Steve's European Exploits

Where do I begin?

2009-02-21T13:03:00.004+01:00

Well it has been quite a time these last couple months. Last time I "blogged" I had just begun a 5 week trip around Europe. In short... it was an absolutely amazing experience and one that I will remember for the rest of my life. The main reason I have neglected to post was because there is simply too much to tell. However... I will attempt to tell of my travels.

My good friend Chase (a Cal Poly student who is also studying Architecture in Denmark) and I each got a 15 day global Eurorail pass which allowed us to travel almost anywhere in Europe over a 2 month period. To use the pass, we wrote in the date for the day we were traveling and it would be our ticket for any train we got on that day. We had to pay a small fee for reserving our seats a number of times, but the pass certainly saved us a lot of money and was a great way to get around Europe. We really enjoyed train travel and being able to see the scenery as we went by.

Cities we visited (in order):

Germany: 1. Berlin, 2. Munich, 3. day trip to Fussen (Neuschwanstein castle)
Austria: 4. Innsbruck (for Christmas), 5. day trip to Salzburg
Switzerland: 6. Zurich, 7. Zermatt (town under the Matterhorn)
France: 8. Paris (for New Years)
Spain: 9. Bilbao, 10. Barcelona, 11. Valencia
France: 12. Nice,
Monaco: 13. Monaco
Italy: 14. Venice, 15. Rome

We ended our traveling by taking a flight from Rome back to Copenhagen. We found a great cheap flight with a Dutch airline named Transavia.

This map shows the approximate route we went on. You can double click on the image to see it full size.

There is simply too much to tell to write all down in one post. I can say that I have begun to post pictures up on Picasa from our travels. Below are the links to some of the albums. I have not "captioned" the albums yet... but I hope to do so soon.

Innsbruck: http://picasaweb.google.com/steve04/Innsbruck
Zermatt: http://picasaweb.google.com/steve04/Zermatt
Bilbao: http://picasaweb.google.com/steve04/Bilbao
Nice and Monaco: http://picasaweb.google.com/steve04/FrenchRivieraChase

I have many more pictures to post, and will let you know as they are put up.

Since returning to Copenhagen, I have been busy with another semester as an architecture student. So far the semester has been going pretty well. The weather has been cold, dark, wet, and snowy recently so that has been a little depressing but it is starting to get better. A couple weekends ago I had the opportunity to travel to Berlin with the other full year architecture students at my school in Copenhagen. It was my 3rd time in Berlin and was fantastic as ever despite fighting a cold the whole time. Because I had already been there, I spent my time seeing many things in Berlin that I had not seen before such as Potsdamer Platz, the 1936 Olympic stadium, as well as a day trip to Dessau to see The Bauhaus.

Last weekend I had the opportunity to visit a family I knew from my home church in San Rafael. The father works for Chevron and because they are Dutch, the company moved him to work in Rotterdam for 3 years. They had invited me to visit them sometime when I was in Europe. I had a couple extras days left on my train pass, which expired the monday after the weekend... so I had to use it up that weekend. It turned out to be a really good time to visit with them and I took a day trip to Brugge, Belgium. I enjoyed some amazing Belgian beer, waffles and chocolate as well as some Dutch cheese. The only hard part was I had a lot of schoolwork to catch up on when I returned.

Last week was also a great week because my mom came to visit! She really enjoyed meeting my family and getting to see Copenhagen. I took her on a day trip to Malmo, Sweden which was great as well. Malmo is only a 30min train ride from Copenhagen and so it would be silly not to go since it is so close. Besides... now my mom can say she has been to Denmark AND Sweden :)

I have posted pictures of Berlin, Rotterdam, and Brugge on my Picasa page here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/steve04

Eventually... I hope to write more about the 5 week trip around Europe, so stay posted... :)

Traveling

2008-12-19T21:04:00.004+01:00

Well I had hoped to be able to give an extensive report on my last week of traveling in October in Switzerland, Munich and Berlin. Unfortunately, the end of my semester got really busy, and I ran out of time. I will attempt to give a quick description of my impressions of these amazing places. I have however posted many great pictures from my travels which will probably explain my trip better than anything i write.

Zurich, Switzerland:

It is safe to say that Zurich is the most beautiful city I have ever seen. I had a great day of simply walking around the city and taking it in. It is located at the north end of Lake Zurich, and provides amazing views of the Swiss Alps to the South... that is... if they aren't veiled in fog like the day i was in Zurich. For architecture, I saw the Art Museum and the Heidi Weber House which is now a museum for the architect who designed it: Le Corbusier. I also bought a legitimate Swiss Army Knife. :) You can find the pictures i took in Zurich here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/steve04/BestOfZurich#

Bellinzona, Switzerland:

Wow. If you ever have a chance to go to Switzerland... and you like castles.... you have to go to Bellinzona. It is a city near the southern border (near Italy) that guards the main pass through the Alps. It is in the southern foothills of the Alps and features not 1, not 2, but 3 amazing castles. And not just any type of castle... but 3 boyhood-dream castles made of stone blocks and probably the most "manly" castles ever. The reason I went there is the other DIS student I met up with in Switzerland has family that came from this region, and he wanted to see it. Little did I know that going to Bellinzona would end up being one of the most memorable things I have done in Europe. Check out the pictures and perhaps you will understand.

http://picasaweb.google.com/steve04/BestOfBellinzona#

Basel, Switzerland:

Basel is a city full of museums of all kinds. We were only there for a day, so we only saw a couple museums when we were there. I walked by the Tinguely Museum designed by Mario Botta and then walked to and spent a lot of time in the Beyeler Museum just outside of Basel designed by Renzo Piano. It hosts a great collection of art, included many paintings by Monet, who has become my favorite painter. Pictures can be found here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/steve04/BestOfBasel#

Right now I am in Berlin. I am beginning a 5 week trip through Europe and am very excited about all the things I will do and see. When I get the chance I will post pictures of my final project for the semester as well as finish my descriptions of Munich and Berlin from my last trip. Enjoy the Switzerland pictures.

