Relax, Take It Easy

This past weekend was our first long weekend. Jeri, Sarah, and I met up with Danielle, Pam, and Megan in Athens to travel to Santorini. It was one of the best, most memorable times I've ever had. It was such a relief not having to run around like a mad woman trying to see architecture. I finally just relaxed and took it all in.

We picked one of the quieter times to visit Santorini. In the summer, the island is filled with tourists. When we were there, the majority of the shops weren't open, there weren't any donkey rides or boats to the volcano, the buses weren't as frequent... and it was awesome. It was like having the whole island to ourselves. I would hate to be there with a million people all fighting for pictures and having people haggling me for money or whatever. Anyways...

Thursday, the Berlin girls arrived in Athens at 3pm and took a taxi to the Acropolis to see the Parthenon (our one architecture-related activity). We thought the Acropolis closed at 5, so we booked it as soon as we got off the plane. We paid 40 Euros for the cab ride, only to find out that the Acropolis closes at 3 (last tickets at 2:30). We were not happy campers. We found Megan, Danielle, and Pam, and together we walked the Acropolis and took photos of the view.

We stopped at a cafe called Ouv Adnua for food. Our waitress was hilarious! She was full of energy and jokes. In Greece, people take their time and relax when they eat. It was so nice just to kick back with food and wine.

After spending about two hours there, we headed for our hotel in Piraeus, where we would be taking a ferry the next morning. We weren't quite stuffed yet, so we ventured out towards the water and walked around and ended up going into a Haagen Daz Cafe for desserts. Sadly I didn't have my camera on me, but the desserts were delicious. This was like a high-class Haagen Daz. If we wanted to, we could've ordered alcoholic drinks as well.

When we got back to the hotel, we all took showers, and this is when I was banned from using outlets for the rest of the trip. In my state my tiredness, I plugged in Pam's hairdryer with an adapter but not a converter, so as soon as I turned on the hairdryer, I blew the fuse, and Jeri and Sarah go "Angela...." and the next thing you hear from next door (because the walls are paper thin) is "was that the hairdryer?!" Turns out I blew out the electricity for the entire third floor... Oops.
The staff were nice about it though. They couldn't restore the electricity, so they offered for us to switch room, but I felt so bad that I told them that it would be fine.

The next morning, we woke up early for our 7:30am ferry to Santorini on Blue Star Ferries. It was a 7.5 hour ferry ride, making a few stops to the other islands. The water was the bluest I had ever seen. We spent the majority of our time trying to catch up on sleep or playing card games. We finally arrived at Santorini around 3:30 where we were picked up personally by our hotel, Villa Manos. We only paid 86 Euros for two nights, which rounded to about 15 Euros per person! The ride to the hotel reminded a lot of the roads in Jamaica; there were a lot of sharp turns going up and down the mountain/cliff.

We wasted no time. We dropped off all of our stuff in the room and walked for about 20 minutes to Fira, the "capital" of Santorini. We made a few stops along the side of the road to watch the sunset and stopped by a few souvenir shops for gifts and such. Around 7pm or so, we were all starving, and because we hadn't eaten since the ferry, and we didn't know when restaurants would close, we headed to a restaurant called Ellis (recommended by one of the cashiers at a souvenir shop). This was the most amazing restaurant I have ever experienced. When we arrived, there was absolutely no one in there, and our waiter just looked so bored. I think we made his night by entering the restaurant. He was absolutely charming and adorable. The food was incredible. We ordered a few appetizers (fried cheese, deep fried tomato balls) and everybody tried different entrees. We ended up spending four hours there, and our waiter kept bringing us free food! First he brought out half a liter of white wine and a quarter liter of red wine, and after we finished with our entrees, he came out with four (!!!) plates of desserts! It was a fantastic night full of food and good friends and beautiful sights.

Saturday morning, we woke up bright and early and headed back to Fira for breakfast at a cafe called Classico Cafe. In the morning, it was raining a bit so we were worried that it would be a wet day out, but as soon as we finished breakfast, the sun came out. It was perfect. We walked around Fira for about an hour or so before taking the bus down to Kamari.

