Day 27

What an amazing day...

In the morning, we set out for le Centre Pompidou designed by Renzo Piano. It was such an impressive building, exposing its guts and structure on the exterior.

After going through the modern art exhibitions I walked outside and to my surprise saw a group of people jump roping. I have competed against a team from Paris before but I thought to myself 'there's no way it's them,' but as I got even closer I realized it was! I am still in shock that I ran into people that I competed against in South Africa at the last world jump rope competition I competed in. They just happened to be filming a commercial outside of the Pompidou Center that exact day and I just happened to have my jump rope in my bag.  They made me do a demonstration in the plaza and I talked to them for a little while about jump rope. It was so nice to see someone from the jump rope world again!! After leaving them, I made my way to the Louvre where I met back up with the rest of my group. We did the touristy things like see the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo. Then me and 3 friends found a bridge to watch the sun set behind the Eiffel Tower. IT WAS AMAZZZZZZING. I couldn't have asked for a better day.

le Centre Pompidou

 Parisian Jump Rope Team

Mona Lisa

 Sunset behind the Eiffel Tower

Day 26 - Paris

After taking 5 years of French, I finally got the chance to put it to use!!!

Everything in Paris is even better than I thought it would be.. the crepes, the romantic atmosphere, even the Eiffel Tower was more amazing than I thought. 

Jenna, me, Courtney, and Lauren

Day 25 - Poissy

Ahhhh Corbu! We finally arrived at the Villa Savoye after a long, long bus ride.

Day 24

In Cologne there is a bridge where you are suppose to attach a lock if you are in love and then throw the key over the bridge.....it was too cute to pass up.

One for the thread and one for Ryan.

Day 23 - Cologne

Peter Zumthor is amazing. Enough said.

Day 22

Herford, Germany

Frank Gehry Museum - There was a Buckminster Fuller exhibit which I thought was pretty cool.

Day 21

This is a picture of Carsten Roth Architect's Office. He lectured at Virginia Tech in the spring and gave us a tour around Hamburg of different buildings he has designed.

Day 20 - Hamburg

Stepped building overhanging the Elbe River. Yes, I walked up to the top.

Amazing lunch : lamb and potato soup

The new Hamburg philarmonic concert hall underconstruction. Designed by Herzog and de Meuron.

Day 19 - Wolfsburg

We stopped at this Zaha Hadid museum in Wolfsburg on the way to Hamburg. It was an interactive science museum and It was SO MUCH FUN!!!

They had a mechanical jump rope station. Of course I played here for a while.

Day 18

First doner kebap - so much food for such a small price. The boys say they're going to open a stand in Blacksburg.

Day 17

Islandic Ambassador's House

Norman Foster's Library at the Freie Universitat

Berlin Wall

Day 16 - Berlin

Our first day in Berlin! This started the second segment of our program which means 2 new Virginia Tech Architecture teachers joined us. We started the morning with a walking tour of Berlin and talked about several buildings along the way. We broke for lunch and were suppose to meet back on Museum Island at 2 pm, but somehow my friend Lauren and I couldn't find the rest of the group. After about 10 minutes of worry, we came to the realization that we weren't going to find them so we ventured by ourselves. We found a nice spot to sit and sketch overlooking the river and it turned out to be an amazing afternoon.

Lunch : Cous cous salad with hummus dressing and a sun dried tomato, feta, and lettuce sandwich accompanied by an iced latte. DELICOUS

Day 15

Frank Gehry's design inspired by Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers' dancing

Day 14 - Prague

My studio sitting on the steps of Prague Castle

Day 13

On the drive to Prague, we stopped at the Loisium Hotel and winery designed by Steven Holl

Day 12

Today we went to the Karlskirche designed by Fischer von Erlach. This was one of my favorite buildings to study in History of Architecture so I was very excited to see it in person. It was even more amazing than I remembered from class. Erlach's design was largely a response to certain building code changes of the time so the geometry of the church is unlike any others preceeding it. In plan, the dome is elongated forming an ellipse and creating an even stronger axis which then continues on a larger urban scale. The individual masses are each its own entity and on the whole they form an amazingly brilliant building.

We were able to go all the way to the very top of the dome via a series of lifts and stairs. It was amazing.  This picture is looking down into the sanctuary. That was pretty scary.

Day 11

The highlight of today was going to the Postal Savings Bank of Vienna designed by Otto Wagner.

Day 10

The first day in Vienna was a very long day. The highlight of the day was definitely when we went up into this observation tower that sits right next to the train tracks where a new urban center is under construction. The glass elevator was probably the scariest thing I've seen so far... especially since it had a giant crack in it, but we all made it!

 This is me at the top holding onto the bar for dear life.

and this is the construction site

Day 9 - Vienna

The first night in Vienna we went out to experience the night life! We found ourselves at a small bar where there were a lot of people are age, but then we ventured further into the Bermuda Triangle where there were nicer bars which were too expensive for us to even step into.

Kelly, me, Lauren, and Ayesha.

Day 8 - Salzburg

We left Munich in the morning around 8, drove 2 hours and stopped in Salzburg and then drove another 4 hours until we arrived in Vienna! This is a picture of the Universitat Mozarteum concert hall in Salzburg. It was a beautiful coupled-volume hall and we were lucky enough to hear the amazing acoustics because a group was touring.

Day 7

This is a photo of the Pinakotehek Moderne museum next to the original museum. The moderne gallery was filled with a range of art from Dan Flavin and Sol Lewitt to Rene Magritte and Salvador Dali. I really enjoyed it.

Day 6

Goetz Gallery (I was sadly underwhelmed with the building and the artwork) :(

But the second photo is of a sculpture outside which I loved.

Day 5

Russ'n Wheat beer and lemonade and noodles with ham and egg (a traditional Bavarian meal) It was all delicious!!

Day 4

We woke up this morning around 7:30 and left the hostel at 8:30 headed toward Olympia Park and spent the morning there. We walked through the Olympic Village which is now student housing and one girl let us see the inside of her house. It was the perfect size for one person and the neighbors are such close proximity. We were outside for both of these stops so by the time we got to BMW World we were ready to sit - which we did and just looked at the pretty cars. We came back to the hostel to dry off and relax for a bit before dinner and then we looked at sketchbooks and discussed them for about an hour. Now I'm exhausted and we have another early morning tomorrow.