Here is my itinerary for the 5 weeks: Berlin, Munich, Innsbruck (for Christmas), Zurich, Geneva, Paris (New Years), Spain, French Rivera, Italy, Croatia. Stay posted. :)

November update

2008-12-01T21:55:00.008+01:00

As you know, I am painfully aware that I am not particularly good at constantly updating my blog. I still have to finish blogging about my travels in Switzerland and Germany at the end of October. However, I will take a brief break from that to tell you what I have been up to this past November.

In short... November was a long cold month with school keeping me rather busy. There really hasn't been much of anything exciting or worth blogging about. I did a couple of papers, had a couple tests and have been working on a new architecture project. There is a joke in Denmark that helps describe what it has been like. "There are 15 months in a year in Denmark: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, November, November, November, December." Its just a long and cold month. The weather has been consistently cold and dreary. The days are getting shorter and shorter. Today was actually a nice day because there was no rain and only slightly overcast and the temperature got up to 40 degrees F (5 C). So if that's a good day.... you can probably guess how miserable the weather has been. However, Christmas season has started. Lights and decorations and candles are everywhere so that helps offset the weather.

Academically, the only thing of interest was a paper I did about courtyard housing by the Danish architect Jorn Utzon. As a part of the research, I visited one of the courtyard houses owned by a retired architect and had a great conversation with him about architecture and Utzon. I am sharing this with you is because I went on a very beautiful (but freezing cold) Saturday right after the first snow of winter. I took some sweet pictures you can check out below:

Jorn Utzon is the architect of the iconic Sydney Opera House and is one of Denmark's greatest architects. He died at the age of 90 two days ago on Saturday, November 29th. The Sydney Opera House is considered one of the most iconic and recognizable buildings of the 20th Century. Utzon never saw the completed Opera House because he was forced to leave Australia after many complications in construction and budget while he oversaw it being built. He never returned even after Australia made amends with him and begged him to return. Utzon cited his old age from being unable to travel again. Utzon remarked "It's part of education - I can't be bitter about anything in life." when asked if he had any regrets about Sydney. There is much I have learned and will continue to learn from this amazing architect. You can read more about Utzon here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7757042.stm

However the highlight of November has definitely been Thanksgiving. It was definitely very hard to not be able to be with my family for Thanksgiving. The only other time I had not been home for Thanksgiving was in 2004 when I was in Colorado. Because there were many of us students from Cal Poly in Denmark, we decided to throw a big Thanksgiving feast ourselves and invited the Cal Poly students in Italy to come up and join us. About 5 of them came and it was great to see them. There were 29 people total. Everyone contributed by bringing food or drinks. There was no lack of food or wine and everyone had a great time. We were at the house of another student's host family who lives outside Copenhagen. It was certainly the most unique Thanksgiving I will ever have and will remember it for years to come. Here are a couple pictures from the night.

Currently I am on the last week of a design project for a multicultural art museum in Copenhagen. When I have the fancy rendering and model done I will post them. I am pretty excited about how this project is turning out and am looking forward to sharing it with you. I hope everyone had a good November. I hear all you lucky people in California had a record hot November. I tried not to think about that when I was freezing over here.

Well I gotta get back to the architecture project.... hope everyone has a good week.

Favorite Songs - Episode 2

2008-11-26T11:52:00.002+01:00

1. Coldplay - 42 At first I didn't get this song... and then I realized it was a satire.... listen to the contrast between the beginning of the song and then the "You thought you might be a ghost...." part. Its a great satire of the seriousness of death. That's my take, however, I'm curious what you think.
2. Depeche Mode - A Pain That I'm Used To (Jaques Lu Cont Remix) Really really catchy, great remix. I can't get enough of this one.
3. U2 - I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For Simply amazing song. One of my all time favorite U2 Songs.
4. Matt Redman - Never Let Go Lyrics are so good, Matt Redman is an amazing song writer and worship leader.
5. Andain - Beautiful Things (Gabriel & Dresden Remix) Great song, great remix. Enjoy

Florence

2008-11-21T18:47:00.004+01:00

Florence is a really great city. It is not quite as insane as Rome, which was a nice relief. I thought it also had a lot more character than Rome due to the fact that Florence is primarily a Renaissance city and there is a distinctive architectural style all throughout the city. There were of course the inevitable tourists... but not nearly as many as in Rome.

Food and wine is amazing in Florence as well. Florence is a red wine city and therefore, as a red wine lover, I was very pleased with the amazing selection of wine. I had quite possibly the best pasta i have ever had in Florence as well at this restaurant near San Lorenzo church. Absolutely amazing... I could hardly believe that food could be that delicious.

We arrived in Florence by bus on Wednesday night. We got to stay in a very nice 4 star hotel. I shared a room with one other guy... well actually it was a suite... and we each had our own room.... and bathroom.

We started off the day on Thursday by going to see the Galleria dell'Accademia. This is the museum that houses The David by Michelangelo. David was incredibly impressive. I have seen many pictures of the statue before... but then when I saw it in real life I was overcome by awe. I knew that David was big... but I had no idea how big he was. The statue is literally 4 or 5 times lifesize... just incredibly huge. But he is also incredibly life like. I almost expected him to move or twitch or something it was so lifelike. Michelangelo has to be one of the greatest sculptors ever to live. I highly recommend a visit.

