Friday, September 7, 2007
the "co-op"
My new living place began as a spark of imagination (amongst an endless amount of fellow sparks) in Keveau's head. He had the idea to gather some like-minded friends into a rental agreement for the duplex next door to his purple-shuttered home. This partially happened as some undergrads continued their lease on one side contrary to our vision. Stephan (we'll, he has yet to fully move from D.C.), Seth and I have laid claim to the plentiful hardwood footage of 401 Keller St. While we have big plans to cooperatively share anything we can think of across the small side-yard, so far Dalton spearheaded the effort with some tasty Baba Ghanoush and later pesto (both with ingredients from either their CSA farm share, the garden plots across the street, or from a local grocery store dumpster (not kidding). We had an amazing impromptu falafel dinner last week before the Appalachian Porch Party. I'm proud to say our Porch Party sported a couple sets of overalls, some moonshine/rum distilled in the front yard and a bonfire in a wheelbarrow. With a little muscle from Ken, the guys successfully installed our new porch swing. Bella, Dalton's mostly Beagle doggie and Keveau's cat Conga hang out at our place on a regular basis to do their part.
the next chapter
Is there anybody out there?
I begin this blog as a travel journal. Now I'm not traveling. I guess you could say I'm not home either though. I'm in State College, PA. I seem to have inspired Russell to make a blog for his upcoming travels. Now I'm inspired again to put some better writing up on this page. I had grandiose expectations for my would-have-been wonderfully written summer in Europe travel epic. Instead I rushed through borrowed or paid for computer time, hoping to keep family and friends up to date, letting them know I was still alive even if I had no idea where I would be on a train to the next day.
I spent a gorgeous few weeks after my travels house-sitting for Kurt and Masha, some of Russell's friends who were in Russia for a month. They own a wonderful little Victorian house outside of town (and there's not that much town to be outside of here), filled with Kurt's artwork and handcrafted wood furniture by another friend. Amish buggies drove by every morning. Red, the cat, woke me up every morning with his teeth and claws starting at my feet and working his way up. Russell and I spent most of our time in the garden, brimming with veggies and flowers, behind the house. Beyond the garden - only a corn field and forested ridge line.
Russell and I moved out of the house-sitting gig into my new place.
I begin this blog as a travel journal. Now I'm not traveling. I guess you could say I'm not home either though. I'm in State College, PA. I seem to have inspired Russell to make a blog for his upcoming travels. Now I'm inspired again to put some better writing up on this page. I had grandiose expectations for my would-have-been wonderfully written summer in Europe travel epic. Instead I rushed through borrowed or paid for computer time, hoping to keep family and friends up to date, letting them know I was still alive even if I had no idea where I would be on a train to the next day.
I spent a gorgeous few weeks after my travels house-sitting for Kurt and Masha, some of Russell's friends who were in Russia for a month. They own a wonderful little Victorian house outside of town (and there's not that much town to be outside of here), filled with Kurt's artwork and handcrafted wood furniture by another friend. Amish buggies drove by every morning. Red, the cat, woke me up every morning with his teeth and claws starting at my feet and working his way up. Russell and I spent most of our time in the garden, brimming with veggies and flowers, behind the house. Beyond the garden - only a corn field and forested ridge line.
Russell and I moved out of the house-sitting gig into my new place.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
back
Hi everyone,
I just arrived back on American soil last night. My last few days in the UK were awesome. My trip to Wales with Pritesh and James on Saturday was fun filled as well as educational. We had rented a car for the full weekend, intending on camping, but the day we were to leave, massive flooding began around various parts of England and Wales. So we opted not to join those getting helicopter lifted out and instead of camping opted to leave a day later and drive there and back in one day instead of two or three. It's about a 4-5 hour drive from Cambridge to the Center for Alternative Technology on the central coast of Wales. The Center was very cool with educational displays on all sorts of sustainable living topics for energy, architecture, water, transportation, waste, etc. We spent over four hours looking around there. I talked the woman at the information desk into showing me the reedbed wastewater system which provided some useful insights for my thesis research - well until I was bitten by a fire ant and had trouble forming more questions through the pain. After the center we drove through part of Snowdonia national park and then along the coast with views of old stone walls separating squares of sheep pastures (the sheep are all color coded with spraypainted dots) on rolling bluffs above the water. Sunday I went punting with Pritesh and another of his friends. Punts are these little boats somewhere between a canoe and a gondola that are all along the canal in Cambridge. No proper visit to Cambridge is complete without punting. Instead of paddling, you must stand on the back of the boat and push with this huge pole on the bottom of the canal. Pritesh's skills improved by the end of our ride after saying he had fallen into the water last time he went. I tried too and managed only to hit a few walls and other boats. The sunset light on the old colleges was amazing.
Monday I wandered around London for a day, making mental notes of all the spots I need to go back and spend more time in such as the Design Museum and walk around Waterloo. Tuesday was a seriously long day of travel. I woke up early to take a 2 1/2 bus from Cambridge to the airport. I met up with Mike and Brian in the check in line. When at the counter, we were offered a voucher deal to take a slightly later flight that still arrived in Philadelphia in time to catch our second flight plus offered us 407 pounds!!! So we took the cash, almost 800 dollars US, had some celebratory drinks hanging out in the London airport and still had another layover in Philly, not getting into State College until around midnight. Mike and Brian had taken a ferry across the channel the night before from Amsterdam to come straight to the airport in London, so we had all been traveling for many continuous hours by the time we were done at what felt like 5 or 6 am. Whew. My luggage managed to miss the flight out of Philly, but was delivered this morning, so not to bad. It is good to be back though. Give me a call soon to catch up!
