My Favorite Europe Photos

Now that I'm back I look at all my photos continuously! So I picked out a handful of favorites to share! Enjoy!

{L

Nice, France - Le Chateau Carvings

Nice, France- Sunset at Le Chateau Lookout

Nice, France- Le Chateau

notre dame cathedral arches - paris

Paris - bridge of angels

Prague, Czech Republic - Petrin Hill

Cliffs of Moher - Claire County, Ireland

Riomaggiore, Italy - boat in the harbor

Riomaggiore, Italy - trainstation (Cinque Terre)

Rome, Italy - Sunset from our apartment windows

Rome, Italy - Capitoline Hill

London, England - View from the London Bridge

Basel, Switzerland - Printing Machines at the Paper Mill

Prague, Czech Republic - Lenon Wall

Rome, Italy - from top of vatican dome

Venice, Italy - Canal streets and bridges

Venice, Italy - View of Saint Marks

Amsterdam, Netherlands - Bicycles lining the streets

:: TUPY'S Invade Italia ::

So the adventure begins! Nov 19th the parents and niki took off from Des Moines, flew through Denver then on the Philly and finally destination ROME. the rest of this post I'm inserting from my mom's journal, so please excuse motherly humor that might seem a little cheesy.

DAY ONE:

Our arrival in Roma was about an hour late and now to find the rail to downtown Termini Station. We did it in 40 minutes and there just as we got off the train and walked down the platform was Lisa. Lots of hugs and kisses.

Our first Experience was in a roman taxi. very interesting... noticed that Italians don't really like to follow traffic laws. However our driver was very nice! first stop was our apartment, very quaint and cute. A mix of modern and antique. Wants be got settled a bit we walked around the area and had our first gelato! Mom's fav was lemon, light and refreshing. Next we walked around to some other sites including Tiber Island, the Pantheon, and Largo Argentina (Lisa calls it the Cat Sanctuary) a few churches and Piazza Navona. Despite getting completely soaked in the Rain and having to avoid 500 umbrella salesman. We had a wonderful first day.

Dried off at the apartment than headed out for dinner. Had a little trouble finding place open that you didn't need a reservation at. Found a place a settled in. A few of the highlights: Mom made our server hate us almost immediately by melting the menu on the candle that was on the table for some reason she thought the burnt plastic smell was coming from the kitchen. Italians literally eat 5-course meals and I don't think they like it when we only order from the Primi Section. Italians eat very late. most places don't even open until 7:30 pm. Italian wine is EXCELLENT! we finished off our first night in Rome by stopping for a drink at a pub near our apartment then it was time for a good night's sleep.

DAY TWO::

Rose from a good nights sleep, then off to our Vatican Tour. On the way to our meeting spot Lisa took us to Capitaline Hill which is home to some of the building that house Rome's government and the Capitoline Museum. Also a great place for a view of the Roman Forum. We next headed towards the coloseum and had a wonderful view of the outside as walked around to find our guide at our meeting place Piazza Republica. Justin our tour guide from Rome(ing) tours a company he owns with a Decorah native took us on a great tour of the Vatican Area that included a great (informative and comical) description of how christianity can to Rome, the Bridge of Angels by Bernini, which took us over the tiber river and in front of the castle. We next headed down the long street and at the end was St. Peter's Square and Basilica. A wonderful thing to be walking towards.

Our first stop was actually a small Panini place that we were promised would give us the best sandwiches we'd ever tasted and Justin was right. Here we also learned that if a faucet doesn not have a handle (which most do not in Rome) it is run using a foot pedal on the floor and that most toliets don't have seats on top.

Onto the Vatican Museum. WE saw a number of statues that were used as inspiration in the paintings of the Sistine chapel and learned that Michelangelo and Bernini are basically the most amazing artists ever! Also that the Swiss Guards in the Sistine Chapel take their jobs very seriously, shouting, 'no picture' and 'shhhh' often. At one point I think I even might have heard them say 'no fun'. Other interesting facts: the vatican is home to the largest Pine cone! ( a bronze statue located in the courtyard). We love Canadians. not only was our tour guide canadian (and very good looking in the opinion of Lisa and Niki) but the other couple on the tour were from Canada and were a great addition to the group.

Next stop St. Peter's Basilica. an extraordinary work of art. had a discussion about the controversey of the Pieta (mary holding her dead child, Jesus by Michelangelo). and watched a procession of priests/cardinals as they entered daily mass.