We then went on an extensive walking tour of Florence where we saw many churches, chapels, cathedrals, etc... The most impressive was of course Santa Maria del Fiore with the iconic dome known as Il Duomo designed by Brunelleschi. Brunelleschi was able to design the incredible engineering for Il Duomo by studying how the Romans built the Pantheon. Brunelleschi was faced with a number of challenges that he overcame with his ingenious and unprecedented design and construction process. At the beginning of the fifteenth century, the octagonal drum of the church was built but there was no dome. Brunelleschi won the competition for the design and construction of the dome with an incredible solution. Because of the existing building, it was not possible to use buttresses to support the lateral force of a typical dome, therefore Brunelleschi’s design was engineered so that the dome would completely support itself. To take things even further, Brunelleschi’s design did not require the use of scaffolding. Another strategy used was to lighten the weight of the dome by having two ribbed layers of brick rather than a solid mass. Due to the complexity of the project, Brunelleschi insisted that he have complete control over the construction of the dome. Il Duomo is not only an incredible feat in engineering and design but became the pride of Florence and remains one of the most recognizable architectural icons of the Renaissance.

As mentioned, I saw a good number of other churches such as Santa Maria Nouvella, San Lorenzo (a church designed by Brunelleschi but with no facade because he died before it was finished... and he never drew any plans), Santa Croce, as well as elaborate personal chapels of the powerful Medici family of Florence. We also saw the Palazzo Vecchio which was the seat of government for Florence during the Renaissance.

That night I was with my friends Kyle and Laura and we met up with some other Cal Poly students who were studying abroad in Florence. We went to dinner at a great pasta and pizza place. It was good to talk to the other students and find out what it was like for them to live and study in Florence.

Friday morning we visited the Uffizi Museum which is a very large collection of art that spans the centuries. It was definitely overwhelming. The most famous works in the Uffizi is Primavera and The Birth of Venus, both by the Renaissance painter Boticelli.

We had free time in the afternoon. I went with Kyle and Laura up to an amazing lookout of Florence on a hill across the river. Then we walked to the Boboli Gardens where we met the Cal Poly students in Florence. The gardens were pretty and it was very nice to get out of the city for a bit and enjoy some nature. We met back up with the group for a great last meal at a restaurant.

On Saturday the rest of the group returned to Copenhagen. I had the day to enjoy one more day in Florence before my train left for Zurich at night. I was able to meet up with the other Cal Poly students in Florence again and we spent the day just hanging out in Florence and in their apartment. I had dinner with them then walked to the train station for my night train to Zurich.

To conclude matters.... Florence was a great city to visit. I enjoyed myself much more in Florence than in Rome because it was not as crazy and I was able to relax more. It also helped that the food was especially good along with that delicious red wine. Overall, it was an incredible week of travelling in Italy. However, despite the nice weather (think California) and amazing food, there were many things about Italy that I was not such a fan of. It also gave me a whole new perspective on Copenhagen and the Danish culture. I realized that I really appreciate Danish culture and that Copenhagen really is a beautiful city.

Here's a few of the photos. Check out the rest here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/steve04/BestOfFlorence#

Il Duomo

Me with the amazing view of Florence

David by Michelangelo (i didn't take this because they did not allow photos)

Palazzo Vecchio

Ponte Vecchio

I will be writing about my amazing adventures in Switzerland next so stay posted.

Rome

2008-11-11T17:50:00.004+01:00

What a city! There is so much to see and do in Rome, that it is quite overwhelming. The architecture and art found in Rome is absolutely astounding and I am still incredibly impressed by what I saw. The most impressive building I saw in Rome, and quite possibly will ever see, was undoubtedly The Pantheon. In short, the Pantheon was built by Emperor Hadrian around 125 AD as a temple to “all gods”. It was converted into a Catholic church as well as a tomb to great Italians such as the artist Raphael. The Pantheon has a huge reputation as being one of the most influential and amazing buildings of the Roman empire, which gave me very high expectations. Most of the time, when I have high expectations for something, it tends to not live up to those expectations, but not so with the Pantheon. For me, it was even more incredible than I could have imagined. I was struck by how large and impressive it was as well as by the simplicity and grandeur of the design. However, probably the most amazing part to me was how undeniably old it is while at the same time being in very good condition for a building that has stood for almost 1,900 years.

I was also very impressed by the Colosseum, and it certainly lived up to its grand reputation. I was a little surprised by how small it was compared to my impression of it from Gladiator as a huge stadium rivaling those of the modern sports arenas of today. Nevertheless, it was a very impressive building, especially at night time. I have found that the best time to see big epic monuments is at night because there are no crowds, and they are always lit up very well. The Roman Forum and Palatine Hill and Spanish Steps were very interesting as well, but not quite as impressive as the Pantheon and Colosseum. On the way to the Roman Forum we saw the small plaza designed by Michelangelo known as the Campidoglio which features a bronze Roman statue of Marcus Aurelius riding a horse in the center.

One of the days in Rome was dedicated to visiting Vatican City. I saw the Vatican Museum, which holds one of the greatest Renaissance art collections in the world as well as many ancient Roman and Greek sculpture. Of course we also saw the Sistene Chapel, which I found very interesting, and am still trying to understand why Michelangelo painted what he did. There are so many levels of meaning to try to understand the composition. Essentially, the Sistene chapel depicts the history and beliefs taught in the Bible with one blaring omission. There is very limited mention of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I found this disturbing considering that the crucifixion and resurrection are the pivotal for understanding Christianity. The best way to explain this is to use as passage of the Bible I was reminded of concerning the importance of the Resurrection.

“But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.”
1 Corinthians 15: 12-19

As I understand it, this passage is saying that if the Resurrection did not happen, then the faith of Christians is meaningless. Therefore, I was surprised that in one of the most amazing and epic artistic depictions of the Bible, in a place held as one of the most sacred chapels in Catholicism, the Resurrection is largely absent. I have to assume that this was an intentional choice by Michelangelo, which makes me wonder why he chose to leave it out.

Another interesting part of the Vatican is of course St. Peters Basilica and St. Peter’s Piazza. I really liked the Piazza which is a surrounded by the marble colonnade designed by Bernini. It is a very well designed space that can hold thousands of people yet also has a comfortable human scale to it. Once inside St. Peter’s one is overwhelmed by the ornate details, paintings and sculpture covering the entire interior of the building. Underneath the massive dome lies the tomb of St. Peter which is covered by the Baldicchino which is a crazy copper structure designed by Bernini. My impressions of St. Peters is a mix between being impressed by the artistry and the feeling that the interior is overdone, like its trying too hard to impress people. Nevertheless, it is a fascinating place to visit, and well worth a visit if you are in Rome.

But that is just the beginning, as there is so much more to experiencing city. Rome is a city that seems like it can't decide if it wants to be ancient, renaissance, contemporary Italian or an international. Therefore it just seems to be a mess of all these things crammed in together in sometimes the most ridiculous way imaginable. If you have any notion that Rome is a peaceful or relaxing place to be, then you would be in for quite a shock. Rome, is quite a chaotic and noisy city. When you are trying to take in a building or sculpture, you almost always are having to fight a crowd of tourists in order to get a good view or are being pestered by vendors trying to sell you some ridiculous toys or souvenirs. I found that for the most part, the tourist groups in Rome are absolutely ridiculous, and incredibly irritating. I’ll get in trouble if I say any more. The street vendors are really annoying because you can’t sit and enjoy a cool famous building without someone coming up to you and asking if you want to buy something.
Sometimes they would even walk into restaurants while I was sitting and enjoying my food and try to get me to buy something. It was just really annoying.

Therefore, the best time to see famous buildings and monuments is at early in the morning and nighttime, in order to avoid the crowds and the vendors. I was able to photograph the Pantheon with no one in the picture because I took it at 7:45 in the morning. As an anti-morning person myself, it is well worth sacrificing some sleep to see the Pantheon in the quiet of the morning. On my last night in Rome I walked around the city with some friends, which I realized was the most epic stroll I have ever taken considering we walked past the Campigoglio designed by Michelangelo, the Roman Forum, the Arch of Constantine and walked all the way around the Colosseum. It was incredible to see the Colosseum at night time and I was able to get a bunch of cool photos of it as well. Seeing the Colosseum at nighttime is a must if you are in Rome.

When you aren’t being overwhelmed by tourists or pestered by vendors, you have to watch out for getting run over by crazy Italians on scooters or cars. In Rome they have no concept of a sidewalk or bike lane. Everyone: cars, pedestrians, bikes, scooter, horses, shares the same road. It is absolutely insane. Especially considering there are like 9,035,896,984,833 scooters everywhere coming at you. They scooters also make the city smell like gasoline, that is, when it doesn’t smell like sewage or cigarettes.

Although the Italians in Rome are insane… they do one thing very well…. Food and Wine. I had some pretty delicious pasta and pizza with really good fresh wine in Rome. I am not very sure how to make sense of this city, as I have seen some of the most amazing things in the world but also had to deal with a lot insanely irritating things. I can say that I am very glad I went, and going with the school was the best way for me to see it. Our Danish tour guide is incredibly knowledgeable about the Renaissance and Italian culture, and he also used to be in the military, which is a major plus in the midst of the insanity of Rome. I would never want to go there as a tourist, but it was amazing to go as a student and try to learn from all there is to see in Rome, and to understand why it is the way it is. In the midst of all the craziness, it truly was a great experience to see Rome.

Here are just a couple photos. I have posted much more here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/steve04/BestOfRome#

Enjoy!

Back in Copenhagen

2008-11-04T15:36:00.006+01:00

Wow. What an amazing last couple of weeks. So many amazing experiences that I will be remembering for a lifetime. I have so many pictures and memories I would love to share. As each city I visited left a distinct impression on me, I think the best way to share my stories is to take it city by city. For the next week or so, I will be posting individual posts on each city I visited complete with some of my favorite pictures of course.

As an overview, here is my schedule for the last 2 weeks.

Sunday October 18th - Fly out of Copenhagen Airport during the afternoon to Rome. This was the beginning of a week long study trip of Rome and Florence focusing on the Art and Architecture Italian Renaissance and its influences from ancient Rome and Greece.

Monday October 19th - Visited the major sites of ancient Rome: Roman Forum, Capitol Hill, Palatine Hill, Colosseum, Pantheon, etc...

Tuesday October 20th - Visited Vatican City

Wednesday October 21st - Visited Baths of Carcalla, other less known ancient Roman sites. Bus to Florence in evening.

Thursday October 22nd - Visited a whole bunch of Renaissance era churches, most significantly Il Duomo.

Friday October 23rd - Visited the Museum with Michelangelo's iconic David statue, and walked around the city, including a walk up a hill overlooking Florence.

Saturday October 24th - Hung out with some other Cal Poly students in Florence, then took the night train to Zurich

Sunday October 25th - Enjoyed a beautiful day in Zurich, saw an art museum and a house (now a museum) by the very influential Swiss architect Le Corbusier. Met up with another DIS student at the hostel that night.

Monday October 26th - Went with other DIS student to a town called Bellinzona in the South of Switzerland. Really cool little town with castles in the foothills of the Alps.

Tuesday October 27th - Went with my friend to Basel (northern Switz. near French and German border) Saw some cool museums.

