July 19, 2009 -London

Telephone Booth

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Today was another transfer day. Thankfully it is the last one until I come home. It’s no fun hauling all of my luggage from country to country. After going through customs we got on the Euro star and headed toward London. We went through the Chunnel. It didn’t feel any different it was just weird that we were under a body of water. Once in London we all got checked into our flats that we will be in for two and a half weeks. It is a great flat with two rooms, living/dining room, bathroom, and kitchen. Then we all went to the grocery store to get food to eat for the next week. Then everyone met to go on a walking tour of London. We saw Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, and much more. Afterwards I came back and cooked up some of my food. It was so nice to eat at home and know that the food was going to taste good and not cost a fortune.

Big Ben

Me at Big Ben


The London Eye



Some cool buildings

July 18, 2009 -Paris

Vaux le Vicomte at Night

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Woke up and after getting ready I went with Allie, Julia, and Amanda to the Catacombs. It was a good thing we got there early, the line got quite long as we waited for it to open. The Catacombs were created when they ran out of room in the cemeteries. So they took all the bones and stacked them up in different designs deep down in the ground. It was interesting to see but it was kind of a creepy place. Then I went to Les Invalides. This is where Napoleon was buried. His coffin is huge and is made out of marble. Then we made our way back to the hotel to meet up with the big group. We got on a bus and made our way to Fontainebleau. This is another palace that was used when the king was hunting. Here we used little information headsets as we went through the different rooms. It was really interesting to hear all the different details of each room. Then we went to a grocery store to get things for a picnic dinner once we made it to Vaux le Vicomte. Once we got there we set up our picnic in a little camp ground area. It almost felt like home and felt great to get out of the city for a little while. Then we went over to Vaux le Vicomte. It was supposed to be a candlelit tour but it starting raining. It was still beautiful though. It would be fun to live there.

Me in the Catacombs

Vaux le Vicomte


A room in Fountainebleau

Flowers at Les Invalides

Napoleon's Coffin

Me at Foutainebleau

July 17, 2009 -Paris

Palace of Versailles

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Today we went out to Versailles. It was amazing even though it was freezing all day. We first started going through the King’s apartments which leads into the hall of mirrors. Then from there we went into the Queens apartments. It’s weird to think that people actually lived in those rooms. Then we went out through the gardens. I ate lunch by the canal. Then we went on a walk through a manmade forest to a little village town called the Queens Hamlet. One of the Queens that lived at Versailles did not like being in the palace so she would spend her days out there and go back to the castle at night. The little village was so cute and is one of my favorite sites that I’ve seen so far. Later after resting at the hotel for a few hours I went to the top of the Eiffel Tower. It was awesome! When we got there it started to blow and rain. I was afraid it would be raining too much by the time we got to the top, fortunately, it slowed down. It was still cold and it was dark but the view was great. It has been fun to see the views of Paris in all different lights.

Arc de Triomphe

Chapel in the Palace

Me at the Eiffel Tower

Queen's Hamlet

Me in the Hall of Mirrors

July 16, 2009 -Paris

View from Arc de Triomphe

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Started out today at Villa Savoy. It took a train and bus to get there. It was different than I expected. It is a plain white house that was designed by Le Corbusier. I wish that it was brought back to its original state. It was quite run down. You can get everywhere in the house by ramp but it also has an awesome spiral staircase. After going through the house we all spent some time sketching it. Then most of us went to Kong. It is a restaurant that was designed by Philippe Starck. It sure has his flavor of design embedded into it. He used bright colors and ghost chairs throughout the design. It is quite the expensive restaurant so I split a meal. But it was fun to be in the environment and see the design. Then we went to the Museum D. Orsay. This has been my favorite museum so far in Paris. It is so fun to see all the recognizable paintings from my art history class. Most of the paintings are huge, it is hard imagining the size when seeing it in a textbook, seeing the original makes it so much better. Then a couple of us walked to the Arc de Triomphe. It was awesome. We climbed up the 300 stairs to the top. We got up there as the sun was setting, which made some awesome pictures.

Me in a chair designed by Le Corbusier

Interior of Museum D. Orsay

Villa Savoy

Arc de Triomphe

Kong

July 15, 2009 -Paris

View of Paris from Pompidou

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Up again nice and early today. This morning we started off at the Cathedral of St. Denis. The chapel was full of stained glass. It is amazing to think about how much work went into making the cathedrals we’ve gone to. So many are so ornate. Later we went to Centre Pompidou. It is a modern art museum. It was not my favorite. There was too many bizarre works of art that were not pleasing to my eye. The exterior is pretty awesome though. It looks like it is not finished with all the piping on the exterior but it is finished. It did have some great views of Paris while going up the escalator, which is also on the exterior of the building. Then after having a nutella and banana crepe I headed with the group to the Louvre. This was definitely more my style of art. We went into the Napoleon apartments which had beautiful furniture and chandeliers. Then we went and saw the Mona Lisa. It sure is quite small. It was very crowded and hard to enjoy the beauty of it. We also saw the sculpture Venus de Milo. There are many more things that we saw and there was also not enough time to see it all. Afterwards I came back to the hotel all museumed out. I just took it easy and got some homework done.

Dining Room in the Louvre

Centre Pompidou


Louvre


Metro Station

Cathedral of St. Denis

Piece of Art at Pompidou

Museum Patterns

V&A Museum

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This pattern was inspired by the top of the crystal palace model. After combining several together it created this pattern.

Tate Museum

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This pattern was inspired by a 10ft sculpture. I was not able to take photographs in this museum. It looked like a bulging cylinder with a cut taken out of it.

British Museum
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This pattern was inspired by the design carved into a stone. With some manipulation and subtraction this pattern evolved.

July 14, 2009 -Paris

Ballroom at Opera House

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It sure was quite the busy day. Today we were all free to do what we wanted so we filled up our schedule since there are so many things to see on our own while here in Paris. I first tried to find the Bastille Day parade with Josie and Laura. We never found it, which ended up being okay because those who went said it was kind of boring and very crowded. So we decided to make our way to Notre Dame. On the way we passed by a cool contemporary looking museum that has plants growing on the buildings walls. The closest metro ended up being more like a train metro and we weren’t too sure of how it worked. It was a double decker metro train. It ended up working out great and took us straight to Notre Dame. Today we went inside of it. It is very dark and has a more gothic feel. Then we made our way to the church of the Sacred Heart. The streets on the way up to it reminded me of San Francisco. Then when we got to the base of the church we had to climb up probably 200 stairs. I’m definitely getting tired of going up stairs. As we went down from the hill we found Moulin Rouge for Josie and then got onto the metro. On the metro we made our way to the Opera House. This by far was one of my most favorite places we have gone. It was used to film parts of the Phantom of the Opera movie. This made it fun to see all the different details that were used in the movie. The interior is made of mostly marble in all different colors. The stair case was beautiful. Then we found a ballroom that was just exquisite. I took my breath away as I walked around the corner to the room and saw my first glance of the room. There is gold everywhere, crystal chandeliers, paintings and huge fireplaces at each end. It would be so much fun to dress in period dresses and go to a ball there. After the Opera House we all made our way back to the hotel by walking. It was quite the walk but it was fun to see the city and not be in a hole underground. At the hotel I ate some food, talked to my family, and took a nap. Then about 9:30 I went with Allie, Erica, Scott, and Courtney to the fireworks at the Eiffel Tower. It was the most amazing firework show I have ever been to. They projected images onto the Tower to change its color and make it look like it was twisting, pulsing, being built, and much more.

Effiel Tower Fireworks

Church of the Sacred Heart


Effiel Tower Fireworks

Light at Opera House

Sparkling Effiel Tower

Plant Wall at Musee Du Quai Branly

July 13,2009 -Paris

Eiffel Tower

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I arrived this morning in Paris. The train ride was awful I probably woke up every half hour stiff and uncomfortable. Our rooms were not ready so I had to stay in my clothes a little while longer. While waiting I went with the group over to the Eiffel Tower. On the way we stopped at a sandwich and pastry shop. I got a chicken, lettuce, and tomato sandwich. Finally food that was enjoyable to eat. I actually want to go back and get another one some other day. The Eiffel Tower is amazing and huge. It seems like every new thing I see is a lot bigger than I expected to be. While we were there we spent some time sketching it. Then I went back to my room and got checked in. I first did some laundry and got ready for the day. Then I took some time to relax and work on homework. For dinner I went with Allie and Erica to a Chinese place and had some rice and pork. It also was very good. Then we went and finished up our sketches of the Eiffel Tower. After sketching we made our way back to the hotel to meet up with the group. We all got on the metro and went over by Notre Dame. It too is amazing. It definitely is one of my favorite churches we’ve seen. Then we walked awhile down by the river to the boat tour area. At about 10:30 we got on our boat. It was so pretty to see the city at night. The buildings all have such unique lights, especially the Eiffel Tower. It even started to sparkle as we went by.

Entrance to the Metro

Paris Train Station

Boat along the river

Me at Notre Dame

July 12, 2009 -Venice

A Hotel that I sketched

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Today was the last day in Venice. We took it pretty easy today. I slept in, enjoying my last day in the beautiful hotel room. I finally went down and ate breakfast. Later I got some work done on my blog. Then I went around and sketched some architectural elements throughout the city. Next I got all my belongings and luggage together and hauled my luggage over five or six bridges and down cobble stone roads to the train station. When the train arrived I got with my group of girls and we packed our luggage into our tiny sleeping courter’s that somehow fits six girls. It was kind like how Harry Potter travels to Hogwarts. I worked on my sketches for awhile until it was time to go to bed. Then we pulled down the other beds creating six beds in the smallest space that I’ve ever seen six beds fit in. Now it is time for bed but I know already that I’m not going to sleep. There is no place to get ready for bed so I’m going to sleep my clothes and get ready in the morning. They gave us these little sheet things that was like a cocoon and a nasty wool blankets to sleep with.

A buildling that I sketched

Sketch of a Hotel

Sketch of a Building