was fun though, and we'd occationally hit "rapids" where the water level was so low, you had to raise yourself up on the tube to avoid scraping bottom. We cruised for about three hours, and waded out at the exit spot.
Also there was a young woman with her group who was nearly unconscious and vomiting, either through the effects of heat, dehydration, and booze, or more likely, all three. One of our guys ran over and helped load her onto the bus. We passed an ambulance with lights blaring on the drive back once we got back into our cars.
Today I had studio at 1:15 PM. Predictably, a bunch of people including me, showed up at 12:30. We knew when class started, we were just eager to get going. We were finally let inside and I grabbed a desk a row away from the windows so I got more natural light. It's so cool to finally get a desk. Its a status symbol, a reward for our hard work. We've earned these desks. There are 13 people in my studio, a couple people I know pretty well.
Our studio instructor is Thomas Hartman, apparently the coordinator for our entire class. He's tall, lean, and balding with glasses, looks very much the bookish professor sans a bowtie. He's reserved, but it seems like he's going to be a mild teacher, which is a double edged sword. On the one hand, he'll let you "get away" with more, but on the other, he's probably going to be less critical of your designs. He seems like a good guy though, and he knows what he's doing.
We sat around our big middle table and talked for awhile about the studio before we headed down as a class for the lecture introducuing the project.
There are to be three projects this semseter. The first one is a rectangular box 10' x 12' x 16' as a human habitation. Half of its walls have to be concrete, half framed with wood and clad with transparent material. The final project is to be at 1'=1" scale. Thats' the whole project.
The purpose of the project is experimentation with materials, aestetics, and tectonics (how a building is put togather and how that relates to the larger structure). He wants us to build big, becasue that will force us to look very materially at how a roof meets a wall, or how framed structures join the concrete. It's a fast project, barely three weeks. We actually only have 30 classes before the end of the semester.
Today (right now, actually) I've started work at the library. I'm working M, T, W from 5-10 pm. It's really quiet and I've been familiarizing myself with proceedures, browsing books, and taking a look around. There's a lot of stuff here, a phenomenal resource. This library job can only help me to familiarize myself with it.
It was a scorching day into 108 when we started around 1 in the arfternoon. More experianced people brought sheets they laid on the innertube as a kind of seat. We lashed the coolers to another inner tube and as a huge group, floated gently down the river. The river was mostly filled with 20-30 year olds, and most were holding cans of beer. It's a very relaxing way to meander your way, enjoying the view, working on the tan, and occationally soaking yourself to keep cool. At one point of the river, there was a small ledge that people jumped off, which seemed like a particualrly bad idea considering that the people who were doing it had had a lot to drink.
It was fun though, and we'd occationally hit "rapids" where the water level was so low, you had to raise yourself up on the tube to avoid scraping bottom. We cruised for about three hours, and waded out at the exit spot.
Also there was a young woman with her group who was nearly unconscious and vomiting, either through the effects of heat, dehydration, and booze, or more likely, all three. One of our guys ran over and helped load her onto the bus. We passed an ambulance with lights blaring on the drive back once we got back into our cars.
Today I had studio at 1:15 PM. Predictably, a bunch of people including me, showed up at 12:30. We knew when class started, we were just eager to get going. We were finally let inside and I grabbed a desk a row away from the windows so I got more natural light. It's so cool to finally get a desk. Its a status symbol, a reward for our hard work. We've earned these desks. There are 13 people in my studio, a couple people I know pretty well.
Our studio instructor is Thomas Hartman, apparently the coordinator for our entire class. He's tall, lean, and balding with glasses, looks very much the bookish professor sans a bowtie. He's reserved, but it seems like he's going to be a mild teacher, which is a double edged sword. On the one hand, he'll let you "get away" with more, but on the other, he's probably going to be less critical of your designs. He seems like a good guy though, and he knows what he's doing.
We sat around our big middle table and talked for awhile about the studio before we headed down as a class for the lecture introducuing the project.
There are to be three projects this semseter. The first one is a rectangular box 10' x 12' x 16' as a human habitation. Half of its walls have to be concrete, half framed with wood and clad with transparent material. The final project is to be at 1'=1" scale. Thats' the whole project.
The purpose of the project is experimentation with materials, aestetics, and tectonics (how a building is put togather and how that relates to the larger structure). He wants us to build big, becasue that will force us to look very materially at how a roof meets a wall, or how framed structures join the concrete. It's a fast project, barely three weeks. We actually only have 30 classes before the end of the semester.
Today (right now, actually) I've started work at the library. I'm working M, T, W from 5-10 pm. It's really quiet and I've been familiarizing myself with proceedures, browsing books, and taking a look around. There's a lot of stuff here, a phenomenal resource. This library job can only help me to familiarize myself with it.
Aug 20, 2005
My Run-In with the Law
It was one of my typical wild friday nights. Jen and I'd were driving back in the minivan after watching the 9 oclock feature of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" at Arizona Mills. The police quadruple thier presence late friday and saturday nights around ASU. One of them turned on thier lights and pulled me over. Thank heaven I'd remembered to reregister the car, so I had all the paperwork on hand for the police officer. I'd been driving with my headlights off. I hadn't noticed since the dashboard lights were on. He took my licence and registration back to his car, returned it, and let me go without a ticket and didn't even give me a warning. He probably felt bad for me, a poor student in his parents minivan, nicely dressed, just back from a kid's movie with his date. There were much bigger fish to fry.
The movie was really good, except they did some stuff with Wonka's childhood which was a little strained and completely departed from the book. It was a really intersting contrast to the original movie, much darker.
The movie was really good, except they did some stuff with Wonka's childhood which was a little strained and completely departed from the book. It was a really intersting contrast to the original movie, much darker.
Aug 19, 2005
Art (walks) and Architecture (meetings)
Yesterday, I got up early and went to my upper division architecture meeting. I was surprised to see so many people there, until I realized they combined our class with that of the upper division landscape planning for this meeting. From here on in, its just going to be us and they're going to do thier own thing. The meeting was about two hours long, half of it was a welcome lecture by the new director, Petrucci. Right now the college is going through a transitional phase. Instead of the College of Architecture and Enviornmental Design, the college was renamed College of Design. Each section got thier own department head and we have a new director at each post.
Our new director had an interesting story about how he switched to architecture in college.
When he was going to Tulane, his dorm was separated out by floor by major, with architecture students on the top floor. One day, he was surprised to see a student standing stark naked out on the ledge screaming that it was judgement day. The director assumed he was just a religious fanatic (although all the architecture students in the audience knew what he was talking about). The poor guy jumped.
Intrigued by what was going on, he went upstairs and looked around the rooms and studios. The model making, and drawing that was going on put the hook in him, and he quit his premed studies. He ended up getting his BArch from Tulane and two masters from Harvard, the second in urban planning.
The second part was logistical stuff and stuff concerning international travel, internships, etc. We were assigned to our studios, but I'd never heard of any of the professors teaching them. Monday is the first day of classes, and that's when we get to pick desks. Hopefully, we'll avoid the mad petty rush which characterized the interior design girls.
That night, I went with Jen and her parents to the downtown Scottsdale art walk. It's still outrageously overpriced, and the only decently priced artwork is "gliche" or printed by a large format printer on canvas. I did see a gallery that had some russian stuff in it like the ones I saw at the Tetrakov in Moscow. They had a nice one of the Nodichevy convent covered in snow. When the gallery owner asked me why I liked it, they didn't belive that I'd actually been there. Afterwards, we all got ice cream at the Sugar Bowl.
Our new director had an interesting story about how he switched to architecture in college.
When he was going to Tulane, his dorm was separated out by floor by major, with architecture students on the top floor. One day, he was surprised to see a student standing stark naked out on the ledge screaming that it was judgement day. The director assumed he was just a religious fanatic (although all the architecture students in the audience knew what he was talking about). The poor guy jumped.
Intrigued by what was going on, he went upstairs and looked around the rooms and studios. The model making, and drawing that was going on put the hook in him, and he quit his premed studies. He ended up getting his BArch from Tulane and two masters from Harvard, the second in urban planning.
The second part was logistical stuff and stuff concerning international travel, internships, etc. We were assigned to our studios, but I'd never heard of any of the professors teaching them. Monday is the first day of classes, and that's when we get to pick desks. Hopefully, we'll avoid the mad petty rush which characterized the interior design girls.
That night, I went with Jen and her parents to the downtown Scottsdale art walk. It's still outrageously overpriced, and the only decently priced artwork is "gliche" or printed by a large format printer on canvas. I did see a gallery that had some russian stuff in it like the ones I saw at the Tetrakov in Moscow. They had a nice one of the Nodichevy convent covered in snow. When the gallery owner asked me why I liked it, they didn't belive that I'd actually been there. Afterwards, we all got ice cream at the Sugar Bowl.