Nicole
I just arrived back on American soil last night. My last few days in the UK were awesome. My trip to Wales with Pritesh and James on Saturday was fun filled as well as educational. We had rented a car for the full weekend, intending on camping, but the day we were to leave, massive flooding began around various parts of England and Wales. So we opted not to join those getting helicopter lifted out and instead of camping opted to leave a day later and drive there and back in one day instead of two or three. It's about a 4-5 hour drive from Cambridge to the Center for Alternative Technology on the central coast of Wales. The Center was very cool with educational displays on all sorts of sustainable living topics for energy, architecture, water, transportation, waste, etc. We spent over four hours looking around there. I talked the woman at the information desk into showing me the reedbed wastewater system which provided some useful insights for my thesis research - well until I was bitten by a fire ant and had trouble forming more questions through the pain. After the center we drove through part of Snowdonia national park and then along the coast with views of old stone walls separating squares of sheep pastures (the sheep are all color coded with spraypainted dots) on rolling bluffs above the water. Sunday I went punting with Pritesh and another of his friends. Punts are these little boats somewhere between a canoe and a gondola that are all along the canal in Cambridge. No proper visit to Cambridge is complete without punting. Instead of paddling, you must stand on the back of the boat and push with this huge pole on the bottom of the canal. Pritesh's skills improved by the end of our ride after saying he had fallen into the water last time he went. I tried too and managed only to hit a few walls and other boats. The sunset light on the old colleges was amazing.
Monday I wandered around London for a day, making mental notes of all the spots I need to go back and spend more time in such as the Design Museum and walk around Waterloo. Tuesday was a seriously long day of travel. I woke up early to take a 2 1/2 bus from Cambridge to the airport. I met up with Mike and Brian in the check in line. When at the counter, we were offered a voucher deal to take a slightly later flight that still arrived in Philadelphia in time to catch our second flight plus offered us 407 pounds!!! So we took the cash, almost 800 dollars US, had some celebratory drinks hanging out in the London airport and still had another layover in Philly, not getting into State College until around midnight. Mike and Brian had taken a ferry across the channel the night before from Amsterdam to come straight to the airport in London, so we had all been traveling for many continuous hours by the time we were done at what felt like 5 or 6 am. Whew. My luggage managed to miss the flight out of Philly, but was delivered this morning, so not to bad. It is good to be back though. Give me a call soon to catch up!
Nicole
Friday, July 20, 2007
the rain
A rain storm is hindering activities here in Cambridge today. James, Pritesh and I are postponing our trip to drive to Wales until tomorrow when the storm should be past since driving and camping in the rain is not so ideal. Check out www.cat.org.uk to see the Center for Alternative Technology that we'll hopefully make it to tomorrow. Wishing you nicer weather over there.
Nicole
Nicole
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Italian beaches to rain in Cambridge
Monday night in Bologna John threw a little dinner party for my last night in Italy with some of his friends and roomates. We ate chickpea curry and pita on the roof of their apartment building and looked at Venus and Jupiter through Johns's telescope. After a lot of wine, good company, and 4am pasta, I saw the sunrise over Bologna, a perfect red ball lighting up the town. Andreas, John's German roomate who is now more Italian than German, suggested a trip to the beach town of Ravenna, so we caught a 7am train and spend the morning and afternoon laying on rented lounge chairs under a beach umbrella and running throught the hot sand to the warm water. Although not one of the nicer beach areas of Italy, I can say I did make it to the beach in Italy now. I rather sleepily packed and ran around from bus to bus to airport and arrived late into London after an hour flight delay. My old friend from Australian times met me at the airport and since an angry crowd was waiting for a broken down bus to Cambridge, we had a free taxi ride back to Pritesh's apartment where I have a great place to crash for the next few days. James is coming down from Sheffield on the afternoon train in a couple of hours, so the three of us will have a little runion from our days of backpacking around the Outback this evening. Plans for the next few days are a little up in the air, but they will involve some time in London and a trip to Wales, perhaps over the weekend.
Ta,
Nicole
Ta,
Nicole
Monday, July 16, 2007
Rome in a day
Ciao!
On Thursday I took a train to Pisa for just a couple hours on my way to Florence (Firenze). I thought about asking a random stranger to take my picture in the pose looking like I was pushing the tower over, but it just seemed far too cheesy sine there were thousands of others doing the same thing all around me, so I just sat in the lawn around the leaning tower and equally amazing churches next to it watching the crowds. later Thursday I met John at the Firenze train station and we camped at an amazing campsite on a hill overlooking the whole city, arriving just at sunset (I have about a hundred photos of the sunset reflecting on the river with all of its bridges and the light on all of the church domes and tile roofs). We spent Friday exploring the streets and Piazzas of Florence, sampling much pizza and gelato, then took a train to Roma. The campsite in Roma was not quite as well located and we had an adventure of trains and buses and walking along busy roads with no sidewalks to get there, but it worked out fine as budget accommodation anyway. Saturday we walked all over the city to all of the major sights including the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon (which I was particularly impressed with), and the Colloseum (which we caught at sunset for some great photo taking). The vatican city sights were closed Saturday afternoon through Sunday, so we didn´t really go inside anywhere, but otherwise covered all the major attractions in a day. Sunday we took a trip to Tivoli just outside of Rome to see Villa d'Este which I´ve studied in landscape architecture history courses. Actually my whole trip in Italy has been giving me flashbacks to lectures studying this piazza or that villa, so many of the sights I´ve been going to I will recognize and start remembering design facts about which is neat (my professors would be so proud). Villa d'Este is known for its amazing fountains which were engineering feats in their day and equally impressive now with sprays spewing and trickling out of all kinds of sculptural compositions. My favorite was the row of a hundred animal face fountains. We took a train back to Bologna last night and I will probably have some less ambitious days to rest up for my last week in the UK today and tomorrow. I´ll be back in the US late on the 24th so I´m looking forward to catching up with everyone then!
Ciao!