Wednesday October 28th - Took morning train to Munich. Went to art museum in Munich in afternoon.

Thursday October 29th - Visited the 1972 Olympic Stadium and BMW headquarters campus with a really awesome showroom and museum for BMW. Took night train to Berlin

Friday October 30th - Went on a walking tour of Berlin. Saw most of the major historical sites in Berlin.

Saturday October 31st - Went to the Jewish History Museum of Berlin. Very cool architecture by Daniel Libeskind.

Sunday November 1st - Train back to Copenhagen, stopped in Hamburg for a couple hours along the way.

Monday November 2nd - Reality sets in as class starts again in the morning

the last couple days....

2008-10-29T22:36:00.000+01:00

Quick update.

Sunday. - Zurich. Beautiful weather, amazing city. I cant wait to get home so I can share the amazing pictures of the city and scenery with you. Saw the art museum and a building by the very influential swiss architect Le Corbusier.

Monday. Bellinzona (city in southern Switz)
Nestled in the alps…. 3 castles…. Need I say more?
O…. I also bought a genuine Swiss watch there…. Great watch for a good deal. Also got some Swiss chocolate… and it is quite amazing.

Tuesday. Basel. Saw a lot of museums…. Too bad the weather was crummy.

Wednesday Arrived in Munich this morning. Great city, great beer, great people. I love Germany.

I have one more day in Munich then I finish my trip with 2 days in Berlin.

Pictures are coming…..

Florence

2008-10-25T19:37:00.002+02:00

I am spending my last couple hours in Italy right now after a great week of studying the art and architecture in Rome and Florence.

I talked briefly about Rome in my last post, so heres the low down on Florence.

Florence was a nice relief because it was not quite as insane and touristy as Rome was. Also... the food is even more excellent here (as far as I can tell) :)

My teacher told me something very interesting about Italian wine. There are different regions in Italy that specialize in red or white wine. Rome is a white wine region while Florence is for Red wine. Whenever you go to a restaurant in Rome and order the house white wine, you likely get an excellent white wine, and the same for red wine in Florence. Since I prefer red wine over white (in most occaisons) I have really enjoyed meals in Florence. The pasta I have had here has been very very good as well.

In Florence I saw a lot of Renaissance churches, most notably Il Duomo. Again... I will be posting pictures when I get a chance... I have lots of pictures and can't wait to share them with you.

In a few hours I will be getting on a train to Zurich to begin my 3rd week of travel in Switzerland and Germany.

Peace.

When in Rome......

2008-10-21T18:29:00.003+02:00

Rome is great.

Food is amazing, the wine is delicious and the weather is exceptional. It has been such a priveledge seeing all this incredible architecture as well that has been so influential. I visited the Pantheon, the Colosseum, and many other significant buildings and sculptures yesterday. The Colosseum was great but I was most impressed by the Pantheon. Yesterday morning I woke up early in order to see the Pantheon without a crowd of annoying tourists in front... which was well worth it. Incredible to see such a large impressive building that has stood there for roughly 1800 years or so. Pictures are coming when I have a chance to upload them.

Today I visited the Vatican. We saw the Sistene Chapel, St. Peters Basillica and many amazing paintings and sculptures. Its a lot to take in. I will go further in depth when I have more time and pictures.

Tomorrow I see some more of Rome and then I am off to Florence.

Ciao

Germany & The Netherlands

2008-10-19T11:28:00.002+02:00

What a week!

I had a great time visiting lots of amazing architecture in western Germany and the Netherlands. I am about to take off for my 2nd leg of travel in Rome and Florence... followed by Zurich, Munich and Berlin for the remaining 2 weeks.

Here is a quick overview. You can see pictures of the various buildings I visited here:

Western Germany - http://picasaweb.google.com/steve04/BestOfGermanyStudyTour#
The Netherlands - http://picasaweb.google.com/steve04/BestOfNetherlandsStudyTour#

Sunday - Drove from Dusseldorf from Copenhagen. We stopped for a couple hours in Hamburg to see some buildings there. Hamburg is a very beautiful city, and I am hoping to go back at some point.

Monday - Visited museums in Neuss and Cologne in Germany. Lots of great architecture.

Tuesday - visited industrial redevelopment buildings in Essen, Germany. Drove to Rotterdam that night.

Wednesday - Tour of Rotterdam, saw a couple museums and other major buildings in Rotterdam

Thursday - Amsterdam! Amazingly beautiful city. Midday was spent on a bike tour of the harbor development with lots of new interesting architecture. Spent the evening walking around Amsterdam.

Friday - Utrecht. Another great Dutch city. I saw one of my favorite buildings in the world called the Educatorium by Rem Koolhaas at Utrecht University. Also went to an exotic car dealer which was amazing. Great day. After dinner we drove through the night back to Copenhagen.

Saturday - packing for my travels in Italy, Switzerland and Germany.

Sunday - Flying to Rome! stay posted.

here are a couple pics just to get you started.

Off Traveling Europe!

2008-10-12T01:31:00.004+02:00

Its been a busy couple weeks. This last week I had to finish and present a design for a row house as well as take a couple tests. This is because the school is taking a 3 week break from classes for traveling. woo hoo!

Week 1: (Oct 12-18) Architecture Tour with school of Western Germany and The Netherlands. I will be going to see Hamburg, Dusseldorf, Cologne, Rotterdam, Amsterdam and Utrecht. I am very excited to see all the architecture in these cities.

Week 2: (Oct 19-25) Rome and Florence! I am going on an optional tour of the art and architecture of the Italian Renaissance. I am super excited to finally see all of these iconic and extremely influential and beautiful buildings, paintings and sculpture. The Coloseum, The Pantheon, St. Peters, Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo's David, Boticelli's Primavera, Il Duomo in Florence, and much much more.