Aug 17, 2005
Alec, the Librarian
All the freshmen are moving in, and you can see them everywhere with thier parents: On campus, moving into dorms, at Target, and at Safeway. It's funny and touching to watch them, parents sending thier kids away, trying to give them all the last minute advice about college, like they were never going to see them again, and buying all kinds of useless junk for thier dorm rooms. Target is really on the ball this season with a full kitchen boxed set for forty dollars, including pots, pans, knife block, cooking utensils, collanders, and salt and pepper shakers.
I bought some storage bins for my winter clothes and misc stuff. Yesterday, I hit TJ Maxx and picked up a few new button up shirts. IZOD, Perry Ellis, and a brand I'd never heard of. Jen looked at birds and bird cages, and we went around to Petco, PetsMart, and Birdworld. Birdworld is a huge store with tons of birds and cages including a macaw, a few parrots, a toucan, and a bunch of other birds. Jen bought a cage and a baby hand-fed parakeet and named it Lola. It's a pretty bird, and seems stock-still scarred of its new surroundings. Sugar, Jen's parent's dog, don't help to relax it. It'll just take some time.
Today, I went in to interview for the position at the ASU architecture library. The supervisor is a very interesting guy. He always dresses immaculately in a black suit, and has a very sunken weathered face, with long black hair. Add a top hat and he'd make a very somber undertaker.
He's nice enough though, and he really didn't ask me any questions. He took Molly's recommendation of me very seriously. I filled in a few forms, and he showed me around the library. I got the job.
The job is ideal. I am to work at the desk, shelve books, and occationally work on special library projects like cataloging special collections. It looks like I'm going to be working about 15 hours a week, most of that time I'll probably spend studying at the desk, which is fine with him.
Two days ago, my birthday/upper division enterance present arrived via UPS. Dad picked out a docking station for my laptop and a new monitor. The docking station is cool since all I have to do is stick my in my laptop, and it automatically connects to my USB lines, monitor cables, and LAN internet cables.
The monitor is amazing. It's a 19 inch screen, brilliant bright colors, and I can move my mouse from one screen to the other, allowing me to see multilple open windows at once. Really cool.
I bought some storage bins for my winter clothes and misc stuff. Yesterday, I hit TJ Maxx and picked up a few new button up shirts. IZOD, Perry Ellis, and a brand I'd never heard of. Jen looked at birds and bird cages, and we went around to Petco, PetsMart, and Birdworld. Birdworld is a huge store with tons of birds and cages including a macaw, a few parrots, a toucan, and a bunch of other birds. Jen bought a cage and a baby hand-fed parakeet and named it Lola. It's a pretty bird, and seems stock-still scarred of its new surroundings. Sugar, Jen's parent's dog, don't help to relax it. It'll just take some time.
Today, I went in to interview for the position at the ASU architecture library. The supervisor is a very interesting guy. He always dresses immaculately in a black suit, and has a very sunken weathered face, with long black hair. Add a top hat and he'd make a very somber undertaker.
He's nice enough though, and he really didn't ask me any questions. He took Molly's recommendation of me very seriously. I filled in a few forms, and he showed me around the library. I got the job.
The job is ideal. I am to work at the desk, shelve books, and occationally work on special library projects like cataloging special collections. It looks like I'm going to be working about 15 hours a week, most of that time I'll probably spend studying at the desk, which is fine with him.
Two days ago, my birthday/upper division enterance present arrived via UPS. Dad picked out a docking station for my laptop and a new monitor. The docking station is cool since all I have to do is stick my in my laptop, and it automatically connects to my USB lines, monitor cables, and LAN internet cables.
The monitor is amazing. It's a 19 inch screen, brilliant bright colors, and I can move my mouse from one screen to the other, allowing me to see multilple open windows at once. Really cool.
Aug 14, 2005
Sunday morning
The apartment is gradually falling back into order and cleanliness. I finished cleaning my room and bathroom, the common areas and kitchen are clean, and the only thing out of place are Ian's boxes of stuff. The weather is settling down into just being really hot and a little less humid, although it looks like we've got thundershowers coming later today.
Yesterday, I went to Sara's 5th birthday party at Sally's house. It was good to see them again, and Gabriel is talking up a storm. Sara is still a princess, and recieved a profusion of pink presents; barbies, princess dress up clothes, learning games, and acessories for her new bike. Everyone was really impressed with the Russian doll the family sent. Sally told me about the a new Chino that opened up near Gilbert, so we'll have to go there sometime soon.
Jen came back last night too, so I made her a spaghetti dinner and funfetti cake. Her condo looks really good, very modern with a bit of 1960's retro to it. She got a small barbeque grill and an outdoor umbrella, so they're going to have a really nice backyard/courtyard.
I'm surprised how much jet lag is staying with me. I keep waking up in the early morning and falling back asleep. The last two mornings, I've gotten up at six, and this morning I got up at 8. On to order books online!
Yesterday, I went to Sara's 5th birthday party at Sally's house. It was good to see them again, and Gabriel is talking up a storm. Sara is still a princess, and recieved a profusion of pink presents; barbies, princess dress up clothes, learning games, and acessories for her new bike. Everyone was really impressed with the Russian doll the family sent. Sally told me about the a new Chino that opened up near Gilbert, so we'll have to go there sometime soon.
Jen came back last night too, so I made her a spaghetti dinner and funfetti cake. Her condo looks really good, very modern with a bit of 1960's retro to it. She got a small barbeque grill and an outdoor umbrella, so they're going to have a really nice backyard/courtyard.
I'm surprised how much jet lag is staying with me. I keep waking up in the early morning and falling back asleep. The last two mornings, I've gotten up at six, and this morning I got up at 8. On to order books online!
Aug 11, 2005
Back in the ol' Inferno
Got home safe and sound last night around 2:00 AM. Flight from Moscow was full, and lasted at least three weeks. When I landed at JFK, it felt good being back in the best country in the world. After spending three months in Europe, I am blown away by how convienant everything is here. When I got my bags, they made announcements about a travel desk. Everything is clearly marked and people are happy to help you solve your problems.
At the AmericaWest ticket counter, a few people who joined the obviously one line looked befuddled and confused because it was a line that served BOTH the ticket counter and e-ticket check in. These people need to travel more.
America is so convienant, you can buy an electronic device that keeps your coffee hot on your commute from the seat of your airplane. Airline personell keep you updated and tell you patiently where to go and how long you'll have to wait.
Speaking of waiting, my flight to Las Vegas was delayed by an hour. Half of it, off the plane, half on while they did another mechanic check. Everyone with connecting flights in Vegas missed them, but I got to stay on the plane and continue on to Phoenix. My good luck continues.
All my bags arrived, and there was a super shuttle waiting right outside the terminal.
Phoenix is miserable. Not hot, for phoenix, its only 87 right now, but with really high humidity from all the rain they've been getting. It feels like Oklahoma, but with a higher-watt sun.
Got to sleep around 3 and woke up again around 6. Cleaned my bathroom, and started working on cleaning everything else. I left my room in a disaster. Time for a Stalinist purge.
Suki was happy to see me, and I've not seen any sulky behavior at all. She seemed happy and healthy, except her mats have spread all up her back, so I'll need to take her to a groomer I think. I need to figure out a way to transport her.
Ian is still here, in Ben's room. From the depth of suki hair on the floor, I'd have to say he's not vaccumed once in three months, so I did that this morning and changed the mail address back here.
At the AmericaWest ticket counter, a few people who joined the obviously one line looked befuddled and confused because it was a line that served BOTH the ticket counter and e-ticket check in. These people need to travel more.
America is so convienant, you can buy an electronic device that keeps your coffee hot on your commute from the seat of your airplane. Airline personell keep you updated and tell you patiently where to go and how long you'll have to wait.
Speaking of waiting, my flight to Las Vegas was delayed by an hour. Half of it, off the plane, half on while they did another mechanic check. Everyone with connecting flights in Vegas missed them, but I got to stay on the plane and continue on to Phoenix. My good luck continues.
All my bags arrived, and there was a super shuttle waiting right outside the terminal.
Phoenix is miserable. Not hot, for phoenix, its only 87 right now, but with really high humidity from all the rain they've been getting. It feels like Oklahoma, but with a higher-watt sun.
Got to sleep around 3 and woke up again around 6. Cleaned my bathroom, and started working on cleaning everything else. I left my room in a disaster. Time for a Stalinist purge.
Suki was happy to see me, and I've not seen any sulky behavior at all. She seemed happy and healthy, except her mats have spread all up her back, so I'll need to take her to a groomer I think. I need to figure out a way to transport her.
Ian is still here, in Ben's room. From the depth of suki hair on the floor, I'd have to say he's not vaccumed once in three months, so I did that this morning and changed the mail address back here.
Aug 3, 2005
Venice Pictures
Venice was a bit of a dissapointment: while it's very picturesque, there's not a whole lot to do besides tour the Doges Palace. It's hot, humid, and full of tourists. One good thing is there are no cars in venice, as there are only pedestrian paths. A negative consequence of this is that everything is really expensive. We did stay at one of the nicer hostels we've vistited, although I was kept awake at night by the mosquitos.
Aug 2, 2005
Aug 1, 2005
Positano picutres
Positano is a small seaside town in southern Italy near Naples. It was one of my favorite places on this trip. The images are of both sides of the town, a cafe where we had our first dinner in town, and the last image is Pompei, the complete Roman city which was buried and preserved by the cataclysmic eruption of mt. vesuvius, seen lurking in the background.
Jul 31, 2005
French Riviera
We stayed in a converted convent in the hills around nice, and traveled to Cannes, Monaco, and Eze-Village, a hilltop citidel 500 years old.
Paris Pics
Alright folks, here are a sampling of some of my better pictures from this trip. This one's for Jen.
Here a few pictures from Paris: the gardens of Versailles, the Eiffel Tower, Sacre Cour, Notre Dame, and LaDefense.
Jul 29, 2005
Welcome to LeninLand!
Fearless Readers:
I've been taking it very easly up in our apartment, although I have forced myself out and into Moscow at least once a day. It is disturbingly easy to slip into the habit of lethargy, especailly after a trip such as my own. A few notible excurisions:
The Tetrakov gallery was interesting, the best of Russian works before the rise of Communism. Russians came from tightly controlled artistic backgrounds: all works of art were church related up until after the renassance in Europe. Then all of a sudden, Russian artists had to learn how to paint people, landscapes, and battles. They love thier battles. It was interesting to see how they progressed in that short time from ikon-like simple portraits to the verge of impressionism. There were a few really striking peices, but on the whole, it was nothing spectacutlar.
The Red October Chocolate Factory was one of the more interesting things Ive done here. We donned our scrubs and toured a confectionary. The entire factory floor was crewed by women, as it is a low paying unskilled job. They mostly glued labels on boxes, and picked out defective chocolates. We actually passed a crowd of people in the lobby looking for work here. In the musem I was surprised to hear the guide casually mention that during WWII, the chocolates were laced with something "to take away fear" from pilots and submariners. Made me wonder what they drugged them with, probably cocaine. Anyway, we got to try a lot of chocolate and in the end, we got some more and listened to music to eat chocolate by while we had a tea and chocolate party. Everyone else in the tour group was over 40 and american.
Gorky Park is the name of a book I am just finishing and the name of a park in moscow. Taylor and I went there today to see the amusement park part of it. To enter, we had to walk through a marble gateway with bronze reliefs of Lenin and Red Army flags. In typical russian fashion, we had to buy a ticket to get in from a ticket booth, present it to the gate guard, then for every ride, go to their ticket booths, get tickets from them and then take it to the ride ticket collectors. We took three rides, the best one being a kind of platform that flipped around and upside down as it spun around, kind of hard to describe. I wonder where they got thier rides. It looked like a collection of decent german imports (the rides titles were all in german) and american carnie rides (with titles in english in bright bulbs). One ride we saw looked like someone had installed pirates of the carribean in Mt. Rushmore.
Here is a picture of me on the Cinque Terre hike in northern Italy.
Jul 23, 2005
Moscow R&R
So far this week, we've mostly just hung around here, watching DVDs. On the tourist side, we saw Red Square, with St. Basil's, the Kremlin, and GUM. Yesterday, we went to Novoditchi Cemetery beside the convent of the same name. Really interesting. Lots of granite monuments and huge busts. This was their field of glory: Military heros, generals, cosmonauts, composers, surgeons, and ballerinas. It was all more than a little overgrown, which led it to have a very garden feel. We also went to old Arbat street and ate at Hard Rock while we played "spot the tourist." Today we went to Ismalavad market and we bought a bunch of movies and some music. I looked at the chess sets but just didn't see any that I liked.
We watched Mr. and Mrs. Smith as we ate McDonalds back at the apartment. A dumb summer flick, but still fun. Chase got all his stuff together and we said goodbye before he hopped into the company taxi to the airport. He's got a long long long layover in London. I dont envy his ordeal getting through all the lines and russian beurocracy at the airport, but he'll be fine.
We watched Mr. and Mrs. Smith as we ate McDonalds back at the apartment. A dumb summer flick, but still fun. Chase got all his stuff together and we said goodbye before he hopped into the company taxi to the airport. He's got a long long long layover in London. I dont envy his ordeal getting through all the lines and russian beurocracy at the airport, but he'll be fine.
Jul 19, 2005
Mockba
Just arrived safe and sound back in sunny Moscow, after a five hour train ride inexplicably filled with loud Italian tourists. The last time I was here in the apartment was less than two months ago, but it feels like years.
On our tour of St. Petersburg, we saw the Hermitage, the Peterhof, Catherine's Palace, a few cathedrals and the Peter and Paul fortress. The six of us actually stayed in a hotel apartment, next door to Pushkin's old flat. The best and brightest by far was the Hermitage, located in a sprawling winter palace done in guilded baroque and luxuorious neoclassical style. The combination of amazing archiecture and amazing artwork is overwhelming. While the palace itself far outstrips the Lourve, the scope of the artwork matches it, although the quality of the masterpieces is not up to Lourve standards. They had all the masters of the lourve, but not thier best works. Also notable was the amber room in Catherines palace.
What amazes me was that of the many numerous palaces the Nazis gutted in thier advances into Russia, the Soviets rebuilt and restored them. Inlaid wood floors painstakingly relaid, statues carved and guilded, paintings redone.
Now, 13 countries and 26 cities later, its time to go to work writing and compiling my extensive notes on this trip. With nothing but time on my hands between now and when I head back for home, I should have a working copy of my travelouge/guide.
On our tour of St. Petersburg, we saw the Hermitage, the Peterhof, Catherine's Palace, a few cathedrals and the Peter and Paul fortress. The six of us actually stayed in a hotel apartment, next door to Pushkin's old flat. The best and brightest by far was the Hermitage, located in a sprawling winter palace done in guilded baroque and luxuorious neoclassical style. The combination of amazing archiecture and amazing artwork is overwhelming. While the palace itself far outstrips the Lourve, the scope of the artwork matches it, although the quality of the masterpieces is not up to Lourve standards. They had all the masters of the lourve, but not thier best works. Also notable was the amber room in Catherines palace.
What amazes me was that of the many numerous palaces the Nazis gutted in thier advances into Russia, the Soviets rebuilt and restored them. Inlaid wood floors painstakingly relaid, statues carved and guilded, paintings redone.
Now, 13 countries and 26 cities later, its time to go to work writing and compiling my extensive notes on this trip. With nothing but time on my hands between now and when I head back for home, I should have a working copy of my travelouge/guide.
Jul 17, 2005
Jul 16, 2005
St. Petersburg
After Chase's Dad saw us off from the bus terminal to the sea station, we took our free cruise ferry to Helsinki. It was a huge ship, but not quite the Royal Caribbean. It was the holiday inn of cruise lines, with computer slots everywhere and all the food you have to pay for. Our initial excitement of getting aboard was dampened by the fact we have to take a special elevator down to our cabin floor, and the fact that its below the car decks. To be fair it was a nice cabin, with four beds and a bathroom and shower, which we shared with two other guys. Really not too bad for our last hostel. 15 hour cruise to Helsinki overnight, where we walked around a bit and got something to eat. I also happened upon Holl's Kiasmus museum, heavily used in examples in my architecture lecture. We caught the train to St. Petes in the afternoon, and sucessfully had our tickets and passports checked no less than three times along the way. At the train station, we were met by a man holding a sign with my name on it, a welcome entry to a Russian city. We took it straight to the hotel to meet my family and my grandma Case. We actually have an apartment on the upper floors, next door to Pushkin's old flat.
Today we went to Peter the Great's summer palace by way of Hydrofoil, where we walked around the amazing palace interiors and the gardens outside. Lunch on the gardens, then hydrofoiled back to see two churches, one amazing one which seems to be on the scale of St. Peters, and the other which looks like St. Basils but is completely covered with glass mossaic tiles inside, floor to ceiling.
The Soviets just trashed these amazing churches, putting an ice skating rink in one, a morgue in another, and an atheism school in a third. Thankfully, all of them have been restored to their old glory.
Tomorrow we see the Hermitage, the largest collection of art in the world.
Today we went to Peter the Great's summer palace by way of Hydrofoil, where we walked around the amazing palace interiors and the gardens outside. Lunch on the gardens, then hydrofoiled back to see two churches, one amazing one which seems to be on the scale of St. Peters, and the other which looks like St. Basils but is completely covered with glass mossaic tiles inside, floor to ceiling.
The Soviets just trashed these amazing churches, putting an ice skating rink in one, a morgue in another, and an atheism school in a third. Thankfully, all of them have been restored to their old glory.
Tomorrow we see the Hermitage, the largest collection of art in the world.
Jul 13, 2005
Goodbye Hostel, Hello SAS Radisson!
Well, we are living the sweet viking life at the SAS Radisson Grand Viking Warlord Dominator Hotel, thanks to Mr. Kerry Kimball. Woke up at 9:45 and went down to a breakfast buffet. I dont think we have ever been more excited about a breakfast buffet, but we loaded up on pancakes (read mini crepes) eggs, sausage, and pickled herring, in the true viking style. Slept really really well, after getting 4 hours of sleep on the night train from Bergen to Oslo yesterday morning. Got to get going, ah yes, we are in Stockholm, departing the 14th for Helsinki.
Jul 10, 2005
Bergen
Scandinavia is expensive. Europe is expensive, but Scandinavia is really expensive. We are talking 10 dollars for a hamburger at burger king. It's insane. Every meal we eat, scrounging for the cheapest of what we can get away with is about ten dollars. We changed trains in Malmo, Sweden, and took another train to Trollhatten, a tiny town which prides itself on its old river locks and mentions a Saab museum as the premier tourist attraction. We were stuck here for 4 hours waiting for a train to Oslo. The weather is lovely, cool, sunny days. Oslo is small, and the part we saw, dissapointingly like all other european cities, except a bit smaller. We stayed one night at a hostel with some potentional. This is the farthest north we had been. It doesnt get dark here, just a dusky blue sky past 11 pm. The sun sets at 10:30, which is a little odd. We got up at 8 and caught a train to Flam, never seeing the city in its waking hours.
So much for Flam.
Now we are in Bergen, which is larger, but a much nicer city by the sea. It feels much smaller than it actually is. Nice fish market right by the wharf, old wooden buildings, and mist floating in the pine forest in the surounding hills. Today we took the funnicular up to seee the town from the top, and hiked back down to save the 3 dollar fare. Nice woods, one can easily see the vikings of old coming back from a hunting or looting expedition. It gets more rain here than seatttle, which makes a lot of ferns and moss. Saw a maritime musem (free for students!) and stumbled on a Stave Church, made completely out of wood, almost by accident, even though we were looking for for it. Signage and ease of use is definately lacking in this town as far as the busses are concerned. The outside of the church was cool though, made back in teh times when the vikings became Christianized. Back in town, we had dinner at the fish market, our "nice "dinner was fried fish and chips from a stand, about 12 dollars, and no drink. To be fair, its was a nice whole fillet, and it was the best fried cod I've ever had. Trying to figure out what to do tomrrow before we catch another night train to Oslo so we can meet Chase's dad in Stockholm. Sea Kyaking is sadly out, due to the difficulty of getting there and the expense, plus the price of the ferries, not covered by the railpasses. Be nice to see a coastal town though, a small fishing village.
We shall see.
Fjords not as severely rugged as I thought, maybe see more tomorrow. Time for bed.
So much for Flam.
Now we are in Bergen, which is larger, but a much nicer city by the sea. It feels much smaller than it actually is. Nice fish market right by the wharf, old wooden buildings, and mist floating in the pine forest in the surounding hills. Today we took the funnicular up to seee the town from the top, and hiked back down to save the 3 dollar fare. Nice woods, one can easily see the vikings of old coming back from a hunting or looting expedition. It gets more rain here than seatttle, which makes a lot of ferns and moss. Saw a maritime musem (free for students!) and stumbled on a Stave Church, made completely out of wood, almost by accident, even though we were looking for for it. Signage and ease of use is definately lacking in this town as far as the busses are concerned. The outside of the church was cool though, made back in teh times when the vikings became Christianized. Back in town, we had dinner at the fish market, our "nice "dinner was fried fish and chips from a stand, about 12 dollars, and no drink. To be fair, its was a nice whole fillet, and it was the best fried cod I've ever had. Trying to figure out what to do tomrrow before we catch another night train to Oslo so we can meet Chase's dad in Stockholm. Sea Kyaking is sadly out, due to the difficulty of getting there and the expense, plus the price of the ferries, not covered by the railpasses. Be nice to see a coastal town though, a small fishing village.
We shall see.
Fjords not as severely rugged as I thought, maybe see more tomorrow. Time for bed.
Berliner
Lets see... lot of ground to cover. Berlin was interesting, 4th of July, we had duncan donuts at at the Brandenburg gate, drank cokes at Checkpoint charlie and, hunted down the American Embassy to see the flag. The embassy is well protected by all the streets blocked off with massive concrete barricades and a roving squadren of police. For dinner, we splurged on burgers at Andy's American Diner. The last day we were there, we visited schausenhausen concentration camp, the first camp and the one all others were patterned after. It was the site of horrific medical experiments on children, mass murders, and torture. It rained the whole day, a fitting tribute. Everyone should see a concentration camp. After the Nazis, the Soviets refitted it for thier special prisons run by the NKVD. Its now a haunting memorial.
That night, we almost didnt make it to the night train. Getting to Flåm is a bit tricky. We had to take a night train to malmo, and another train to oslo. Twice, we have gone to the station and discovered that the train leaves from a diferent station, making the trains with mere minutes to spare. I triple checked the tickets, and the timetables, and we arrived 30 minutes before the train was scheduled to depart. We asked which paltform it was on and they told us it was at another station. We ran to check this with a platform attentdant, and he said that we shouild catch one of the metro trains to the next station. We waited and waited until five minutes befroe oour train was supposet do depart at 11:08, and gave up. We would be forced to lose a day and would have to call all the hostels to change the dates. Chase actually changed Olso, and I calle dour hostel in berlin to reseve a bed. We were sitting on the platform steps when he attnedant found us. He said we could still make the train. Keeping our berlin resrvation, we skepitcally boarded the metro, nothing to lose but sleep. It was waiting for us, held back 50 minutes due to the station shift. We made it with 10 minutes to spare. Teh train actually boarded a ship across to sweeden from Germany, and rolled of in the morning. More later, as people want to get online now.
That night, we almost didnt make it to the night train. Getting to Flåm is a bit tricky. We had to take a night train to malmo, and another train to oslo. Twice, we have gone to the station and discovered that the train leaves from a diferent station, making the trains with mere minutes to spare. I triple checked the tickets, and the timetables, and we arrived 30 minutes before the train was scheduled to depart. We asked which paltform it was on and they told us it was at another station. We ran to check this with a platform attentdant, and he said that we shouild catch one of the metro trains to the next station. We waited and waited until five minutes befroe oour train was supposet do depart at 11:08, and gave up. We would be forced to lose a day and would have to call all the hostels to change the dates. Chase actually changed Olso, and I calle dour hostel in berlin to reseve a bed. We were sitting on the platform steps when he attnedant found us. He said we could still make the train. Keeping our berlin resrvation, we skepitcally boarded the metro, nothing to lose but sleep. It was waiting for us, held back 50 minutes due to the station shift. We made it with 10 minutes to spare. Teh train actually boarded a ship across to sweeden from Germany, and rolled of in the morning. More later, as people want to get online now.
Jul 8, 2005
Safe in Oslo
Hey everyone, family and friends,
Safe in Oslo, from Berlin, will be in Flam tomorrow, and stockholm the 12th. Holding up well. Scamdinavia is outrageously priced with a 24% value added tax.
More later
Safe in Oslo, from Berlin, will be in Flam tomorrow, and stockholm the 12th. Holding up well. Scamdinavia is outrageously priced with a 24% value added tax.
More later
Jul 4, 2005
Prague
What we heard from other backpackers we talked to was that Prauge was a major tourist trap, hardly worth spending any time in. We cut back our time there from five nights to two to make room for our Budapest excoursion. Of course, Prague turns out to be the most beautiful eastern city we have seen so far. Tourists are bad, but no worse than Rome or Venice. The city went through WWII unscathed, so has all of its historic district and buildings intact. Its a surprisingly art deco and industrial arts city. We are staying at the nicest hostel Ive ever seen, with treated concrete floors, amazing walk in showers with dinner plate sized shower heads, and light airy rooms.
Our first day here, we walked around, had dinner, and later went to see War of the Worlds at the theater which premired LXG. I was unimpressed overall, although the action sequences were pretty cool. When I got back, I was immensely relieved to be informed that I had been accepted to upper division.
We also saw dragon boat races, which turned out to be crewed by Irishmen because we saw huge groups of the wearing thier team shirts going between pubs at night.
Yesterday, we walked to the Prauge castle, completely packed with tourists, so we decided to come back today. We also went to see Frank Gehry`s Dancing building, which I actually liked better than his big shiny swoopy buildings. White Stripes was playing at a small venue, but we were too late to get tickets, very sold out. Instead we walked around the Jewish district, the oldest in europe, if not the world.
Today we will go see the castle and perhaps an art exhibit before we hop a train to Berlin. Today is the 4th of July, and how better to spend it than by going to Checkpoint Charlie on the Berlin wall, where the Commuist reign ended and where American democracy broke through.
Our first day here, we walked around, had dinner, and later went to see War of the Worlds at the theater which premired LXG. I was unimpressed overall, although the action sequences were pretty cool. When I got back, I was immensely relieved to be informed that I had been accepted to upper division.
We also saw dragon boat races, which turned out to be crewed by Irishmen because we saw huge groups of the wearing thier team shirts going between pubs at night.