Nicole
On Thursday I took a train to Pisa for just a couple hours on my way to Florence (Firenze). I thought about asking a random stranger to take my picture in the pose looking like I was pushing the tower over, but it just seemed far too cheesy sine there were thousands of others doing the same thing all around me, so I just sat in the lawn around the leaning tower and equally amazing churches next to it watching the crowds. later Thursday I met John at the Firenze train station and we camped at an amazing campsite on a hill overlooking the whole city, arriving just at sunset (I have about a hundred photos of the sunset reflecting on the river with all of its bridges and the light on all of the church domes and tile roofs). We spent Friday exploring the streets and Piazzas of Florence, sampling much pizza and gelato, then took a train to Roma. The campsite in Roma was not quite as well located and we had an adventure of trains and buses and walking along busy roads with no sidewalks to get there, but it worked out fine as budget accommodation anyway. Saturday we walked all over the city to all of the major sights including the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon (which I was particularly impressed with), and the Colloseum (which we caught at sunset for some great photo taking). The vatican city sights were closed Saturday afternoon through Sunday, so we didn´t really go inside anywhere, but otherwise covered all the major attractions in a day. Sunday we took a trip to Tivoli just outside of Rome to see Villa d'Este which I´ve studied in landscape architecture history courses. Actually my whole trip in Italy has been giving me flashbacks to lectures studying this piazza or that villa, so many of the sights I´ve been going to I will recognize and start remembering design facts about which is neat (my professors would be so proud). Villa d'Este is known for its amazing fountains which were engineering feats in their day and equally impressive now with sprays spewing and trickling out of all kinds of sculptural compositions. My favorite was the row of a hundred animal face fountains. We took a train back to Bologna last night and I will probably have some less ambitious days to rest up for my last week in the UK today and tomorrow. I´ll be back in the US late on the 24th so I´m looking forward to catching up with everyone then!
Ciao!
Nicole
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Ciao from Italy!
Ciao!
I´m having a great time in Italy, enjoying some beautiful Mediterranean weather, reminding me of home. I spent the rest of the weekend in Bologna. John showed me around some amazing old cathedrals and piazzas and pointed out the university he´s doing his PhD work at - the oldest in Europe. He has five other roomates which speak English to varying degrees and are super friendly, trying to help me plan out my day trips. There are all sorts of free concerts and other events every night here, but so far we end drinking wine on someone´s balcony with John´s friends and roomates instead. I´m trying to learn a bit of Italian which seems far less challenging than the other languages I´ve been encountering, especially with all of its overlap with Spanish. Yesterday I took a day trip to Ferrara, a great town just half an hours train ride away. I toured a huge castle and cathedral there. Then I tried a local cuisine specialty, little pasta pouches shapped like floppy hats filled with pumpkin with a butter and fresh sage sauce, in a cafe overlooking the cathedral piazza. Today I´m headed to Modena (where all the balsamic vinegar is from) for a few hours and then am meeting John to go to a concert tonight back in Ferrara in a small Piazza. Tomorrow I´m heading to Pisa and then Florence where John will meet me after work to camp outside of Florence. Then we are going to Rome for the weekend, also camping at a campground just outside the city to be low budget. Since I hadn´t planned on coming to Italy on this trip, I´m all of the sudden realizing how much there is to see, especially of the villas and piazzas we study in landscape architecture history courses. I don´t think I´ll have much trouble filling my next few days with sights and filling my tummy with more great pizza, pasta, and gelato. I´ll fly to London late on the 17th for my last UK leg of the journey.
Ciao!
Nicole
I´m having a great time in Italy, enjoying some beautiful Mediterranean weather, reminding me of home. I spent the rest of the weekend in Bologna. John showed me around some amazing old cathedrals and piazzas and pointed out the university he´s doing his PhD work at - the oldest in Europe. He has five other roomates which speak English to varying degrees and are super friendly, trying to help me plan out my day trips. There are all sorts of free concerts and other events every night here, but so far we end drinking wine on someone´s balcony with John´s friends and roomates instead. I´m trying to learn a bit of Italian which seems far less challenging than the other languages I´ve been encountering, especially with all of its overlap with Spanish. Yesterday I took a day trip to Ferrara, a great town just half an hours train ride away. I toured a huge castle and cathedral there. Then I tried a local cuisine specialty, little pasta pouches shapped like floppy hats filled with pumpkin with a butter and fresh sage sauce, in a cafe overlooking the cathedral piazza. Today I´m headed to Modena (where all the balsamic vinegar is from) for a few hours and then am meeting John to go to a concert tonight back in Ferrara in a small Piazza. Tomorrow I´m heading to Pisa and then Florence where John will meet me after work to camp outside of Florence. Then we are going to Rome for the weekend, also camping at a campground just outside the city to be low budget. Since I hadn´t planned on coming to Italy on this trip, I´m all of the sudden realizing how much there is to see, especially of the villas and piazzas we study in landscape architecture history courses. I don´t think I´ll have much trouble filling my next few days with sights and filling my tummy with more great pizza, pasta, and gelato. I´ll fly to London late on the 17th for my last UK leg of the journey.
Ciao!
Nicole
Saturday, July 7, 2007
Italy
Ciao!
So after Copenhagen I made a brief trip to Kolding to visit a thesis case study, the Kolding bioworks pyramid, which was very cool. Then I spent a couple days in Munich which was nice but rainy and I was a bit burnt out on wandering around touristy areas of cities. So I just arrived in Bologna Italy and met up with my friend John. I will fly to London on the 17th. More details soon, just a quick update before I head off for some Italian food here.
Nicole
So after Copenhagen I made a brief trip to Kolding to visit a thesis case study, the Kolding bioworks pyramid, which was very cool. Then I spent a couple days in Munich which was nice but rainy and I was a bit burnt out on wandering around touristy areas of cities. So I just arrived in Bologna Italy and met up with my friend John. I will fly to London on the 17th. More details soon, just a quick update before I head off for some Italian food here.
Nicole
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
heading south for some summer
So yesterday I went to the Dyssekilde ecovillage and had a nice tour with my contact there, Jacob. Last night I wandered around Copenhagen more and enjoyed some ice cream by the evening light on the canal. I won´t be missing the hostel here as I move on to new accomodations this afternoon. My plans have been mutating on the hour the last couple days. My latest plan is to head to Kolding today and spend a day or so there to see if I can track down the illusive bioworks pyramid which would be a great case study for my research - a glass pyramid greenhouse which has layers of plants and fish inside to treat wastewater from an apartment block. I haven´t been able to find a email contact about it yet so we´ll see. After that, I may be skipping another place I planned to visit in the north because the trains here are rediculously expensive. It sounds like it might cost me around 200 dollars on the train to get there round trip which is really not in my budget. In the mean time, I´ve been emailing with some old euro friends from my Australia exchange days. John is in Bologna, Italy in grad school there and I´m thinking of hightailing it out of the expensive north and back to some mediterranean climate zones. The plan now seems to be to take the train back through Germany this weekend with a stop over in Munich. Then about a week in Italy based in Bologna with Pisa, Venice, and other beach towns short distances away. Then I will take a cheap flight from Italy to London and meet up with a couple other Aussie-time buddies to tour the UK. So much for Amsterdam but I think the new itenerary should be worth it. Stay tuned to see if this schedule completely changes soon. Happy fireworking.
Nicole
Nicole
Monday, July 2, 2007
Kobenhavn
My train ride went smoothly yesterday from Berlin. The view out the window when we got near the sea was beautiful and I am excited to be by the water. In the middle of the train ride, there was some announcement I couldn´t quite understand about a ferry. At first I thought that we would have to get off the train and take a ferry across and get back on another train, but to my surprise, the train drove onto the ferry! So I was on a train, on a ferry - a new experience! Everyone on the train got off onto the ferry and went to the upper decks which had a shopping mall and cafes. The views of the sea were wonderful with wind turbines lining every visable coast on the north and nothing but a sea horizon to the east and west. I can understand why the wind power is so popular because it is soooo windy here.
I arrived into the Koebnhavn train station around 8:30 (there was still light in the sky until around 11:30 at night, so it wasnt even close to dark). I was less impressed walking through the city to the hostel, which just a short walk from the station, than I expected to be. Everything here seems pretty touristy or kind of run down. The hostel is equally less impressive than I thought and while safe enough feeling is probably one of the lesser hostels I've stayed in with little character and little convenience. They require you to put all of your things in a locker room and leave between 11 and 3 every day. I found out from a coulple of nice Swiss guys in the room that it is the cheapest hostel in town at the equavalent of 20 euros per night. This country is not cheap at all.
My opinion of Copenhagen got a little better after my walking tour today. It was very cool and windy making for not so ideal picture taking, but the coast was kind of moody in a neat way and I saw some neat palaces, churches and fountains. There is an opera house across the water in one spot that was in an axis with a huge fountain and a church with an amazing dome. Just as I was about to finish the walking tour and head to the botanical garden, it started pouring rain. I tried to keep going thinking it would let up but it just started raining harder so I found a little jazz cafe to sit and have a glass of wine in and do some writing. After trying to wait out the rain in the cafe, I gave up and walked back to the hostel in the rain. I ended up talking with a girl from Minnesota and a guy from Australia in the room. The three of us went to find this vegetarian buffet that had mediterranean food which was recommended in the guide book for dinner. The food was really great and it was relatively cheap compared to most other options - I think still around 12 dollars though. The food was a refreshing change from cheese sandwiches and pizza and we all stuffed ourselved.
Tomorrow I´ll take a morning train out to an ecovillage near here as part of my thesis research, supposedly 80 minutes away on two trains. I´ll come back and stay in Copenhagen again tomorrow night and then I'm thinking of moving on unless I find the inspiration to stay one more day. It seems like all of the other backpackers I´m meeting are equally unimpressed with the city and moving on quickly, but I wonder if part of it is the rainy weather as well. I´m thinking of trying to find my way to the Folkecenter, a alternative technology research center on the northwest coast, for a tour they have on Thursday.
Hope everyone watches some good fourth of July fireworks for me!
Nicole
I arrived into the Koebnhavn train station around 8:30 (there was still light in the sky until around 11:30 at night, so it wasnt even close to dark). I was less impressed walking through the city to the hostel, which just a short walk from the station, than I expected to be. Everything here seems pretty touristy or kind of run down. The hostel is equally less impressive than I thought and while safe enough feeling is probably one of the lesser hostels I've stayed in with little character and little convenience. They require you to put all of your things in a locker room and leave between 11 and 3 every day. I found out from a coulple of nice Swiss guys in the room that it is the cheapest hostel in town at the equavalent of 20 euros per night. This country is not cheap at all.
My opinion of Copenhagen got a little better after my walking tour today. It was very cool and windy making for not so ideal picture taking, but the coast was kind of moody in a neat way and I saw some neat palaces, churches and fountains. There is an opera house across the water in one spot that was in an axis with a huge fountain and a church with an amazing dome. Just as I was about to finish the walking tour and head to the botanical garden, it started pouring rain. I tried to keep going thinking it would let up but it just started raining harder so I found a little jazz cafe to sit and have a glass of wine in and do some writing. After trying to wait out the rain in the cafe, I gave up and walked back to the hostel in the rain. I ended up talking with a girl from Minnesota and a guy from Australia in the room. The three of us went to find this vegetarian buffet that had mediterranean food which was recommended in the guide book for dinner. The food was really great and it was relatively cheap compared to most other options - I think still around 12 dollars though. The food was a refreshing change from cheese sandwiches and pizza and we all stuffed ourselved.
Tomorrow I´ll take a morning train out to an ecovillage near here as part of my thesis research, supposedly 80 minutes away on two trains. I´ll come back and stay in Copenhagen again tomorrow night and then I'm thinking of moving on unless I find the inspiration to stay one more day. It seems like all of the other backpackers I´m meeting are equally unimpressed with the city and moving on quickly, but I wonder if part of it is the rainy weather as well. I´m thinking of trying to find my way to the Folkecenter, a alternative technology research center on the northwest coast, for a tour they have on Thursday.
Hope everyone watches some good fourth of July fireworks for me!
Nicole
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Berlin again
Today was officially the end of our class portion of the trip. The last few days were busy with some of the people we were working with in the ecology org in Turnov taking us on more tours including a brewery tour of the local beer called Svijany. The didnt leave us a whole lot of time to work on the project, but we pulled it together and had a good public presentation of our ideas yesterday. One of the guys in the office who was our translater for the last few days put out a press release about the presentation so we had a packed room of local citizens who gave us some good criticism and compliments. After the presentation they took us to a beautiful area with a nature center and arboretum and gave us some good food and drinks as thanks for our work. The group split up this morning with some people heading to back to Prague to fly home in the next few days and the rest of us to various destinations. Harsh and Bhavna for example have the most interesting itenerary. They are flying to Moscow and then traveling from there to Tibet where they will get married in a monestary before heading home to India. Ben and I are in Berlin now for the night but I will be splitting off tomorrow morning on my own to head to Copenhagen (a seven hour train ride from here). We just did a lot of walking around the city after dinner so Im off to bed uhere at the hostel until my feet recover for the next round of walking tours.
More from Denmark soon . . .
Nicole
More from Denmark soon . . .
Nicole
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Exploring Turnov
Dobry Den again,
We've spent the last few days exploring Turnov. There are extensive hiking trails all over the region. Ben and I hiked up from the middle of town to some overlooks in the hills and a castle in just a couple hours. Today our hosts at the organization we're working with for the highway project took us on another day of touring. We climbed up to the Trosky castle ruins, then up to a tower that was used for military radio on the highest point in the region. The weather has been warm but last night a big storm came in and cooled things off. It was quite cold and windy up on the high overlooks. We also stopped at a mine and broke a few rocks to look for precious stones, finding just a few little crystals. Next we stopped by a huge Linden tree that is 800 years old. On the drive back, we pulled off to the side of the road and all of our drivers/hosts ran up to this non-descript window at what looked like someone's house turned snack stand. We found out that this place was known for making a local variety of little cake pastries and they bought us a few boxes as a treat. Speaking of new unhealthy local cuisine, I was excited to try a traditional dish that's actually vegetarian - breaded and fried cauliflower with potatoes on the side. All the dishes tend to be served with great garnish of cucumbers, tomatoes and other veggies, so my latest technique is to collect everyone's garnishes that the meat eaters ignore to get my veggies.
The project is moving along also. The group here seems to want more than anything else to document us agreeing with them that the highway in the northern proposed route would be a horrible idea and the southern route a much better idea. They were pleased when our analysis confirmed this and immediately after our presentation offered to plan a tour of the local beer brewery, telling us it looked like we were working too hard. They are interested in us making a documentary of our experiences and research here to rally some support. We had already been talking about making a website with our work which could be handed over to the locals as a forum about the status of the highway project. Another idea was to make some propoganda t-shirts with logos showing the historical castles getting ground up to pave the highway. We only have four more days here, so considering our busy schedule of brewery and museum tours, it looks like our product for Friday will be a storyboard mock up of work we will continue as part of our seminar class next semester.
I've booked a hostel in Berlin as a stopover on my way to Denmark on the 30th. Then I'll be in Copenhagen until the third or the first.
Ciao for now.
Nicole
We've spent the last few days exploring Turnov. There are extensive hiking trails all over the region. Ben and I hiked up from the middle of town to some overlooks in the hills and a castle in just a couple hours. Today our hosts at the organization we're working with for the highway project took us on another day of touring. We climbed up to the Trosky castle ruins, then up to a tower that was used for military radio on the highest point in the region. The weather has been warm but last night a big storm came in and cooled things off. It was quite cold and windy up on the high overlooks. We also stopped at a mine and broke a few rocks to look for precious stones, finding just a few little crystals. Next we stopped by a huge Linden tree that is 800 years old. On the drive back, we pulled off to the side of the road and all of our drivers/hosts ran up to this non-descript window at what looked like someone's house turned snack stand. We found out that this place was known for making a local variety of little cake pastries and they bought us a few boxes as a treat. Speaking of new unhealthy local cuisine, I was excited to try a traditional dish that's actually vegetarian - breaded and fried cauliflower with potatoes on the side. All the dishes tend to be served with great garnish of cucumbers, tomatoes and other veggies, so my latest technique is to collect everyone's garnishes that the meat eaters ignore to get my veggies.
The project is moving along also. The group here seems to want more than anything else to document us agreeing with them that the highway in the northern proposed route would be a horrible idea and the southern route a much better idea. They were pleased when our analysis confirmed this and immediately after our presentation offered to plan a tour of the local beer brewery, telling us it looked like we were working too hard. They are interested in us making a documentary of our experiences and research here to rally some support. We had already been talking about making a website with our work which could be handed over to the locals as a forum about the status of the highway project. Another idea was to make some propoganda t-shirts with logos showing the historical castles getting ground up to pave the highway. We only have four more days here, so considering our busy schedule of brewery and museum tours, it looks like our product for Friday will be a storyboard mock up of work we will continue as part of our seminar class next semester.
I've booked a hostel in Berlin as a stopover on my way to Denmark on the 30th. Then I'll be in Copenhagen until the third or the first.
Ciao for now.
Nicole
Friday, June 22, 2007
Project in Turnov
The group arrived in Turnov, a small town in the northern Czech region of Cesky Raj, which means Bohemian Paradise, on Tuesday. We're working with a local environmental office to analyze a freeway project in the region. The freeway has been in the works for many years now, aiming to connect a direct route through the country. The proposed route will cut through a scenic valley with many little towns and preserved forested hillsides on either side. The local residents have been protesting the project with signatures but some political pressure that thinks the freeway will help develop the industry and economy of the region are pushing for this valley route over a more southern option. The office we're working with is a little bias being located in the northern area, but seem to have some good arguments why the southern route is less impactful. So we're setting out to figure out what our role for the project should be, exploring the proposed options. The first day we went on a driving tour and hiked up to many overlooks (I had mistakenly worn a skirt and flip flops thinking we would mostly be in the car and not having other dry clean clothes after doing laundry in the bathtub). Ben was very helpful taking pictures of Julie and I falling down one of the steep slopes and laughing. On one of the trails, we all bought bas of cherries from a woman that had a table set up. After munching half of them and going on a long warm trail, Julie discovered little maggot-like worms that had either hatched or crawled out of the cherries in the warm plastic bag. We were a little tramatized and unappetized for the rest of the day.
Yesterday we spent way too much time in the office trying to organize the project and were practically brawling across the table in the afternoon over how to go about our analysis. Yes, the group is becoming more like sibblings with immaturity on he rise and occasional yelling matches. Today we have some smaller groups armed with maps and are exploring pieces of the proposed freeway routes. It's hard to believe we only have a few more days until the end of the organized Czech trip. We will leave Turnov on the 29th. From there, Ceci, Ben, and Jeff are heading back to Prague and then back to PA. Ken and Julie have a honeymoon route through Austria, Switzerland, Spain, etc. planned. Mike and Brian are also exploring Europe for another three weeks. I'll be on my own headed to Denmark first to eco-geek out at a couple more ecovillages and centers for alternative technology.
Hope all is well on that end and feel free to send some emails (nicole.a.stern@gmail.com is the most frequently checked).
- Nicole
Yesterday we spent way too much time in the office trying to organize the project and were practically brawling across the table in the afternoon over how to go about our analysis. Yes, the group is becoming more like sibblings with immaturity on he rise and occasional yelling matches. Today we have some smaller groups armed with maps and are exploring pieces of the proposed freeway routes. It's hard to believe we only have a few more days until the end of the organized Czech trip. We will leave Turnov on the 29th. From there, Ceci, Ben, and Jeff are heading back to Prague and then back to PA. Ken and Julie have a honeymoon route through Austria, Switzerland, Spain, etc. planned. Mike and Brian are also exploring Europe for another three weeks. I'll be on my own headed to Denmark first to eco-geek out at a couple more ecovillages and centers for alternative technology.
Hope all is well on that end and feel free to send some emails (nicole.a.stern@gmail.com is the most frequently checked).
- Nicole
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Decin - Berlin - Turnov (a summary)
Hi,
Sorry for getting behind in the news mom. I'll have to send a more detailed recap soon, but just to summaraise the past few days . . . we spent some long days working in Decin and the project came off very well. The presentation was a hit and the local people there wanted to put our work up on their website and show more of the people in town our ideas. After we finished up in Decin, we had a four day break to split up and travel around. I ended up going to Berlin. Russell contacted one of his friends, Isabel, who lives there. She invited me to join her for the launch of an english literary magazine for english writers in Berlin. Many of the authors did readings and there was music and comedy - a fun night. I went out to an ecovillage just outside of Berlin on Saturday, then came back to Berlin and spent a couple of days looking around the city more. Yesterday the group merged again in Turnov and took a regional tour today to begin our next project. I'll write more on the intermitten adventures along the way soon but have rushed internet access at the moment. Happy Summer Solstice to everyone tomorrow.
Nicole
Sorry for getting behind in the news mom. I'll have to send a more detailed recap soon, but just to summaraise the past few days . . . we spent some long days working in Decin and the project came off very well. The presentation was a hit and the local people there wanted to put our work up on their website and show more of the people in town our ideas. After we finished up in Decin, we had a four day break to split up and travel around. I ended up going to Berlin. Russell contacted one of his friends, Isabel, who lives there. She invited me to join her for the launch of an english literary magazine for english writers in Berlin. Many of the authors did readings and there was music and comedy - a fun night. I went out to an ecovillage just outside of Berlin on Saturday, then came back to Berlin and spent a couple of days looking around the city more. Yesterday the group merged again in Turnov and took a regional tour today to begin our next project. I'll write more on the intermitten adventures along the way soon but have rushed internet access at the moment. Happy Summer Solstice to everyone tomorrow.
Nicole
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
a few more photos from Prague
Here are a few photos from Prague. One is of us listening to a singing fountain in the palace gardens. The water vibrates the metal to make a ringing type sound.
Saturday, June 9, 2007
Regional touring
The group had a great little BBQ last night in the back of the dorm we're staying in. I grilled up some good veggies before the many pounds of various animals were Q-ed for hours. There was some great story telling when Ceci suggested we all tell the group something they didn't know about us. Stories ranged from streaking across campus to setting large playing-with-matches fires to diving into a 2-ft deep kiddie pool head first. A good time was had by all, but the good times made for a rough early morning as we boarded the but at 8am for another segment of regional tour time with our guide Jan. We spent a long day stopping in a few small towns around Decin. After a very bumpy and windy drive to our first stop, we hopped off the bus in Kadan to head straight up a very narrow, steep spiral staircase to the top of a medieval tower. After wandering around Kadan which was a beautiful town with medieval and Baroque architecture, we stopped at another chateau with a very extensive garden/park. Every turn in the trail was accented with some little pavillion structure set against backdrops of meadows, forest, and ponds. The last stop was a spa town which was perfectly manicured with ornate, colorful Baroque buildings and elaborate modern fountains showing off water from mineral springs which supposedly has healing properties. Anyone looking for a retirement genre gettaway would enjoy this place, complete with a palacial 5 star hotel/spa. By the end of the day though the major highlight was finding a chinese restaurant for a little variety in my meal choices.
Tomorrow is the start of our major project production mode before the printing deadline on Wednesday and our presentation to the community at the chateau on Thursday. For now I'm off to rest my very sore legs.
PS - Benjamin, I took a great photo of this sculpture of a monk with a monkey on his head for you.
Tomorrow is the start of our major project production mode before the printing deadline on Wednesday and our presentation to the community at the chateau on Thursday. For now I'm off to rest my very sore legs.
PS - Benjamin, I took a great photo of this sculpture of a monk with a monkey on his head for you.
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Berlin and back
Berlin on Monday was quite interesting. Axel, an art historian working on the controversial project of how best to preserve reminants of the Berlin Wall showed us around and told us about the history of the city's urban design as influenced by wars and walls. The city was different from any other I've been to. I expected it to be more dense and have retained more of a typical European city feel, but instead works of modern architecture showed themselves off amidst all kinds of construction projects in the works, still working to rebuild from the destruction from WWII. The bits of wall were an erie scar in the landscape with haphazard slicing of buildings and streets - old architectural styles on one side in and new on the other. Most of us imagine the Berlin wall as a single wall, but there was actually a whole gruesome series of barriers on the east side of the largest wall starting with a line not to cross over, progressing to smaller walls, an electric fence, and guarded area with dogs or gaurds ordered to shoot anyone who entered into the area. Most of this is gone now minus a few chunks and small hints or a line paved in stone running through the street.