Kamari, like the rest of Santorini, was wonderful. We walked around exploring the town. We tried to find Ancient Thira, but we quickly realized that it was located on the top of the cliff. If we had planned it better, I bet we would've rented ATVs to drive to the top. But, regardless, we enjoyed our little hikes around the town, and finally we walked towards the water to experience Kamari's black sand beach. It was surreal to see all this black sand and rocks. The first thing I did was throw my shoes and socks off. It was painful to walk on at first, but after a while, you get used to it. I frolicked around like a little kid. I ran towards the Mediterranean Sea and felt the cold water submerge my feet. It was wonderful.

Because it was the weekend, the buses were running only every two hours, so we decided to call a taxi instead of wasting time. We drove down to our next destination on the island: Akrotiri. This was even more amazing than Kamari's black sand... this was red sand. We had to climb a bit to get down to the beach, but the view was breath-taking. I couldn't believe where I was. The water so crystal clear and so blue. It was beyond words. We spent a few hours there relaxing, taking pictures, etc. I was throwing rocks and attempting to skip them; I was having the time of my life.

Eventually it was time to leave the beach. We headed back to the hotel briefly to clean ourselves up and get ready for the night. While we were looking for Poppy (the owner of the hotel) so we could get a taxi, she decided to feed us food! Seriously, this woman was so hospitable and helpful.

We took the taxi to our final destination of the night: Oia. I had read several articles online and in books that Oia must be experienced at sunset, so that's what we did. We arrived about an hour beforehand so we could walk around and check out the town. It was here that The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants was filmed, and it is here that those famous pictures of white houses and blue roofs are taken.

When we got out of the taxi, we were followed by the most adorable dog. Santorini has several stray dogs that roam around. At one point, we were being followed by four dogs; we even named them! If I could have, I would have taken them home with me.
The sky was a bit cloudy, but the sunset was still beautiful. I personally think clouds enhance a sunset because they create this wonderful palette of pinks, purples, and blues. It was the perfect way to end our perfect day.

We took a taxi back into Fira for dinner at Mama's House, also recommended to us by the same cashier. Like every other restaurant we ate it, this place was delicious as well. Usually I'm pretty frugal when it comes to ordering, but I figured, "I'm on vacation; to hell with it!" I may look like a small person, but I can eat. I ordered a Santorini Salad, fried goat cheese, a bird's nest (eggplant topped with beef, cheese, and tomato sauce), baklava with ice cream, and .5L of red wine. I was stuffed at the end of the night. After dinner, we were all exhausted from our long day of excursions and decided  sadly to call it a night.

The next morning, we had dinner at the hotel (and took a photo with Poppy!) and got driven to the airport. We flew back to Athens on Olympic Air, and the flight was only half an hour! From Athens, we all split up to go back to our respective countries. An amazing weekend right before midcrit.

This coming weekend: Amsterdam!

In other news, I got accepted into graduate school! Yesterday I received an email from Parsons telling me that I was accepted and was being considered for a scholarship! So then I checked my other email account, and found out that I had been denied from Columbia (my number one choice. Sad, but I'm okay about it) and I was being recommended by UIC's arch department to their Graduate College. What a good way to begin my morning after pulling an all-nighter for midcrit.

Larger Than Life

Just a quick update about last Tuesday and Wednesday.

For our Tuesday excursion, Jeri, Sarah, and I chose to visit the Krematorium in Berlin designed by Axel Schultes Architekten. As it was with the Barcelona Pavilion, I had learned about the Krematorium sophomore year as a precedent for my public market. From the exterior, it looks like a big mass of concrete with voids carved out for entry. To enter the Krematorium, there are enormous motion-sensor doors that slide open, and then you're exposed to the interior. I was speechless when I entered. The space is filled with columns as direct sunlight penetrates through the voids in the building. The beautiful aspect of the columns is the top--instead of completely connecting to the roof, there are openings that let sunlight in, so as the column directs your view up, you see this bright light that contrasts with the darkness of the interior.

There are also chapels inside the krematorium for services. It's pretty much three concrete walls and a window with louvers. Very simple yet elegant.




On Wednesday, our Material Studies class did a field trip to the Philharmonic! I have to correct my previous post about the Chamber Music Hall. I had thought the architect was Hans Scharoun, but he only designed the Philharmonie Hall. For the Chamber Music Hall, the architect was Edgar Wisniewski who had referred to drawings that Scharoun had drawn to design the space.
The Philharmonie hall is enormous; if I remember correctly, it fits 2,200 people inside whereas the Chamber Music Hall has a capacity of about 1,200.

It was nice to get a guided tour of the place; we got to see the hidden spaces throughout the building, and it definitely helped me with my studio project (we are designing an extension to a music and dance school).

