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: