What I Did on My Winter Break...

Day 1: I made a snow puppy.

Snowed in!

I didn't quite make it to RI tonight because the northeast got hit by a crazy snow storm . So i'm crashing at my sister's place.

Plečnik galore

So today I led myself around the city by visiting some Plečnik sites I had not seen yet. I started the day by going to the Roman wall. He reconstructed a roman wall from some ruins found. There is a big entrance under a pyramid, which is one of the distinct parts of the wall. He also put a line of pebbles between what was actual ruins and what he built.


Then it was onto the Church of St. James. It was had some great artwork inside, the church had very modern depictions of the station of the cross and Jesus preaching. They had a lot of feeling to them, and most were just black and white. Then I walked by his old house, but unfortunately couldn`t go in, because it is only open to group tours on mondays.

I looped back towards the marketplace and did a few sketches and finally had a chance to go downstairs. Its a long indoor space along the riverbank, divided into separate stores. At one point it stops and then starts again, apparently Plečnik had planned for a bridge to be built, but it never was.


I headed back to the hostel briefly, mostly to locate one of Plečnik's churches on the map. I took a brief detour and explored the Tivoli Park. It is gorgeous and I wish it had been warmer so I could have spent more time outside. Unbeknown to me there was actually a plečnik exhibit outside in the park, it was a bunch of photographs of his work. So the park fit right into my Plečnik day.


I rounded out the day by making the trek to St Micheal on the Marshes. It was out in farmland, although unfortunately it looked like suburban sprawl was getting closer. The church was beautiful and the inside was very rustic looking. It had large timber beams and felt pretty dark but cozy inside. The outside has an awesome bell tower that you get to by climbing around the outside of it. I couldn't go all the way up because it was blocked off.


I also got a surprise tour of some modern slovenian architecture on the way out there...

Bled

Today I went to Bled, which is a town in Slovenia known for it`s lake. The bus ride there was beautiful, it was through farmland with mountains in the distance. I arrived around 11ish and started the walk around the lake. It took about an hour and a half because I was also stopping to sketch every now and then. There is an island in the middle with a church on it, which looks quite picturesque from a distance. There is also a castle perched up on a rocky outcropping on the mainland.


There were a ton of ducks all around
the lake, and they were not phased by people at all. I also saw a few swans and a crew team.


After I walked the perimeter I stopped into the large church, it had a huge chandelier hanging in it, which was pretty crazy. The outside was very plain but the inside was heavily decorated.


Afterwards I hiked up to the castle which only took about ten minutes but was straight uphill. After making my way back down I stopped in a cafe for a cappuccino and then caught the bus back to Ljubljana.

Ljubljana Part 2

Today was my first full day in the city and I walked around from 9 until about 7:30. I started the day by hiking up to the Ljubljana Castle which sits on a hill right beyond the city center. It was a short climb and I sketched the castle surrounds a bit, and then walked around the perimeter. On the way down from the castle I noticed the lift stations at the back, where the funicular train stops. They were clad in what appeared to be copper and the side that faced the city was all glass.



I headed back down to the city and located the famous dragon bridge, so named because you guessed it there are dragons on the four corners. They are pretty fierce looking too.


Next I ended up making the trek out to the Zale Cemetary which was designed by Plećnik, who is basically the architect of ljubljana. It was a pretty long walk but I got to see some cool parts of the city. I didn´t spend too much time there but I did sketch a bit and then headed back to the city.

On the way back I came across St. Joseph`s cathedral which I went into since I was getting cold. Unfortunately it was no warmer than it was outside. But it gave me a place to sit and draw that was out of the driyyle coming down outside.

When I got back to the river I was excited to go to the christmas stalls, but unfortunately they were more just gifts then christmas stuff which was a little disapointing. I bought some mixed chocolates though, unfortunately 2 of the 5 kinds I got were rather nasty.

Afterwards I popped into a few more churches and then sat and sketched the main Piazza. It was pretty crowded with people and the sun had finally come out which was nice. There are a lot of kiosks out selling hot wine and other beverages and one of them was playing a funnz mix of music from the 90s, I heard New Kids on the Block, The Backstreet Boys and one that I recogniyed but don`t remember the name of.

I was getting hungry so I went to one of the food stands across the three bridges (also designed by Plećnik and got this bean dish, which ended up being pretty good. I was a little surprised I liked it since I don`t tend to like baked beans, it also came with a giant roll.

Tomorrow I plan on going to Bled which is a small slightly touristy town in Slovenia. It has what is suppossed to be a beautiful lake, at the foothills of the Julian Alps. The hostel owner told me I should definately go so I`m going to take a short day trip. It is only an hour bus ride away and must be a pretty popular destination because a bus leaves for the town every hour.

Ljubljana

I made it to Slovenia successfully. I got in tonight and then went and got some mushroom soup in a bread bowl, it was delicious. The town is all lit up for christmas and I would show you a picture but the computer I am using does not have usb ports, so i`ll have to put up pictures later.