Got back from Greece last night; that update will come as soon as I finish my mid-crit work...

The Wanderer

I wish I could travel as a profession.

This past weekend, I did a solo trip to Barcelona, and it was amazing. As much as I love group trips, it's always liberating to travel alone. I hate feeling rushed by others when I want to take photographs or go to a million different sites.

Because it was a quick weekend trip, I tried to pack in as many destinations as possible. I arrived in Barcelona around 11:30am and decided to take the Renfe railway into the city. Barcelona has a handful of transportation methods, and they get very confusing. I bought a one-way ticket into the city and the stupid cashier woman shafted me 5€. Not cool.


My first stop was my hostel--Sant Jordi Diagonal, recommended by Liz from Behnisch. It was a bit pricier than other hostels, but it was clean, the staff were awesome and informative, and it was in a perfect location on a main street.

After I dropped off everything, I headed for Gaudi's La Pedrera (Casa Mila). Gaudi is everywhere in Barcelona; it's impossible to miss his works. I was never a fan of Gaudi until this trip. Although you could enter the building, I decided to pass because I'm still on a student budget. I walked around the exterior and examined the structure. Absolutely fascinating how Gaudi's mind works.
 
Across the street was Toyo Ito's Suites Avenue Hotel. The ground floor is retail, but above are hotel rooms. Not sure what the interior is like, but from the outside, it was "ehhh." The facade is just waves of strips, but I would bet the rooms are pretty sweet. Because of the waves, it creates opportunities for balconies, which in turn frame the view of the street.

Next stop: Sagrada Familia. It was a nice day out so I walked along Diagonal Avenue towards the church. By the time I arrived, the clouds had moved in and turned the sky gray. Again, I decided just to walk around the exterior and not pay to enter, and that is the one thing I regret from the trip. From what I've heard and seen from the France group, the interior is gorgeous. Stupid me. Guess I'll have to return to Barcelona someday. From the exterior, the church just looks crazy. There's so so much detail and a ton of scaffolding. 


Before I came to Barcelona, a few people recommended the hop on/hop off buses, so I bought a two-day pass for 27€. I should have planned my itinerary before buying the pass because I only used it for one day. The bus has three lines (red, blue, green) but the green line doesn't run during the winter months, so I ended up buying a Metro pass for Sunday anyways. The bus stops by the most popular attractions around the city, but sometimes it's a pain because it only goes one way, so if you want to go to a previous stop, you would have to ride the bus all the way around again, which can take up to two hours.

From Sagrada Familia, I took the bus to Park Guell, also designed by Gaudi. It was here that I became an admirer of Gaudi's work. Initially it was supposed to be a garden for some housing complex, but because that fell through, it was eventually turned into a public park. The park is huuuuuuge. I spent well over an hour there, and I feel like I only explored a fraction of it. I'm simply impressed by all of it--the materials, the structure, the plans... I can barely wrap my head around it. There were a ton of people there, from tourists to vendors to street performers to artists. I wouldn't mind spending an entire day there.

On my itinerary, my next stop was supposed to be Camp Nou, the largest football (soccer) stadium in Europe, redesigned by Norman Foster, but because the bus took so long to get there, I decided to skip it since I'm not a fan of football anyways.


Next up: Barcelona Pavilion by Mies van der Rohe!! I have loved this building from afar ever since sophomore year when I studied it as a precedent for my public market. It's so simple--a few columns here and there and some planes to create spaces. How wonderful! This was one of the main reasons I decided to visit Barcelona in the first place. It is so surreal to be able to see these buildings in person after reading about them and studying plans and sections and elevations and photographs. Sometimes I still can't believe where I am.
As expected, the pavilion was fantastic. I'm so glad it did not disappoint. It only cost me 2€ to enter and walk around the site. I must have taken over 200 photos there; I didn't want to miss a thing. I loved the reflections on the various surfaces (water, marble, glass) and the way Mies directs and frames views. It was all perfect.

I hopped back on the bus again and headed towards Santiago Calatrava's Olympic Antenna. Calatrava's another architect I admire because of his ingeniousness when it comes to engineering. I never understand how his structures are standing up!


I had planned on watching the sunset while riding the Telefèric de Montjuïc, which is a cable car that brings you up to the mountain, but because of winter hours (stops at 6pm) and because I took so long at the other sites, I missed out on that opportunity. Instead, I took the bus to Mirador de Colom and walked along La Rambla for a bit. The street is like Venice Boardwalk with tons of little vendors and eclectic street performers. Crazy.