The Jewish memorial was another dramatic site. Gray blocks of concrete that start at only a couple feet tall and then rise up to about 15 feet tall are laid out in a grid of rectangles that you wonder through in straight paths like a maze. The center is strange with the up and down sloping narrow paths, running into other people at sharp corners on perpendicular paths . . . the space seemed less of a typical memorial to those who died but more an abstract reinactment of the confusion and fear of the time. That uncomfortable sensation still hadn't left me as we walked by what used to be Hitler's underground bunkers.
I'm planning to head back to Berlin for our 4 day break between projects to hopefully explore some of the lighter sides of the city I've heard good things about, well and the Jewish museum by the architect Libeskind. I'll also be going to the ZEGG ecovillage outside of Berlin as part of the start of some thesis research.
For now we're just getting into the real guts of our design project in Decin which we have another week and a half to work on before a presentation at the Chateau on the 14th.
I hope the summer is kicking off well over in that part of the world.
- Nicole
The Jewish memorial was another dramatic site. Gray blocks of concrete that start at only a couple feet tall and then rise up to about 15 feet tall are laid out in a grid of rectangles that you wonder through in straight paths like a maze. The center is strange with the up and down sloping narrow paths, running into other people at sharp corners on perpendicular paths . . . the space seemed less of a typical memorial to those who died but more an abstract reinactment of the confusion and fear of the time. That uncomfortable sensation still hadn't left me as we walked by what used to be Hitler's underground bunkers.
I'm planning to head back to Berlin for our 4 day break between projects to hopefully explore some of the lighter sides of the city I've heard good things about, well and the Jewish museum by the architect Libeskind. I'll also be going to the ZEGG ecovillage outside of Berlin as part of the start of some thesis research.
For now we're just getting into the real guts of our design project in Decin which we have another week and a half to work on before a presentation at the Chateau on the 14th.
I hope the summer is kicking off well over in that part of the world.
- Nicole
Sunday, June 3, 2007
Bohemian Switzerland
Dobry den!
Most of the group headed to Berlin a day or two early so there are just a few of us in Decin today. Ken, Julie, and I took a short bus ride to a national park just to the north of Decin which straddles the Czech/German border which half the park in each country. The name of the park means Bohemian Switzerland, perhaps for the rocky, mountainous terrain and lush forests. We hiked down through a gorgeous gorge, complete with a little boat ride to connect two parts of the trail. It was a foggy, misty day so the atmosphere in the gorge was magical and drippy. We had time to hike up to a large stone arch after the gorge, but the high overlook was almost comically nothing but white with the fog.
The vegetarian fare here is quite sparse, mom. Luckily the hostel we're staying in has a kitchenette in our suite of rooms and there are a few large supermarkets in Decin. Most of us have been cooking at least one meal a day now. There is a good little pizza place in town which has a "vegetaria" pizza. Last night I ordered something off the menu which I could read should have been something with vegetables, and tofu. What came out on the plate was a large portion of canned veggies smothered in cheese, no tofu. All the carnivores on the trip seem to be happy with the large variety of meat dishes though. Laundry has been amusing so far as well. We've luckily had free laundry machines at both of the places we've stayed so far. The one machine here seems to take an average of 2 hours for one load, no dryer. Yesterday after checking back to see if the machine was open all morning and afternoon, a few of us horded the key to do some consecutive loads. I was up until past 1am waiting for my 2 hour spin. I must say the clothes get very clean though!
More on the trip to Berlin after tomorrow!
Most of the group headed to Berlin a day or two early so there are just a few of us in Decin today. Ken, Julie, and I took a short bus ride to a national park just to the north of Decin which straddles the Czech/German border which half the park in each country. The name of the park means Bohemian Switzerland, perhaps for the rocky, mountainous terrain and lush forests. We hiked down through a gorgeous gorge, complete with a little boat ride to connect two parts of the trail. It was a foggy, misty day so the atmosphere in the gorge was magical and drippy. We had time to hike up to a large stone arch after the gorge, but the high overlook was almost comically nothing but white with the fog.
The vegetarian fare here is quite sparse, mom. Luckily the hostel we're staying in has a kitchenette in our suite of rooms and there are a few large supermarkets in Decin. Most of us have been cooking at least one meal a day now. There is a good little pizza place in town which has a "vegetaria" pizza. Last night I ordered something off the menu which I could read should have been something with vegetables, and tofu. What came out on the plate was a large portion of canned veggies smothered in cheese, no tofu. All the carnivores on the trip seem to be happy with the large variety of meat dishes though. Laundry has been amusing so far as well. We've luckily had free laundry machines at both of the places we've stayed so far. The one machine here seems to take an average of 2 hours for one load, no dryer. Yesterday after checking back to see if the machine was open all morning and afternoon, a few of us horded the key to do some consecutive loads. I was up until past 1am waiting for my 2 hour spin. I must say the clothes get very clean though!
More on the trip to Berlin after tomorrow!
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Chateau
Check out this website to see a summary of the Chateau that's at the center of the project we're working on in Decin. There's some history and photos of the restoration: http://www.radio.cz/en/article/66721
I'm working on posting more photos soon!
I'm working on posting more photos soon!
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
From Praha to Decin
After some spotty internet availability, our group is finally set up in our first project destination, Decin (prounounced something like Ydeschen). We're staying in what was once the Chateau stables, now newly renovated into student housing. These accomodations are a big upgrade from our communist era dorms at a university outside of Prague. Being the only other female in our group besides the professor and Julie who's newlywed husband is also a grad student in our program and on the trip, looks like I get my own rooms on the trip - not too shabby. My third floor corner room has hardwood floors which I found are good for yoga, and two huge windows overlooking the town and lush forested hillsides.
Just to orient you, there are ten in our group. Ceci is the professor leading the trip with interests in historical landscapes and cultural landscape preservation. Ken and Julie are the newlyweds who had a lovely PA wedding the Sat. before we left. Then there is Jeff, my former Canadian roomate; Drew, Mike, and Brian - all fellow landscape architecture grad students; and Ben and Harsh - both tag alongs from the architecture grad program.