Almost Final Day in Rome

Today is my second to last day in Rome. Tomorrow I will be heading to Ljubljana, Slovenia. I'll be back in Rome right before I leave to fly back to the states. Today I went and wandered the city a bit looking at a few things I hadn't seen yet. The first was Santa Maria della Angeli which is in the former Baths of Diocletian. It was a huge church, and felt a little like an old train station, probably because of the high windows. There was some beautiful stained glass work, and the light coming through the windows was extremely bright.




Then I went over to Saint Paul's Inside the Walls, which is on the Via Nazionale. There was an organist playing the whole time I was there which was pretty cool. The ceiling was pretty amazing, and unlike any other I've seen so far.


And for all you architects I found this on a building the other day:

And I am Done

Finished up my drawings and model. It feels good to be almost done. Our review is on Wednesday followed by an exhibition of our work on Thursday. Here are some perspectives I did, with the whole set up underneath, the pictures are a bit blurry but i'm planning on taking others.

Its Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Rome is gearing up for Christmas. The signs so far include the Christmas Market at the Piazza Navona, the Christmas Tree in the Pantheon and finally the lights on selected streets....

The Belly of the Beatle

Today we took a day long trip to three pieces of modern architecture. The first was the Parco Della Musica by Renzo Piano. The design consists of three separate auditoriums which each have different acoustical qualities. The three pods are often compared to beatles, due to their shape. The roof is made of lead panels, and the interiors range from wood to brick. The coolest part of the structures could be seen by climbing up the fire escapes. Once you did it felt as if you were in a whale's belly.



The next stop was the Adreatine monument which commemorates a site where 340 Italians were murdered by the Germans during the occupation. Afterwards the Germans bombed the caves in a few spots to make it look like an accident. The monument incorporates the caves themselves and you enter in and see where the bodies were interred. The architects preserved the holes where the bombs came through the caves.


Finally we ended with Richard Meir's Jubilee Church, which is way on the outskirts of the city. The building was okay, but looked terrible in the context of what was around it. In Meir fashion the building was all white, and felt completely separate from the surroundings. As you can see from the photos below the idea behind the building was a boat...

Rome Does Gothic

Today I visited the only Gothic looking church in Rome, it was a nice change from all the Baroque churches we've been seeing.


I also thought I'd throw in a picture of the only gas station I've seen here, which happens to be right near the church above.


and finally on the way home, I stumbled upon a movie set. Everyone was in period dress, and they had a bunch of old cars and buses.

Faking It

Today I stopped into Saint Ignatius. It was a very strange church in terms of the ceiling. The main ceiling was a great example of perspective, and made the space feel as if it went a lot higher than it did. The window at the bottom of the picture is where the ceiling ends.


Then there was the dome over the center space. Most churches have a giant dome with a cupola at the top which lets in light. This church at first glance appeared no different, that is while you were standing towards the back in the center of the aisle. As you approached the front, however, it turns out that the dome doesn't exist. It is painted on in false perspective, so it looks really twisted from any other angle.


In the front of the church there is a giant model. It is not of any one particular church, but was apparently supposed to represent all the Jesuit churches around the world uniting into one giant Jesuit church. I'm not entirely sure about the details because it was all in Italian. There is a large circular church in the center surrounded by a bunch of small miniature churches. Each miniature church corresponds to a different country.

Fascism In Rome

Today we took a trip to Citta Universita, which is a university complex designed by the fascist government. It was planned by Marcello Piacentini, he designed the main administration building/library and then selected young italian architects to do the others. Most of the buildings were nothing to write home about but there were some gorgeous fire escapes. Here are some of the highlights:

Thanksgiving Rome Style

Yesterday we had a huge thanksgiving meal, it was quite the spread. There was tons of turkey, stuffing, yams, mashed potatoes, all kinds of salad and lots and lots of pie. I started the morning with a trip to Saint Peter's since I had missed the Pietra the first time I went. Its a sculpture by Michelangelo which depicts Mary holding the body of Jesus. The details are supposed to be incredible, but they don't let you close enough to really examine it.


Afterwards I helped make a couple apple pies for dinner that night. I had never made an apple pie before, but I think they turned out well. Both were gone by the end of dinner. I also made some creamed corn for the occasion, since its not thanksgiving without creamed corn. During dinner they played a slide-show complied from all of our pictures. By the end of the night everyone was in a food coma.


Due to the massive amounts of food eaten, a few of us decided to go on an evening walking tour of Rome. The first stop was the pantheon, although we got distracted by San Ivo along the way.

Eventually we made it to the Pantheon, but it had closed about 1/2 hour before, so we hung out in the portico for a bit before making our way to the Trevi fountain.


We accidentally overshot the Trevi and ended up at the Spanish Steps, so we had to backtrack a bit. I have to say the Trevi is much better at night, because during the day there are tons of people. It was still crowded at night but you could actually move around and get to the front of the fountain. We all threw coins in behind our backs like good tourists so technically we should all return to Rome now.