Yesterday, we walked to the Prauge castle, completely packed with tourists, so we decided to come back today. We also went to see Frank Gehry`s Dancing building, which I actually liked better than his big shiny swoopy buildings. White Stripes was playing at a small venue, but we were too late to get tickets, very sold out. Instead we walked around the Jewish district, the oldest in europe, if not the world.
Today we will go see the castle and perhaps an art exhibit before we hop a train to Berlin. Today is the 4th of July, and how better to spend it than by going to Checkpoint Charlie on the Berlin wall, where the Commuist reign ended and where American democracy broke through.
Jul 1, 2005
House of Terror
Man, the Hungarians have had it bad. After siding with the losing side, and being beaten by the Ottomans and the allied powers after WWI, they lost 2/3 of thier land. Then they were invaded by the Nazis for a short bloody reign, followed by the Soviets, for an even bloodier long haul. Today we went to a museum/memorial in the old Soviet NVA headquarters where the communist party ran the city and tortured and interrogated dissidents. It's an extremely well done, never too heavy handed, but always extremely moving documenting occupation by the nazis and the communists.
After we left there, we went to the castle hill district, and wandered around a free national museum of hungarian impressionists. The Hungarians are working really hard to foster tourism, with tourist kiosks near large attractions, free maps, and the angels who roam the trains looking for helpless backpackers. Tried to see the largest Synagogue in europe, but it had already closed. Rain today, light Seattle rain, according to Chase. Makes wandering around less comfortable. We strike out for Prauge tomorrow. One more amazing dinner for an amazing price.
After we left there, we went to the castle hill district, and wandered around a free national museum of hungarian impressionists. The Hungarians are working really hard to foster tourism, with tourist kiosks near large attractions, free maps, and the angels who roam the trains looking for helpless backpackers. Tried to see the largest Synagogue in europe, but it had already closed. Rain today, light Seattle rain, according to Chase. Makes wandering around less comfortable. We strike out for Prauge tomorrow. One more amazing dinner for an amazing price.
Jun 30, 2005
I Take A Bath
Our last night in Veinna, we made Gnocci at the hostl which actually turned out very nicely. The last day we crossed the danube to the 30-k long island, went to Kunst Haus Wien, (a real gaudi ripoff), and looked around the gardens of the Schloss Schunbrum. It is the palace of the Hapsbugs, a pale reflection of versaille with its french gardens, but had a decent hedge maze to its credit.
Train to budapest was nice, and Chase ran into a woman on the train who worked for the Budapest tourist board. She gave him a map, and showed him how to find the hotel.
Budapest is Vienna's poor country cousin. It's got amazing architecture buried beneath grime and neglect, everywhere you look. It reminds me of Moscow, but not nearly as green. Food here is dirt cheap, and it feels really weird getting 10 grand from the ATM, although its actually about 48 dollars. The hotel is ok, not the nicest we've stayed at, but it had availability at a good price. The breakfast room has a bunch of hunting trophies on the wall that look like they had been taken by the hapsburgs. That night, we ate at a great trendy cafe, including dessert for less than 12 dollars, including drinks.
Today we went to the baths. In this amazing neoclassical/baroque complex, there were huge hot outdoor baths, and a lap pool. Inside were countless saunas, steam rooms, and cold plunges. Chase got a Thai massage. We spent three incredibly relaxed hours there for less than 7 dollars. Afterwards, we went to the big mall to try to see War of the Worlds, but it was only in Hungarian. The mall is called "WestEnd Shopping Center" and looks like metrocenter. I kept my eyes peeled for the Orange Julius. Chase said it reminded him of Texas. We had lunch in their food court and then went on to see the gothic parliment building. At this point, we were caught in amazing downpour of rain, which completely drenchd us. Took the metro home. The metro cars are the same that run in moscow, as the city shares strong historical ties to the soviets. Tonight, we'll try to find a good place the book recommends.
Train to budapest was nice, and Chase ran into a woman on the train who worked for the Budapest tourist board. She gave him a map, and showed him how to find the hotel.
Budapest is Vienna's poor country cousin. It's got amazing architecture buried beneath grime and neglect, everywhere you look. It reminds me of Moscow, but not nearly as green. Food here is dirt cheap, and it feels really weird getting 10 grand from the ATM, although its actually about 48 dollars. The hotel is ok, not the nicest we've stayed at, but it had availability at a good price. The breakfast room has a bunch of hunting trophies on the wall that look like they had been taken by the hapsburgs. That night, we ate at a great trendy cafe, including dessert for less than 12 dollars, including drinks.
Today we went to the baths. In this amazing neoclassical/baroque complex, there were huge hot outdoor baths, and a lap pool. Inside were countless saunas, steam rooms, and cold plunges. Chase got a Thai massage. We spent three incredibly relaxed hours there for less than 7 dollars. Afterwards, we went to the big mall to try to see War of the Worlds, but it was only in Hungarian. The mall is called "WestEnd Shopping Center" and looks like metrocenter. I kept my eyes peeled for the Orange Julius. Chase said it reminded him of Texas. We had lunch in their food court and then went on to see the gothic parliment building. At this point, we were caught in amazing downpour of rain, which completely drenchd us. Took the metro home. The metro cars are the same that run in moscow, as the city shares strong historical ties to the soviets. Tonight, we'll try to find a good place the book recommends.
Jun 27, 2005
The Vienna Opera Mosh Pit
Yesterday: caught a 8 am train to Fussen from Munich, a two hour train ride. From Fussen, its another 20 minutes by bus to the jumping off point for Castle Neuswanstein (or however its spelled). Like its Disneyland counterpart, it was packed with hordes of american and japanese tourists. Lines were phenomenal. We ended up walking there and forgoing an hour wait for the 35 minute interior tour. Got some really nice pictures from the bridge overlooking the castle, then hopped back on the bus, then the train back to Munich. Our gear we left at the hotel for the day, so we hopped off the train, ran back to the hotel, picked up our stuff, ran back to the train station and boarded a train within 15 minutes. That train departed less than 2 minutes later. It was the direct line to Vienna that we didnt even consider catching. Our luck on this trip has remained nothing short of spectacular.
On the train, we sat in a compartment with Peter, who turned out to be an international emerald trader, one of only 20 people worldwide licenced to do gem business in Colombia, where he packs a pistol. We meet a lot of interesting people on these trains.
Vienna is a lot like the other european cities we have visited so far, but its a much more musical town. This morning, we did laundry and played chess on big peices outside. This afternoon, we went to the Haus Der Music, a sort of science museum for the ear, with lots of interactive exhibits and stuff about Beethoven, Shubert, Mozart, etc. By far, the coolest room was a stereo room, an oval room pumping out 10,000 watts of music from 30 high end speakers, 7.1 surround sound, 2 woofers. It was incredible. The msst perfect stero system I have ever heard. Something to work for once I pay off this trip.
After the museum we walked to the state opera house and bought standing tickets to a Puccini opera that evening. They missed my flip flops, and I got in. Tickets were 3.50 euro. I dont remember the name of the opera, something like L----- M------, but it was the worst opera experiance I have ever had. At 3.50 these tickets were overpriced. When they say standign room, they mean, in the aisle, unless you arrive more than an hour before the show. I was kicked away from the side of a standing bar because it had already been 'claimed' with a scarf. I ultimately ended up with a decent view of the stage, almost in the exact middle, but literally in the back of the theater. There was not even room to move it was so packed.
The opera was really really really boring. The music was nothing special, despite being conducted by Ozawa. It opened with a bunch of ladies looking at windows. The most exciting thing that happened in the first 45 minutes was that someones car was stolen. Not even violenty. As far as I could tell, what I saw was that one guy asked a girl to elope with him in a stolen car. I left after the curtain fell on the scene. First rate opera company, Fourth rate Puccini, Tenth rate 'seats'. We found a cafe on a city street and had a snack as we watched the sun set on the hapsburg palaces.
We are planning on hitting Budapest next, just 19 euros from here, and off the eurail pass.
On the train, we sat in a compartment with Peter, who turned out to be an international emerald trader, one of only 20 people worldwide licenced to do gem business in Colombia, where he packs a pistol. We meet a lot of interesting people on these trains.
Vienna is a lot like the other european cities we have visited so far, but its a much more musical town. This morning, we did laundry and played chess on big peices outside. This afternoon, we went to the Haus Der Music, a sort of science museum for the ear, with lots of interactive exhibits and stuff about Beethoven, Shubert, Mozart, etc. By far, the coolest room was a stereo room, an oval room pumping out 10,000 watts of music from 30 high end speakers, 7.1 surround sound, 2 woofers. It was incredible. The msst perfect stero system I have ever heard. Something to work for once I pay off this trip.