We spent a few days in Prague, or Praha (it always seems strange to me that the same place has different names in different languages. shouldn't places all just be called by what their name is in the local language?). We've been picking up a few Czech words. Dobry den is good morning. Prosim is please and excuse me - good for getting waiter's attention. We're still mystified by how to prounounce the word for thank you which is either daqui, diqui, dakuji, or some similar form. I serendipidously learned that laundry is prochka when following a local student I happened to spot carrying a bag of clothes down the hall in our first dorm who then helped me explain to the grumpy old man at the counter that I wanted the key to the laundry room. Now I can happily go up to any front desk and say "prochka" as I point to my room key.
In Prague, we toured around the main points of interest - the old town square, Charles bridge, and the castle. (I'll attempt to post pictures soon). A few of us splurged on a Carmena Burana concert in the Municipal House (my favorite art nouveau building in prague) theater. Stay tuned for my one minute video recording (using my snazzy new digital camera) of the opening song. Yep, so far this class isn't too bad at all. Besides some sketching in the castle gardens, it's quite a vacation.
The real work is beginning soon though. We met with our guide, Jan (a native who went to grad school in landscape architecture years back in the US and now works as a landscape architect out of Prague) yesterday after arriving by train in Decin. Decin is a medium sized town of 60,000 people about an hour and a half north of Praha. A historical Chateau here is the focus of our project. The Russian Army camped out here using the Chateau as their base. They actually used the basement for sewage and they longer they were here, the more floors filled up as a big outhouse. They also covered all the beautifully painted buildings up with gray paint and generally trashed the place. There is a major restoration effort underway. Our main project though is to create a master plan to connect the Chateau, main squares, river, and parks together which are all the places the local public should be making use of but are all disconnected and hard to get between. Should be an interesting project.
I'm off to spend some more crowns ($1 = 20 kc) on lunch and explore the town.
Best wishes,
Nicole
Just to orient you, there are ten in our group. Ceci is the professor leading the trip with interests in historical landscapes and cultural landscape preservation. Ken and Julie are the newlyweds who had a lovely PA wedding the Sat. before we left. Then there is Jeff, my former Canadian roomate; Drew, Mike, and Brian - all fellow landscape architecture grad students; and Ben and Harsh - both tag alongs from the architecture grad program.
We spent a few days in Prague, or Praha (it always seems strange to me that the same place has different names in different languages. shouldn't places all just be called by what their name is in the local language?). We've been picking up a few Czech words. Dobry den is good morning. Prosim is please and excuse me - good for getting waiter's attention. We're still mystified by how to prounounce the word for thank you which is either daqui, diqui, dakuji, or some similar form. I serendipidously learned that laundry is prochka when following a local student I happened to spot carrying a bag of clothes down the hall in our first dorm who then helped me explain to the grumpy old man at the counter that I wanted the key to the laundry room. Now I can happily go up to any front desk and say "prochka" as I point to my room key.
In Prague, we toured around the main points of interest - the old town square, Charles bridge, and the castle. (I'll attempt to post pictures soon). A few of us splurged on a Carmena Burana concert in the Municipal House (my favorite art nouveau building in prague) theater. Stay tuned for my one minute video recording (using my snazzy new digital camera) of the opening song. Yep, so far this class isn't too bad at all. Besides some sketching in the castle gardens, it's quite a vacation.
The real work is beginning soon though. We met with our guide, Jan (a native who went to grad school in landscape architecture years back in the US and now works as a landscape architect out of Prague) yesterday after arriving by train in Decin. Decin is a medium sized town of 60,000 people about an hour and a half north of Praha. A historical Chateau here is the focus of our project. The Russian Army camped out here using the Chateau as their base. They actually used the basement for sewage and they longer they were here, the more floors filled up as a big outhouse. They also covered all the beautifully painted buildings up with gray paint and generally trashed the place. There is a major restoration effort underway. Our main project though is to create a master plan to connect the Chateau, main squares, river, and parks together which are all the places the local public should be making use of but are all disconnected and hard to get between. Should be an interesting project.
I'm off to spend some more crowns ($1 = 20 kc) on lunch and explore the town.
Best wishes,
Nicole
Friday, May 25, 2007
Hot City
Whew, warm weather in Praha. It feels like summer in PA here now with the humidity. All is going well with our group. The airline found the missing bags of both Ben and Harsh. We§re off to go out in the city now, but i§ll post more very soon with photos. Love to everyone.
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Prague Arrival
Our group arrived in Prague last night after some very long hours of planes and airports. We're staying in some dorms at a local university just outside the city. I'm off to tour around with some familiarity from my travels last year. More soon!
Nicole
Nicole
Friday, May 18, 2007
Itinerary & projects
If you're curious, this is the itenerary and project info for the Czech trip from our professor:
Cesta do Czech Itinerary
May 22-July 1, 2007
Part I
Objectives for this part of the course are:
· To identify historic/cultural layers, patterns and processes that define
· Become familiar with planning and design issues in
· Be introduced to heritage issues: cultural and natural resource preservation/conservation
· To identify historic/cultural layers, patterns and processes that define selected city
Product: Visual journal
22/5/07 Group departs US
23/5/07-
24/5/07 Free day in
25/5/07 Old town, City pattern, street studies
26/5/07 Castle, gardens
27/5/07 Garden suburb
28/5/07 Free day
29/5/07-
Part II
Objectives:
· Become familiar with Decin and attendant issues of development /management of park resources
· To become immersed in a particular community/regional planning or design problem
Product: Visual journal, plan/management report that can help guide decision-making (to be completed Fall semester)
3/6/07-
2-week charrette
15/6/07-
Part III
Objectives:
· Become familiar with contemporary planning and design issues in Cesky Raj region
· Be introduced to issues of management related to a significant heritage area and development conflicts
Product: Visual journal, plan/management report (Fall semester completion)
19/6/07-
10-day charrette
30/6/07 Return to
Eye of the Storm
Hi everyone,
This is my first attempted blog. If this works, you should be able to tune into my upcoming adventures. Here goes . . .
Nicole
This is my first attempted blog. If this works, you should be able to tune into my upcoming adventures. Here goes . . .
Nicole
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