Week 3: (Oct 26-Nov2) I will be traveling on my own for the last week of the break. Starting in Florence, I will use the rail pass I bought to go back to Copenhagen through 3 amazing cities: Zurich, Munich and Berlin. I am planning to meet up with another DIS student in Zurich and spend a couple days with him in Switzerland. Switz. is an extremely beautiful county nestled in the Alps. I am very excited to experience the breathtaking landscapes. After Zurich I will take a train into Germany and spend a few days in Munich. Munich is an amazing city full of Museums, other architectural attractions and of course... the heartland of German beer. I very excited to see my favorite brewery: Spaten as well as the famous Hofbrau Haus. There also many interesting museums I want to see such as the BMW museum. After Munich, I will head north on a train to Berlin. Berlin is a huge city with a large variety of Museums and cool architecture, and has been one of the cities I am most excited to see.

I am planning on taking as many night trains in between cities as I can and stay in youth hostels in each city. It will certainly be a big adventure as this is my first time traveling Europe on my own. Prayers for safety, wisdom, and health are much appreciated.

Wow.... what a trip... and it all begins this morning... so now that I am mostly packed... I need to get to sleep as I am catching the bus ride to Germany early in the morning... *yawn.

Until my next post chronicling my amazing adventures, I will leave you with some renderings of the row house in Copenhagen I designed. I really enjoyed working on this project and am fairly pleased with how it turned out. Enjoy.

Front street facing facade:

Inside, 2nd floor:

Rear facade:

Natural daylighting diagram:

those pictures I promised...

2008-10-05T01:01:00.000+02:00

Pictures from my Tour of Western Demmark

You can see more pictures from Western Denmark here
http://picasaweb.google.com/steve04/BestOfWesternDenmarkPics#

Hellige Kors Church

Utzon Center

Utzon Center

Alvar Aalto's Museum in Aalborg

Alvar Aalto's museum interior. Amazing use of diffused daylight

At the top of Arhus Townhall Bell tower

Arhus Council Chamber Hellige Kors Kirke

Arhus University Utzon Center

Koldinghus Castle

Koldinghus Castle

View from castle tower

AROS museum

Arhus Radhus bell tower

"Boy" in AROS Museum

AROS museum interior

Quick update

2008-09-22T00:18:00.001+02:00

so I already knew this... but I'm not very good at keeping up a regular blog.

For some reason I can't adopt the concept of quick frequent updates... but instead feel like every post needs to be a perfectly composed entry complete with pictures etc...

that said... this will not be a perfectly composed entry giving all the minor details of my past 2 weeks.

This will simply be a list of what I have been up to, like what blogs are supposed to be right?

Last weekend (sept 11-13):
I went on an architecture tour of Western Denmark with my school. I saw a lot of museums, art, and other random significant buildings. The main cities I visited were Arhus and Aalborg in north western Denmark. If you're lucky, I'll be posting pictures and a more detailed description of the trip soon.
We got back on Saturday, so after amply catching up on sleep on Sunday morning, my friend invited me to an international church in Copenhagen to check out. I'm really glad I went, and it was great to know that there are English speaking services available in Copenhagen. I am praying about whether I should get involved in this church or not.

Last week:
I began my first design project. I am designing a row housing unit. It is a good project because its not very large, and so functions well as a first design. However the biggest challenge is that it is a very small and compact site as it lies within a line of row houses that are over 100 yrs old in Copenhagen. (side note: Copenhagen is a very old city, and when buildings are described as "not that old" it means they are less than 300 years old. I find this amusing considering how comparatively... America is a very young country with very "young" buildings)
When my design is complete I will give more info but in short... I want to design a very contemporary unit that still retains the strong sense of community and harmonizes with the architecture that is characteristic of this area.

This weekend:
I went to a concert/club on friday night in Copenhagen which was fun. The highlight was hearing a Danish funk band play. That's right... tall blond-haired-blue-eyed Danes getting funky in the vein of James Brown. There was a generous portion of wah pedals, guitar solos, and very dance-able grooves for a solid hour. I was in heaven. There's nothing quite like a sweet 5 minute guitar solo that breathes life into a electric guitar player's soul. :)

Today I saw a european football game, which was a lot of fun. Copenhagen's football club: F.C. København was hosting the Aalborg team. DIS was able to provide tickets for us students at a good discount, and I am very glad I went. The game was exciting. F.C.K. won 3-0. But even more exciting was watching and hearing the very excited fans chear and chant and dance for the entire 90 minutes. I think I am beginning to understand why football is such a big deal to Europe... its not just a game... its the new religion. Its about the excitement and shared experience with fellow crazy fans. Its about the roar of disapproval when a foul is committed against your team, or the congregate gasp as a player just barely misses a goal.... and of course the undignified excitement when your team scores.... to such a point that I think the engineers had to factor in the noise level of thousands of roaring fans when designing the stadium structure... Yeah.. its that loud.

I dont have time to put up pictues now b/c I really need to get to bed. But stay posted... I'm hoping to give more info on the Western Denmark trip as well.

Also... I am considering doing a report on the little random quirky things in Denmark that you won't hear anywhere else....

Frederiksborg Castle

2008-09-10T18:01:00.000+02:00

Last Sunday I went on a tour of Frederiksborg Castle. This was the first real castle I'd ever been too. When I was younger I was fascinated with castles and loved to draw and build Lego castles (Lego is a Danish company btw) Consequentially.. I was very excited about this opportunity, and it certainly did not disappoint. The best way to share my experience at the castle is not by me rambling on in my blog... but to show you more pictures. :)

Head over to http://picasaweb.google.com/steve04/FrederiksborgPalace# to check it all out.

Info about the castle: http://www.frederiksborgmuseet.dk/default.asp

First Week in Denmark

2008-08-31T20:07:00.000+02:00

I'm not sure how one can sum up the many new experiences and new cultural discoveries I've had in just one week, but I will give you my best attempt. I suppose the best way to describe this past week is through the different aspects of life: my Danish family, DIS/school, and Copenhagen/Danish culture.

Family
As previously mentioned, I am living with a family of 4: Andy and Marie are my "Danish parents" Andy works in a small architecture firm very close to DIS (my school) and Marie works in the city planning office for the city/community we live in. They have two kids Sophie (14) and Vitus (10). Sophie spends most of her time at school and riding her horse. Vitus is involved in many things in addition to school such as reading books, handball, learning to play cello, and Lego.

They have made me feel very welcome and I am enjoying getting to know my family. I have really enjoyed the dinner time conversations in addition to the good food :) It is great to share my culture and experiences with them and to be exposed to Danish family culture. On Saturday, I got to spend the day with the family by visiting a museum (The Ordrupgård Museum) with an extension designed by Zaha Hadid. She is an Iraqi architect who's firm is based in London. The museum was featuring the work by Danish furniture designer Finn Juhl. Another interesting aspect is the house that Finn Juhl lived in is adjacent to the museum and was open for touring.

DIS (Danish Institute for Study Abroad)
Well this program is certainly an adventure. Sometimes it feels like they try to make everything as confusing as possible. We were given many booklets of info for orientation and the semester, and it seems each one had different information, making it very hard to know when I was supposed to be somewhere (and where that somewhere was.) However, things have gone just fine, and I am excited about what I will learn from DIS. I am taking 4 classes: 20th Century Danish Architecture, Danish Language & Culture, Architecture Design, and Visual Journal. I am also enrolled in Italian Renaissance which is a 1 unit course to prepare us for an optional weeklong tour of Rome and Florence.

So far DIS has showed us around Copenhagen, begun to teach us Danish, thrown us a welcome party at a club near the school on Friday night, and made us sit through many orientation meetings. I volunteered to be a mentor to a "pre-architecture" student. My "pre-arch" is named Riley and he goes to St. Olaf University in Minnesota. Its been good to get to know him and to answer his questions about architecture. We are in a group with two other students for the first studio project which is to study and present a housing project north of Copenhagen.

Today I went with DIS to the "Frilandmuseet" or "Open Air Museum" which is a park where they have transplanted original farmhouses and settlements from hundreds of years ago from throughout Denmark. It was interesting to see how people lived that long ago in this cold climate.

Danish Culture
Copenhagen is a very unique city. It is very old and the part of the city where my school is located is in one of the oldest parts of city. As a result, the streets are winding and very narrow. Copenhagen has lots of very old architecture as well as many new buildings which has the interesting effect of having new architecture mixed in with the old. Copenhagen is also a very safe city, there is very little crime compared to other big cities, and I don't feel in danger walking around Copenhagen alone. Well okay... I lied... Copenhagen has one dangerous aspect.... the bicycles. People are on bikes everywhere and pretty aggressive. You have to keep your eyes out when crossing streets for oncoming bikes (and cars) .

Many streets are paved with cobblestones... which can be difficult to walk on, as it is easy to trip. Everything is also very expensive here. After the exchange rate, a "cheap" meal is about $10. Many consumer goods are a lot more expensive here than in the US. For example, I when I was wandering around Copenhagen, I found a guitar shop. I went in and played a couple of nice guitars, which was great. I then bought some acoustic guitar strings to put on the guitar I am borrowing from my family. In the US, the strings would cost me about $7, however... in Denmark it cost me $19! Ouch! One nice aspect is that taxes (and tip for restaurants) are included in the price, so you only pay what you see. Another cool thing is you can return beverage bottles to be recycled to stores and get back 1 kroner (about $0.20) .

Public transportation is typically very good. DIS gives me money to buy a train/bus pass which is very helpful. I will go into more depth in a later post, but my current commute is quite involved. The train from Copenhagen to the town I live in is under repair and so I have to bike to the bus stop, take the bus to another train line, take the train to Copenhagen, then walk to class. This takes about an hour, but so far its worked out.

There's so much more I could say, but I have to get to some homework for my Danish class. If you have any questions about my first week in Denmark please comment/email me. Hope you are doing well and enjoying all the cheap food, cheap guitar strings and asphalt/concrete paved roads.

Ordrupgård Museum

Vitus & Me at the Museum

Traditional Danish Farmhouse

Copenhagen

My first day in Denmark

2008-08-25T23:14:00.000+02:00

Well I'm here and adjusting to the jet lag. Its been a wild ride so far. I feel like I've been thrown into the middle of a completely different type of life, and I need to figure it all out, in the midst of being tired and excited.

My family has offered me amazing hospitality and I am very grateful to be living with them. I will give you more about them soon.

Well the flights over were long, and it was frustrating lugging all my luggage around several airports, so I am very glad that part is over.

I am very happy I got to see Jodi at the Chicago airport during my layover and meet her boyfriend Dan. They also brought me dinner which was amazing. Thanks guys! :)

Today is the beginning of DIS orientation. We got a tour of Copenhagen, which was helpful for starting to get to know the city. It helps that Copenhagen is a rather small city, but its still a challenge to get to know, esp. when its all in Danish.

Well I am dealing with jet lag on top of a long day characterized by lots of walking, so I'm about to drop off. Hope you are all doing well. Good night.

Here we go!

2008-08-23T18:18:00.000+02:00

Today is the day I leave for Europe.

