Trip North

So the internet is being cooperative for once, so here are some pics from the veneto!  On Tuesday we took a train to Firenze (Florence), where Tom gave us a Brunelleschi tour (a Florentine Renaissance architect).  For lunch we visited the Cal Poly group at their apartment.  Then we crammed ourselves into the rental car and headed towards Venice.  After our last car ride listening to Italian radio, we decided it was crucial that we bring our own music, so we each created a mix designed to capture our personalities musically.  Even Tom made one!  We made a few stops on the way before arriving in Verona...which you probably know as the site of Romeo and Juliet's tragic romance.  Somebody quite brilliantly decided to capitalize on this fact by declaring some random house the 'actual' house of Juliet....tourists will believe anything you tell them.  The funniest part is Tom had to take us there because that's where they sell the package deal for the monuments and museums...we gave him a hard time about it.  Verona is beautiful though.  Verona is texture: there is a richness and organic layering of materials unlike any place I've seen yet.  In the morning we climbed the bell tower in Piazza Erbe and got fantastic views of the whole area.  My favorite part was probably the Castelvecchio (see picture), a medieval military fortress that was restored and turned into a museum by the Italian architect Carlo Scarpa.  I truly gained a new appreciation for the construction detail....all of the elements Scarpa adds literally inhabit the existing building, communicating their relationship to it explicitly, performing their designated function as well as enhancing the expression of the existing conditions.  The floor, wall and ceiling surfaces never meet each other; displays are cleverly logged in fireplace openings; picture frames are oriented perpendicular to the wall, anchored to floor, ceiling and wall, directing circulation as well as displaying the framing.  My favorite is what I call the 'inhabiting inhabitable bridge' because it spans between two parallel walls, creating a hallway where artifacts are displayed.  The other amazing thing in Verona was the Teatro Romano, an ancient theater built into the hill.  Pieces of ruins are displayed in a haphazard way, mingling with the overgrown vegetation.  The museum is at the top of the hill, where we got more panoramic views of the city.  That night Karen and I had an amazing dinner: she had red wine risotto and I had rabbit with polenta!

The next day we headed for Venezia (see picture) (Venice), making a few stops along the way.  The best was Scarpa's Brion cemetery (see picture), which was commissioned by the Brion family as their own personal cemetery, but also as a park intended for public use (see picture).  We got to indulge ourselves with more sexy Scarpa details...there were several gates and operable openings with the most gracefully elegant mechanics you could ever imagine a door having.

Our other stop was at the Nardini Distillery building by Massimo Fuksas.  You must google it...it is this pair of giant glass bubble-bug-looking things.  Inside they have fancy equipment to test their grappa (the Nardini family has made grappa in this region for generations) and a theater with seats that mechanically open and close in unison.  They boast a zero carbon footprint, but that doesn't account for the still-strong resin fumes (practically half of the interior is made from some kind of resin) and the sickly blue pallor the floor and glass cast upon visitors' faces.  We sampled several types of grappa, which everyone but me seemed to like...I think I'll stick to wine.

We finally arrived in Venezia Thursday night.  After checking into our hotel we went on a long journey by foot in search of Tom's favorite Indian restaurant.  It was far away from the hotel to begin with, and we went at least twice the distance weaving and backtracking through the impossibly narrow and weblike streets.  There is no such thing as a car in the historical part of Venice.  We chose to eat indian food, because anything italian in Venice is overrun by tourism...we had a more authentic experience eating bona fide Indian food.  

On Friday morning, Tom gave us a lecture-tour of the important sites (mostly churches) and then we headed to the Biennale, an international architecture exhibition that happens every two years in Venice.  On Friday we went to the 'Giardini' (which means gardens) portion, which is organized by countries, each with its own pavilion.  The theme this year was 'beyond architecture,' so there was some pretty artsy, fanciful things, but there were lots of interesting and compelling exhibits...the best ones were interactive....and the most ridiculous ones were intended to be interactive but were covered in signs saying "do not touch."  My favorite one had the entire pavilion covered ankle deep in confetti, with signs everywhere saying: 'it is forbidden to throw confetti.'  I'm pretty sure everyone that went in there secretly threw a little bit of confetti in the back room.

Saturday was an amazing day- I went to the market (see picture) first thing, which the most therapeutic experience I've had in awhile.  The produce was brighter, cheaper, and more varied than what we have in Rome, and the fish market was incredible.  I took a million pictures of ooey-gooey sea creatures.  I explored around a little more before making my way to the other section of the Biennale: 'Arsenale.'  These exhibits were organized by firm, and many of them were quite witty.  We caught a late afternoon train back to Rome, and now it's back to work again!  Today I went to a new market I haven't been to yet farther from home, and discovered that the produce is fresher and more varied, so I had yet another therapeutic shopping experience!