After the museum we walked to the state opera house and bought standing tickets to a Puccini opera that evening. They missed my flip flops, and I got in. Tickets were 3.50 euro. I dont remember the name of the opera, something like L----- M------, but it was the worst opera experiance I have ever had. At 3.50 these tickets were overpriced. When they say standign room, they mean, in the aisle, unless you arrive more than an hour before the show. I was kicked away from the side of a standing bar because it had already been 'claimed' with a scarf. I ultimately ended up with a decent view of the stage, almost in the exact middle, but literally in the back of the theater. There was not even room to move it was so packed.
The opera was really really really boring. The music was nothing special, despite being conducted by Ozawa. It opened with a bunch of ladies looking at windows. The most exciting thing that happened in the first 45 minutes was that someones car was stolen. Not even violenty. As far as I could tell, what I saw was that one guy asked a girl to elope with him in a stolen car. I left after the curtain fell on the scene. First rate opera company, Fourth rate Puccini, Tenth rate 'seats'. We found a cafe on a city street and had a snack as we watched the sun set on the hapsburg palaces.
We are planning on hitting Budapest next, just 19 euros from here, and off the eurail pass.
Jun 25, 2005
The Munich Sewage Ride
Today was a really good day. We started out at the hotel breakfast buffet, sausage and scrambled eggs, then went to the museum of modern art. They had a really good exhibition of tensile structure architecture, an area which ASU program really lacks, and a really good exhibit of Der Speigal cover art. Der Speigal is amazingly opinionated and partisan by American standards, so it was really interesting to see. They also had a great collection of classic modernist furnature from Thonet up to Aalto, to Panton. Their art collection was decent for only being a few years old: quite a few Warhols, a couple of Picassos and a few Dalis. The architecture was strongly modern.
I've really been surprised by how much I like this city. We were too short on time after the museum for Dachau, but I'm sure we'll get our fill on the holocaust in Berlin or thereabouts. In the afternoon we went to this massive public park in the middle of the city, in the same sort of style as Central Park. There was a force fed river, more like a canal actually, about 10 yards across with a really fast strong current, such that even at top speed, I could not swim agianst it. At the start of the canal, there was a permenant wave, and guys on short surfboards would take turns carving up the 10 yards of wave. We actually dove in near this point and were carried for about five minutes rapidly from where our clothes lay. We actually went too far, and ended up in alge green canal water beyond the park boundaries. We managed to climb out, no small feat considering the current, and make our way back to sun dry in the large grassy clearings. For dinner, we went to an authentic Bavarian beer and food haus, Andachser An Dom, where we got the best beer I've ever tasted. We both got the pork with dark beer sauce and potato balls, with spicy sausage. It was really good, the pork was excellent. Tomorrow, we are going to see Castle Neuschanstein, then continue on our journey to Vienna.
I've really been surprised by how much I like this city. We were too short on time after the museum for Dachau, but I'm sure we'll get our fill on the holocaust in Berlin or thereabouts. In the afternoon we went to this massive public park in the middle of the city, in the same sort of style as Central Park. There was a force fed river, more like a canal actually, about 10 yards across with a really fast strong current, such that even at top speed, I could not swim agianst it. At the start of the canal, there was a permenant wave, and guys on short surfboards would take turns carving up the 10 yards of wave. We actually dove in near this point and were carried for about five minutes rapidly from where our clothes lay. We actually went too far, and ended up in alge green canal water beyond the park boundaries. We managed to climb out, no small feat considering the current, and make our way back to sun dry in the large grassy clearings. For dinner, we went to an authentic Bavarian beer and food haus, Andachser An Dom, where we got the best beer I've ever tasted. We both got the pork with dark beer sauce and potato balls, with spicy sausage. It was really good, the pork was excellent. Tomorrow, we are going to see Castle Neuschanstein, then continue on our journey to Vienna.
Jun 24, 2005
James Bond at 10,000 feet
My last day in Gimmelwald, I decided to hike up to Schilthorn, a peak normally accessed by cablecar. The cable car fare to the top was about 80 euros, so I decided to hike it. It was one of the most grueling hikes I've ever done, including crossing two freezing waterfalls, hiking across massive snowflows in my treadless sketchers, and a perilous ascent up the craggy ridge to the top. The building at the top which included a restaurant in the round had a large room where they screened clips from 'On her Majesty's Secret Service' where schilthorn was the villians lair. I took the cable car down one stop, not trusting my flat bottomed shoes to a decent on ice and loose rock. In total I think I hiked about 10 miles.
Today I am in Munich, and this evening enjoyed the city center. Its pretty and baroque and modern at the same time. More later.
Today I am in Munich, and this evening enjoyed the city center. Its pretty and baroque and modern at the same time. More later.
Jun 21, 2005
Auf wiedershen, Interlaken; guten tag, Gimmelwald
The train from Venice to Interlaken was really nice, passed through the italian alps and through the lake como reigion which is another amazingly beautiful area of italy. Interlaken is situated between two lakes, in a massive valley surrounded by snow capped peaks. The Swiss alps are amazing, just launching themselves straight up into the sky. The town of interlaken itself was a major letdown. Its one of the most touristy places we have seen so far. Despite a population less than 15000, interlaken sported a Hooters, a McDonalds, and about three trillion boutiques selling swiss army knives and watches. The hostel, Baumers was a dissapointment too. A massive, sprawling affair in wooden, camp buildings, it crawled with boozepackers, mostly americans and canadians. The hostel had several happy hours, serving from two different bars. This was hardly the swiss experiance we had been anticipating. We spent the night and checked out the next morning. I had difficulty falling asleep on my bedroll under the eaves, as a group of drunks on the roof were loudly discussing how cool skydiving was. We checked out this morning, and Chase found a great village in his guidebook so we set out at once.
We took a train, then another train, then a bus, and finally a cable car to get up here to Gimmelwald, in the Jungfrau region. Its a tiny village, not even a town center, really, just a collection of wooden buildings, high up on the side of the mountain valley. THe hostel here is amazing too. Its hard to say which had better views, here or positano. Try googling Gimmelwald or the Lauterbrunen Valley. Anyway, today we had to hike 40 minutes uphill to get to an ATM. We sat on the side of the valley and enjoyed the view while we drank lager and ate chocoate and gummy bears. Also dunked ourselves in alpine glacial runoff later this afternoon. It was a little cold. Now, to see the cows grazing outside.
We took a train, then another train, then a bus, and finally a cable car to get up here to Gimmelwald, in the Jungfrau region. Its a tiny village, not even a town center, really, just a collection of wooden buildings, high up on the side of the mountain valley. THe hostel here is amazing too. Its hard to say which had better views, here or positano. Try googling Gimmelwald or the Lauterbrunen Valley. Anyway, today we had to hike 40 minutes uphill to get to an ATM. We sat on the side of the valley and enjoyed the view while we drank lager and ate chocoate and gummy bears. Also dunked ourselves in alpine glacial runoff later this afternoon. It was a little cold. Now, to see the cows grazing outside.
Jun 19, 2005
The Lido
After living in two global cities with major commercial/leasure centers styleing themselves as 'the lid0' we decided to see the real thing. Its a nice beach town island which chase said reminded him of the east coast beaches. Too many men in speedos though to be American. Ate lunch from a grocery store and went back to an interesting church in the round with a very dramatic white round center area. Lots of marble. Called the family this morning for Fathers day, caught them in the middle of a tour of a Turkish palace in Istanbul. Geographically, we are actually pretty close.
After the church we split up- chase went to the Peggy Guggenheim collection, I to the Gallery DAccademia. To each his own taste in art. However, my museum was pretty dull, with only a few interesting Tiziot's. It did have a reliquary which displayed what was billed as two fragments from the True Cross.
Sundays are a cacaphony of bells. They seem to ring constantly with no apparent tune. Took a nap this afternoon. After chase wakes up, well go for some pizza. Good light now for pictures. I have taken approximately 550 so far. Oh! Jen got into upper division along with 19 other students into the Interior Design program at ASU, hats off all around. (Like there was any doubt!). The tension mounts as July 1 approaches....
After the church we split up- chase went to the Peggy Guggenheim collection, I to the Gallery DAccademia. To each his own taste in art. However, my museum was pretty dull, with only a few interesting Tiziot's. It did have a reliquary which displayed what was billed as two fragments from the True Cross.
Sundays are a cacaphony of bells. They seem to ring constantly with no apparent tune. Took a nap this afternoon. After chase wakes up, well go for some pizza. Good light now for pictures. I have taken approximately 550 so far. Oh! Jen got into upper division along with 19 other students into the Interior Design program at ASU, hats off all around. (Like there was any doubt!). The tension mounts as July 1 approaches....
Jun 18, 2005
Ah, Venice!
Yesterday we managed to see Michaelangelo's David, do a complete tour of the Uffuzi, and find our way to the hostel in venice where we are staying. We waited in line for 2.5 hours to get into the Uffuzi, the lourve of Firenze, and it was the size of one wing of one floor of the lourve. It did have its share of Botticellis and a few DaVincis. Sadly, I have no clue what Dan Brown is talking about. They did have the Birth of Venus, however. We paid 16 euro to see the David, and I must confess it is the most compelling, astounding sculpture I have ever seen.