I am all packed up and ready to go to the SF Airport.

I will have a 5 hr flight to Chicago. The layover time is a little over 2 hours.

Then I will complete my journey with a 9 hour flight to Copenhagen arriving at about 1:20 in the afternoon.

Have a great year everyone, and be waiting for greetings from Denmark.

Come in from the cold for a while
Everything will be alright
Come in from the noise for a time
Everything will be alright
Everything will be alright
For now, Goodbye, friend.
Goodbye.
-DJM

Rest in Peace LeRoi Moore

2008-08-21T04:56:00.000+02:00

Yesterday, a very sad thing happened that has left many shocked and grieving. LeRoi Moore, the beloved Sax player in Dave Matthews Band has passed away.

www.davematthewsband.com

For the past couple years, I have become a huge fan of Dave Matthews Band. The highlight has been the amazing experience of seeing them live last October at the Hollywood Bowl. Musically, DMB has been a great inspiration to me and I am very sad to see that LeRoi is gone. He is an amazing musician and helped found one of the most loved bands in recent history.

Taken from the DMB website:
"We are deeply saddened that LeRoi Moore, saxophonist and founding member of Dave Matthews Band, died unexpectedly Tuesday afternoon, August 19, 2008, at Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center in Los Angeles from sudden complications stemming from his June ATV accident on his farm near Charlottesville, Virginia. LeRoi had recently returned to his Los Angeles home to begin an intensive physical rehabilitation program."

I took this photo of LeRoi when I saw them live last October.

I got a call from Copenhagen today...

2008-08-08T20:23:00.000+02:00

It was the housing coordinator for DIS. She told me that she found what appears to be the perfect family for me to live with for my time in Denmark.

The parents are both Architects.
They are musicians.
They have two kids. (one boy, one girl)
They enjoy cooking. (= good food, also, I too enjoy cooking)

Could it get any better for me? I think not. I am so excited to get to meet them.

The reason I was called is that the family lives farther away than they typically like to place architecture students. Architecture students like myself will be needing to spend a lot of time at school, and so a longer commute can complicate everything. I was told that between where the family lives and DIS is a 55 min commute.

She (the housing coordinator) asked me if I was ok living with a longer commute. I told her that I would not want to pass up the opportunity to live with such a seemingly perfectly matched family. The cost of a slightly longer commute is well worth it for me in order to get to live with this family.

I am very very excited to get to meet my host family and to share my life with them for 9 months.

Next week I should be receiving an email with more information about my host family and how to get in contact with them. Stay posted.

its my Birthday!

2008-08-06T09:01:00.000+02:00

23 baby.

Favorite Songs 8-4-2008

2008-08-05T04:00:00.000+02:00

Because I am obsessed with music, i anticipate it will be a common theme of many upcoming posts. For example, occasionally I will post the songs I am currently really enjoying. Here's take one.

1. Coldplay - Yes (absolutely amazing song, can't get enough of it)

2. Dave Matthews Band - Last Stop (one of their best songs for sure)

3. Dave Matthews Band - #41 (the link is one of my favorite live versions with Bela Fleck & the Flecktones that's 32min long. AMAZING. be sure to see all 4 parts)

4. Armin van Buuren - Going Wrong (my favorite song from his new album)

5. Justin Timberlake - Lovestoned (Kaskade Remix) (I know... shuttup....I know its JT but Kaskade's remix is absolutely amazing)

Danish Rap....

2008-08-01T21:48:00.000+02:00

Nik & Jay, the "sensational" rap duo from the Kingdom of Denmark. And by sensational I mean it gives you the sensation that its so lame its actually really funny.

here's the "hit" single Boing! music video. Keep your eye out for massive euro v-necks.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDrSiLnkJ4g

o yeah.. its that bad....

enjoy! :)

warning... the video is imitating American Rap music videos... which tend to be unnecessarily and ludicrously sexually overdriven. This is no exception.

Less than a month to go...

2008-07-31T06:04:00.000+02:00

Welcome all.

In 23 days and 16 hours, I will be stepping onto a plane in San Francisco International Airport en route to Copenhagen, Denmark, thus beginning my exciting European endeavor that will last 9 months. As many of you know, I study Architecture at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo. The fourth (of five) is designed to give students like myself opportunities to study abroad. I will be attending a school named Danish Institute for Study Abroad (DIS). DIS is one of the best Study Abroad programs in Europe with a reputable architecture program that draws students from all over the United States.

I have been blessed to have so many friends and relatives who care for me and will want to be know what I am up to. Therefore, I will be using this blog to communicate as best I can my life in Denmark and adventures throughout Europe. I anticipate there will be a plethora of pictures to accompany the carefully (and not-so-carefully) written posts to chronicle my adventures abroad.

I am very excited for this opportunity to study in what has been recently named the "happiest nation on earth."

Things I am looking forward to most:
1. meeting my host family (hopefully I get one)
2. being a student again (work is alright, but its not architecture, and being a college student is so much more fun)
3. European techno clubs (America just doesn't get it)
4. Copenhagen! (apparently its an amazing city)
5. Traveling! (so many cool places and architecture to see in Europe)

Things I think I will miss the most: (stay posted)
1. Friends and Family (so many people I am truly going to miss seeing for 9 months)
2. Being a college kid in SLO (aka San Luis Obispo)
3. Grace Church (my church family in SLO)
4. Mexican Food (I honestly don't know how I will survive without Burritos)
5. Opportunities to play music (being able to play violin and guitar on a regular basis is such a significant part of who I am, its going to be really hard going without, not to mention my musician friends to play with)

So there you have it. My first post of many (hopefully) to come.
Edit: I will leave for Denmark on Saturday, August 23rd