1.  The Grand Canal in Venezia under the last rays of sunshine.

2.  The market in Venezia looking out toward the Grand Canal.

3. Brion Cemetery

4.  Castelvecchio

I Love Markets

Veneto Here We Come

This weekend was filled with work and play:  Friday we went to our friend's concert on a little boat party on the river.  We got to see a lot of friends we hadn't seen in awhile because we've been so busy, and the group of Cal Poly kids that are studying in Florence were also in town for class.  We met up with them also on Saturday night to show them the sights.  On Saturday I went on my own adventure to Trajan's markets, and ancient Roman shopping complex.  It is a true palimpsest: it has been built upon and around, partially excavated, partially demolished, and finally recently more fully excavated.  It is one of my favorite things I've seen in Rome...I can almost imagine buying olive oil and fresh produce from slightly impatient but amiable vendors....not too different from what I do at Campo dei Fiore everyday, except with a different backdrop.  See pics above.

Tomorrow we are leaving for a trip to the Veneto region, most of which we will be spending in Venezia (Venice), so don't worry of you don't hear from me until Sunday.  Today I bought rain boots and lots of warm socks to go in them, so I'm ready to jump in some puddles!  

Two Weeks of Unrest

The first week after we got back from Paris, we had a lot of studio work to do, so I barely slept, but I've been having a lot of fun developing my project, which is an urban farming center.  The picture below is my model...it's so cute... it looks bigger than it is, those trees are about half the size of a marble.  We had our presentations on Monday, and for the rest of the quarter we will be developing a smaller portion of our project in detail.  Our friend Mike who studies in Paris, also came to visit.

Since we've been back there have also been protests in Rome.  There is a new prime minister (Berlusconi) and there have been budget cuts for the education system.  Today we went with our friend who works at the French embassy to the protest.  We walked in rows arm in arm with a huge group of students from La Sapienza, the Italian University that our program is affiliated with.  Apparently there were around 300,000 students protesting.  The march started at the main train station and ended at the ministry in the center.  There were groups of students from around Italy all arriving to the station and self-organizing into groups.  There was a general aura of excitement, with everyone sporadically breaking out in song from time to time.  This kind of occurrence is rare in Rome, and we got to observe and interact with the youth of Italy in a meaningful way.  Soon I will post a picture from the protest, as well as a picture of Karen's cappuccino the day after election day: it says Obama '09 in foam!

Tuscan Autumn

We spent the past two days driving across the Tuscan landscape....we started in Firenze where we rented a car.  We spent a few hours exploring there...one of the most interesting things was the Ponte Vecchi (Old Bridge).  It is the oldest surviving bridge and has shops that have organically sprouted off of it, like colorful little barnacles clinging to it's sides.  The entire length of it is occupied with jewelry stores, as it has been since 1593!  I also followed my senses to find the local market, which had the most fantastic displays of meat I have ever seen.  I bought mzarella di bufala and grapes.

We left Firenze for Spannocchia, an argritourism farm, where they grow as much of their own food as possible, and stay afloat by a tourism based on education of sustainable agriculture.  Their particular approach is to protect several of the local endangered species, including a pig called cinta senese, as well as a species of cow and sheep.  I got to ask the director a million questions about the farm on our tour that evening.  That night we had a family style dinner with other guests and the interns, many of which were coincidentally from California.  Later that night we went to the Halloween party put on the internships.  In the spirit of supporting their efforts (and yes, because I love food), I bought some of their proscuitto, red wine, farro, and honey, as well as a recipe book.

The next morning, after going on a beautiful foggy hike around the farm, we headed for Siena.  On the way we stopped at an old monastery called    .  The roof is completely gone, so it was interesting to experience the church prototype in this new way.  In Siena we spent most of our limited time in the Piazza del Campo, hands down the most monumental public space I've ever been to.  Siena is such a fun town to explore- it is a perfect example of medieval organic development.  (SEE PICTURE)  All of the streets curve and wind, but with the Piazza as their anchor, it is surprising difficult to get lost.  Here I bought panforte, a sweet bread which is a local specialty.

On the drive back to Rome, we stopped by Pienza, a small little medieval town with gorgeous panoramic views of the rolling hills of Tuscany.  We also stopped by Montepulciano, renowned for it's wine, which we sampled in a cheese and wine shop.  Right around this time the sun was setting, staining the sky orange and shading the clouds purple.  When we got home, the 5 of us had dinner together, sampling the proscuitto and pecorino purchases of the day.  Today, it is back to work!