I took the Metro towards Torre Agbar by Jean Nouvel. When I arrived, the tower was dark, and I was disappointed because I had seen pictures of it lit up. I walked under a bridge to get closer, and as soon as I got to the other side, the tower was shining! It must have just turned from 7:59 to 8:00. Perfect timing. Definitely an interesting building; it reminded my a lot of the "Gherkin" (Swiss Re) tower in England just because of its form... I wish I could have gone inside like the France group did. 

I decided to walk back to my hostel from the tower. On my way back, I stopped by the hotel where the France group was staying, and then I realized I didn't have any way of contacting them to tell them I was outside. So I walked back to the hostel to get online to coordinate with them. A group of them ended up walking over to me, and we went out to dinner at a restaurant called Marcelino. It was great to see friends from the other study abroad group! We were at dinner until midnight or so and headed out to a bar called Espit Chupitos. The place serves over 500 different shots, all for 2€! It was a nightmare trying to get through the crowd of people, but once we made it to the back of the bar, we had a fantastic time. We did some of the most ridiculous/awesome shots. One was called the Boyscout, where you get marshmallows on sticks, the bartender lights the bar on fire, you roast your marshmallow, dip it into the shot, eat it, and take the shot. Another was a Harry Potter shot, where the bartender pours the shots, put oranges on top and coats them with sugar, then lights them on fire before you bite the orange and take the shot. Awesome night with awesome friends.


The next morning, I woke up at 7:30 (don't ask me how I found the motivation) and was out of the hostel by 8. First stop: Forum building by Herzog and de Meuron. Unfortunately it was closed (like every other place on Sundays) so I could only see the exterior. The form of the building is essentially a triangle at an angle. Very interesting materials. Like I said before, they're the masters of facades.

Nearby was Parc Diagonal Mar. I walked through just to look at the structures in the park. It was almost like a playground for adults. I had the urge to climb on top of everything, but I refrained because there were workers around.


I got back on the Metro and made my way to another Calatrava structure: The Bac de Roda Bridge. Beautiful bridge with great geometries and great views.

At some point, I ended up in Catalunya Plaza as I tried getting to MACBA (Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona) designed by Richard Meier. As soon as I saw white square panels, I knew I found it. Before entering the museum, I walked around the exterior and photographed a few panoramas. On the inside, the space is flooded by light. My favorite aspect is the frosted glass blocks on the floor. When someone on the floor above you walks, you can see their footsteps. It was like the sidewalks in Seattle; the glass blocks served as a way of filtering natural light.

After walking through the exhibits, I headed for the Torre de Gas Natural by Enric Miralles. Fascinating office building. The form was so strange. I don't know what to make of it.

I walked over to Port Vell next. I wanted to grab some food and a glass of wine by the water, but the restaurant that I wanted to eat/drink at had terrible service. I seated myself outside, and it took forever for me to get a menu from the douchebag waiter. Then he proceeded to ignore me for another 10 minutes while I waited for him to take my order. One of my biggest pet peeves is wasting time. I got fed up and just walked away.

I took the Metro to the Santa Caterina Market, a building we learned about during sophomore (or maybe junior?) year that was redeveloped by Enric Miralles. Sadly, it was closed (I didn't think that one through) so I photographed the exterior. As I flipped through my Frommer's guide book, I noticed that it recommended food at a restaurant in the market, and as it turned out, it was open! I went in and sat at the bar and ordered tapas and a glass of cava. Delicious! And I got to see the interior!

I swung by my hostel to pick up my backpack before heading west to my final stops. First up was the Hesperia tower by Richard Rogers, which I believe is a convention center and hotel. I didn't go inside because I was tight on time, but I walked around the exterior. It's a very strange tower... like elements were just glued on the side/top of a tower.


Last site was Torre Fira by Toyo Ito. Unfortunately I didn't know how to get there, so I could only see it from a distance. From what I've seen, I like it. It has a very organic form, and you can't miss the fact that it's bright red.

Finally, it was time to leave.


I'm back in Berlin until Thursday, when we have our first long weekend! I'll be flying to Athens before taking a ferry to Santorini with a fantastic group of girls (some from the Berlin group, some from the France group). I'll update again soon with my adventures from today, but now, it's time to do some work!