Venice is like the pictures portray, very picturesque for the first half of the day. After awhile the heat gets to you. I like the canals, but a map and compass is virtually useless in these winding dissected streets. We find our way by intuition. This morning, we went out walking aimlessly and ran right into the grand canal vaparetto (water taxi) stand's first stop. We got off and saw St. Marks square. Mom, when you come here, avoid this place like the plauge. Pigeons run amok, and vendors sell feed so you always see tourists literally covered in pidgeons, giggling and laughing like they are covered with butterflies instead of flying, diseased rats. The church is amazing, with a fused style of romanesque and byzantine. gold everywhere inside. More museums tomorrow, and the day after that we strike for the matterhorn!
Venice is like the pictures portray, very picturesque for the first half of the day. After awhile the heat gets to you. I like the canals, but a map and compass is virtually useless in these winding dissected streets. We find our way by intuition. This morning, we went out walking aimlessly and ran right into the grand canal vaparetto (water taxi) stand's first stop. We got off and saw St. Marks square. Mom, when you come here, avoid this place like the plauge. Pigeons run amok, and vendors sell feed so you always see tourists literally covered in pidgeons, giggling and laughing like they are covered with butterflies instead of flying, diseased rats. The church is amazing, with a fused style of romanesque and byzantine. gold everywhere inside. More museums tomorrow, and the day after that we strike for the matterhorn!
Jun 16, 2005
not so amazing cinque terre
After hearing nothing but rave reviews from all of the people we have met so far on this trip, I must say that cinque terre was a dissapointment. The hikes between the villages were really nice and picturesque, but the villages are overcommercialized and stuffed to the gills with American and Canadian tourists. Positano has spoiled us I am sure. Anyway, we caught a train there this morning and hiked around. Had a really nice lunch in one of the villages. I had the beans (no clue what they were when I ordered them, they just looked cheap) which actually were pretty good, and chase got a pasta with pesto sauce, about double the cost of my beans. We also split a small bottle of white wine, locally grown in cinque terre and bottled in La Spezia the gateway town. It was a hot sunny day, so we split from part of the trail and headed down the jagged igneous coastline. No beaches, but craggy rocks jettign out into the water. We jumped off and swam around a bit, heading back from the mouth of a sea cave after discovering that it was both really dark and also swarming with jellyfish who drifted in. Probably my last taste of the Med for awhile. Caught a train back here to Florence as the sun was going down. Really the best way to experiance the city is at sundown. Washed off the salt water, and now waiting to go grab a slice of pizza for dinner.
At least the high school tour group left.
At least the high school tour group left.
Jun 14, 2005
Under the Tuscan Sun (along with half of detroit)
Yesterday we saw the ruins of Pompeii, which was really cool despite being swarming with tourists and japanese tour groups. The city layout is untouched and its a very personal look into the homes and businesses of a roman city, as many mossaics and wall paintings were intact. Today we left Positano and finally arrived in Florence a full ten hours later. The romance of train travel wears off quickly, but we had a really nice ride from Rome to Florence. We passed through a rainstorm and so saw tuscany with the late afternoon sun shining down through the clouds. Florence was much the same, like a botticelli painting with the sunset on the river and teh narrow cobblestone streets. Its more crowded, and reminds me a bit of paris and a bit of rome. Calizone for dinner. Our hostel is in a scuzzy part of town near the center, and is jam packed with high school studnets on a school trip. Fortunately for you, dear reader, the chapperones shuffled them off to their rooms. Unfortunately for us, our room is one of them with ten beds, 5 bunks arranged military style. Florence looks very promising and we have some tough decisions to make about cinque terre, which everyone has raved about. Hopefully we can figure some way to enjoy both florence and the hike, perhaps taking a day or so off of venice, which is apparently only a weekend town at most. I finished Moby Dick this afternoon, adding it to my list of books read this summer. Tomorrrow- the duomo and david
Jun 12, 2005
Amazing Positano
Our room has a tiled terrace which overlooks the town and the ocean. the breakfast here is free cappuccino and coissants. Positano is kind of like if you took the na pali coast of kauai (hence the name) built a little town along its cliffs, and staffed it completely with italians. The only tourists here are other italians. Today we rented a little wooden 8 hp motorboat to explore the coastline. It was the cheapest option, at 80 euro for three hours. We took turns driving, learning quickly in the fortunately uncrowded harbor, and then dropped anchor near a few sea caves, diving into the clear water to swim out to them. We both got severely sunburned today. Spent the rest of the day lounging, reading, and writing. Im working through moby dick and chase is reading my copy of da vinci code. Working also on a title for the travelouge I am going to publish from my writings and photographs. How to say "Tap water, please" in forty-eight languages. etc. please submit any ideas. Caio for now
Jun 11, 2005
Positano
Quick post, internet pricey here. After 2 hours on widing roads on the sides of these jagged cliffs, we arrived in positano. Its absolutely amazing, still cant get over it. Check out pics online. just do a google image search for Positano. we are staying at a really cool hostel, the only one in the little town. with a great view. cell recpetion is bad, so still no phone. will try later. Dinner was overpiced, but great anyway. pizzaria tomorrow night. The town is full of steps as its literally built into the side of a cliff. Maybe tomorrow we can find our way to the bottom of the beach. More later. Goodnight!
Positano Ho!
Quick Recap: Yesterday morning we got chase's visa back from the embassy with no problems. Everything looked correct. It's amazing what money will do. Then we saw the pantheon at midday. Finally, we ended up on the old appian way, the ancient entrance road to rome, where cars drive over the same stones where the chariot wheels wore grooves. There went down the crypts of san sebastian, the ancient meeting and entombment place of the first christians. There were no bones, as nothing survives 2000 years. It was a dissapointingly short tour, affording only the most breif of glimpses at the complex labrynths of tunnels and crypts. We saw the resting place of San Sebastain, and apparently, St. Peter and St. Paul were also originally buried in the area. It's quite an experiance, trying to imagine walking in hte same footsteps of these men, only 2000 years past! The appian way is really pretty and rural, with ruins of villas beside modern restored villas.
Last night, we walked along the Tiber river, which is little more than the salt river in arizona. We walked past the church of St. Bartholomew, which contains the relics of the apostle who was skinned. In fact, in sculpture and in painting, he is always seen holding his own skin.
Today we depart for Positano, a mountan side town so isolated, there aren;t even any cars. We have to catch a train to Salerno and from there, continue by local train and bus. I'm looking forward to losing the hordes of tourists cramming the city, and just kicking back in the isolated beach town. Rome just wears me out. I go to bed completely wiped every day I've been here.
Yesterday we went to the grocery store and bought a bunch of fruit to catch up on our vitamins and minerals.
The weather here has so far been very mild for Rome. The first few days here were pretty miserable, but then it cooled off after a rainstorm, and even been cool enough in the evenings for me to need my euro sweater.
Last night, we walked along the Tiber river, which is little more than the salt river in arizona. We walked past the church of St. Bartholomew, which contains the relics of the apostle who was skinned. In fact, in sculpture and in painting, he is always seen holding his own skin.
Today we depart for Positano, a mountan side town so isolated, there aren;t even any cars. We have to catch a train to Salerno and from there, continue by local train and bus. I'm looking forward to losing the hordes of tourists cramming the city, and just kicking back in the isolated beach town. Rome just wears me out. I go to bed completely wiped every day I've been here.
Yesterday we went to the grocery store and bought a bunch of fruit to catch up on our vitamins and minerals.
The weather here has so far been very mild for Rome. The first few days here were pretty miserable, but then it cooled off after a rainstorm, and even been cool enough in the evenings for me to need my euro sweater.
Jun 9, 2005
quickie
Lets see, last night we decided to go on an adventure according to pre-written clues. We started by taking the metro the farthest out of the city and went from there. Our travels took us back to a church near where the hostel is, and we gave up the chase when the busses stopped running. Today we walked through the Roman Forum and Circus Maximus. I wasnt impressed with CM. It was just a grass hollow with a worn gravel track. The forum was cool, although packed with tourists. Afterwards, we hopped back the the hostel, where we ate at this pizzaria which sells good cheap pizza by weight. Read some more in Moby Dick and and then we set out to find the Old christian catacombs and secret meetign chambers. The map we used was bad, so we had to turn back, but only after we stopped in to San Giovanni.
Our Audience with the Pope
Yesterday we went to the Holy See and arrived in the middle of the benediction. St. Marks square was absolutely packed. The Pope himself was there with the clergy, and they were delivering blessings in different languages. The clerics with him took turns announcing which groups were present that the Pope was going to bless specially. The English speaking cleric read a list of about thirty names of groups including a high school in texas and and a college band. Everyone else who spoke english was blessed too. Afterwards we went to the Vatican museums, where I was miffed to see that they had crammed all the ancient roman statues into one narrow hall, and outfitted them with fig leaves. The museums were nothing special, but they were packed with a herd of people migrating to the sixtine chapel. Way too many people in there, took hours to wind our way over. The chapel itself was good. The painting was immaclate adn brillianly done for optical illusions. However, it was packed with tourists taking pictures despite the signs everywhere which said it was expressly forbidden.
After we left, we climbed to the top of the dome and saw rome from the hieghts before going inside. The line to see John Paul IIs grave was huge, so we decided to pass.
After we left, we climbed to the top of the dome and saw rome from the hieghts before going inside. The line to see John Paul IIs grave was huge, so we decided to pass.
Jun 8, 2005
Hadrian's villa
Yesterday morning we got up and caught a train to a Tivoli train stop about 15 miles outside of town. The day before I had asked the desk guys how one gets to Hadrians Villa. This was clearly an unprecedented request, as only the native italian had any idea of what I was talking about. I got off the rail stop and found a deserted station that didnt even sell tickets. I asked a shopkeeper and he told me to catch a bus down the street. We eventually found the bus, and took it to Hadrians Villa (villa adriana). The area was an ancient roman resort town and Hadrian was an emporer who built himself a villa there. Its out in the countryside, very picturesque and rural. The villa is ruins, but very interesting and expansive. Many of the arcades dome and arches still stand. I really wish I could have seen it at its full glory. After that, we ate at a pizzaria and I tried to find Villa D'Este, a renaissance villa world renowned for its fountains and gardens. We caught the bus again and took it up to a hill town I had seen in the distance, Tivoli. The villa was nothing spectacular, but the waterworks were amazing. There were grottos everwhere, water everywhere, fountains of all fantastic shapes, even a line of 100 faces spewing watter from a mossy wall. Caught the bus home to roma for gnocci for dinner. Dissapointingly it tasted like chef-boy-r-dee.
Jun 6, 2005
Chases' adventures in Visaland
First thing this morning we got up and got over to the Consulate, luckly only about a ten minute bus ride from the hostel. We had previously located hte hostel the day we had arrived and learned its operating hours. It is open for visa stuff from 8:30 to 11:30 AM only M-F. So we arrived in line outside at 8:30. There was a woman at the gate in a little booth whose only function was to make sure only a limited ammount of people went into the building. That, and to scare away small children. She spoke no enlglish and took pointed to the sign on the window when he indiciated he wanted to go in. We figured out that she wanted his passport. She photocopied it, then waited until some people exited to give him a little ticket that said Enter on it. He went inside with all his visa info. I waited outside for a little less than an hour. He came out and told me that they needed 94 euros and that the soonest they could have it done was by june 16th, several days after we left. They made him modify his own forms, and initially refused to loan him a pen. these are for visitors, they told him. I am a visitor, he told them. Not special enough apparently, but he finangled it somehow. I convinced him to get the money from an ATM and we went back. Cerburus at the window stopped him and refused to express any sort of care or recognition when we returned ten minutes later. She demanded to see his passport, which was inside along with all of his identificatoin papers. She made it clear in no small motions that unless he had his passport, he couldnt get inside, even when it was evident that his passport was already there. We grabbed an exiting woman who translated for us. (once again, saved by the kindness of strangers). Even with the translators help, cerburus refused to let him enter the embassy. Finally, we mentioned that we had not paid and, surprise, she let him in immediately, and me too, only pausng to photocopy his drivers license. Inside the line was short, and the cashier had a hard time understanding chases desire to pay 57 euros, but quickly accepted the 94. June 10th, she said. Save the reciept, I said. This is ridiculous, he said.
We did laundry today, its good to be wearing clean clothes. We lost the drunk middle aged scottsman, and got a party of 5 KU girls, probably sophomores. Apparently they had lost a member after he fell out of a window and had a scull fracture and brain hemmorhages. They took him to a hospital in Genoa, and continued on their way. They talked about it like a train delay. I was releived to learn to that hte mother immediately hopped a jet over.
I cant stand these boozepackers looking to get eurotrashed. It just makes me ill. Why did they come here? To hang out with other american backpackers and get drunk at pub crawls? What an opportunity. What a waste.
I picked up a copy of the da vinci code. While I enjoyed reading about places I visited in Paris, theres little mention of Rome, adn the story gets more ridicuolous and contrived as it goes along. Quick, fun read though. Bruce Willis is a good choice for the role.
We did laundry today, its good to be wearing clean clothes. We lost the drunk middle aged scottsman, and got a party of 5 KU girls, probably sophomores. Apparently they had lost a member after he fell out of a window and had a scull fracture and brain hemmorhages. They took him to a hospital in Genoa, and continued on their way. They talked about it like a train delay. I was releived to learn to that hte mother immediately hopped a jet over.
I cant stand these boozepackers looking to get eurotrashed. It just makes me ill. Why did they come here? To hang out with other american backpackers and get drunk at pub crawls? What an opportunity. What a waste.
I picked up a copy of the da vinci code. While I enjoyed reading about places I visited in Paris, theres little mention of Rome, adn the story gets more ridicuolous and contrived as it goes along. Quick, fun read though. Bruce Willis is a good choice for the role.
Jun 5, 2005
The Italian (hair) Job
Yesterday afternoon, I got a haircut from an Italian barber. I just pointed to the phrasebook that said "I want a haircut" and short, and he gave me a very short haircut. It feels a lot cooler. Last night we went to see the colluseum, forum and the king memorial lit up at night and we ate gelatto. This morning I got up early and went to S. Maria Maggiore, an interesting basillica as it has a flat, coffered ceiling. It is also the resting place of Bernini, the architect and sculptor. I found a department store, and bought 2 pair of boxers and a pair of shorts. Its just hot and humid here. Later this morning, we went to the Trevi fountain and saw the spanish steps. We didn;t even know we were on them until we got to the bottom. I didnt think they were that spectacular. There are tourists everywhere here, and tons of tourist junk on the side of the streets. Yesterday we bought a week transport pass that gets us unlimited transportation on the metro and busses. Its a good way to get an overveiw of the city. Last night we ate lasagna and a glass of wine. Its much cheaper here than in paris. Anyway, if theres something you thing we should see in roma, leave a comment.
Jun 3, 2005
The Ancient City
Well, we made it to Rome ok from Nice. For some reason, we assumed that the Cinque Terre hike would just work itself out. However, my plan A of starting in La Spezia and hiking for the rest of the day was hampered by the fact that there were no available rooms anywhere in the city. We decided that a plan B would work better. We caught a train in the afternoon to Roma, and so we will just make the CT hike a day trip from Florence. Our roma reservation didnt begin until tomorrow so today I booked this hotel, papa germano, from my cell phone. I am really glad I got GSM. Its been a lifesaver. Anyway, all the hostels and hotels concerned with me are in the Termini area, kind of sketchy at night, but much safer than south of the termini station. The hotel we are in tonight is pretty secure, as it takes 3 keys to get to our room. Chases LOI came in to the hostel so we are going to pick it up tomorrow ahead of schedule. We met a gentleman on the train who spoke very little english, but we got him to recommend a few restuarants for us, and we went to one of them tonight, a pizzaria. My pizza had egg, procscitto, mushrooms, and olives. Really good.
Ah yes, last few days in Nice, a quick recap. Yesterday we went to Cannes, a 2 hour bus ride away. We just hung out at the beach, swam and made sand chairs. The beaches are sandy and wide, and cannes had huge murals of movie stars everywhere. The day before that, we took the bus through this amazing midevil vilage, even more ancient that that place we went to, mom, overlooking the coast. Its called Ese Village. Afterwards went to Monaco and Monte-Carlo casino. I had no intent on losing money so I waited outside and watched millionares drive up to the hotel in thier bentley convertables and aston-martins. Made scottsdale look like Tempe.Chase won back the 10 euros cover charge and quit. However, he blew 20 on a vodka martini at the Bar Americain in one of the most exclusive hotels in the world, Hotel Paris in Monte-Carlo. I got a water. Anyway, back on internet that costs money, so thats about all the time I have.
Still doing well, staying mostly hydrated, and eating fairly well. Big day tomorrow as our first day in roma, so Buenosuerta!
Ah yes, last few days in Nice, a quick recap. Yesterday we went to Cannes, a 2 hour bus ride away. We just hung out at the beach, swam and made sand chairs. The beaches are sandy and wide, and cannes had huge murals of movie stars everywhere. The day before that, we took the bus through this amazing midevil vilage, even more ancient that that place we went to, mom, overlooking the coast. Its called Ese Village. Afterwards went to Monaco and Monte-Carlo casino. I had no intent on losing money so I waited outside and watched millionares drive up to the hotel in thier bentley convertables and aston-martins. Made scottsdale look like Tempe.Chase won back the 10 euros cover charge and quit. However, he blew 20 on a vodka martini at the Bar Americain in one of the most exclusive hotels in the world, Hotel Paris in Monte-Carlo. I got a water. Anyway, back on internet that costs money, so thats about all the time I have.
Still doing well, staying mostly hydrated, and eating fairly well. Big day tomorrow as our first day in roma, so Buenosuerta!
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