That night we had a great meal at Trillusa Taverina. we were told the food was fresh, it was like eating out of a pan. That was no metaphor! they literally brought out the pan that they used to cook the food in and we ate out of it. Delicious and a great way to celebrate mom and dad's 30th anniversary!

DAY THREE ::

We (Bob/joan/niki) took off to the Coloseum for an adventure, Lisa had classes. Got a tour guide and headed in. learned 100,000 people died building it and even more in games. Also that it was a christian pilgramidge site because of all the saints martyered there. It was absolutely huge. Next off to Palentine Hill (new guide short little italian with a ponytail) we learned again about all the different Roman Emperors and Nero came to the top as being a bad ass. I'm glad he doesn't rule now!

Our next trip was to the East to St. John Lateran, the church where Pope Benedict says mass. We took a quick tour it again was huge. All the tour guides say "when the roman's do it... they do it big" and yes the church was enormous. Building across the street had the holy stairs, the only way up is to ascend on your knees one at a time.

Stomach's were grumbling and we had not eaten all day except for the "faithful traveling pumpkin break" (the one food Lisa had requested we bring from america, she said it wouldn't be thanksgiving without it). So we crossed the street and grabbed some Pizza then back to the apartment to shower for our dinner date with the Nation's (a roommate of Lisa's family that was also visit now).

Mom's Recap Narrated through the Pumpkin Bread's Point of view... quite humorous!

3 hours before we leave for des moines a phone call comes thru for a plea "Please Bring Pumpkin Bread to Rome" so quickly I pull out recipes to find out no pumpkin.. up to dorothy's to borrow and then together it goes.. into the oven and cooled a little but and put into a Nike Box and pkgd into our checked luggage. The big loaf and small loaf travel by car to Ankeny stays first night a niki's home then off into Dana's jeep for a trip to the airport Then it is tossed around in cargo from Des moines airport to Denver, CO. where it is hit by ice fog and bad end Turbulence bat with a little rest now goes on to Pilly where it had 2 1/2 hour rest before the overnight flight to Rome. The Tupy's picked me up and rolled me across the terminal to the u-rail which took me to downtown Termini station. I met Lisa but she didn't know I was hiding in the Nike show box which then I got rolled around on bumpy cobblestone streets to a taxi... wizzed around to the apartment where I rested for a day. The next day Lisa took Baby loaf away I heard it was devoured at her apartment within an hour maybe shared with friends. meanwhile I a resting in the frig and a slice or two is sliced off each morning for the Tupy's Breakfast. On Wed. I'm back into Nike for a bumpy walk to Lisa's apartment then on bus ride to Termini and U-rail to florence where I again sleep for a day in the shoe box.

ONTO TO FLORENCE ::

arrived and walked to Hotel Donatello, where we were staying. Found the receptionist a funny curly haired Italian with lots of fire. But the minute you started to ask her any questions she went crazy, so we decided better off not to ask. WE headed towards St. Mark's Square and the Duomo. WE were amazed how much faster you could get around Florence vs. Rome. We stumbled upon the Duomo unexpectedly and found ourselves in AWE. After snapping some pictures and a detour into a shoe store quick it was off to find Florence's Best Mexican Restuarant since Lisa's was craving guacamole (it had been months, which is torture to her) WE navigated to Tijuana located on Ghibellina which we decided was the "fun" part of town. Noisey and lively streets! After our appetizer and a pitcher of Margaritas off to another restaurant for supper.

FLORENCE ::

Catching Up

So I just realized a skipped over London! so here's a little recap...

Stayed outside of the city center a ways at the Hillspring Lodge. Bed's here were ten times more comfy than our apartment. awesome. Our first full day in London me n katie met up with Karen a friend from ISU that was studying in Spain this semester. We met in front of the Big Ben strolled the river up towards London Bridge, pretty long walk. Ate at a fun pub on the way there had ale. Feels like food is the one thing thats not outrageously expensive here. Saw London Bridge and Tower. I was surprised at how modern the architecture was around that area.

A couple metro lines were down the weekend we were there, and London, being so huge it was a little bit hard to get around. That night we explored Picadilly Circus and Oxford Circus, seems like the times square area of London, very lively and bright.

London is overall great, to me its the perfect mix of modern and old. Thumbs up to accents, phone booths, and fish and chips! The next day we made it to Abbey Road, explored harrod's department store, another pub, Buckingham Palace, and Green and Hyde Park. While waiting for the guards to change at Buckingham there was actually a procession and the queen was chaufered into the Palace.

outside buckingham

Karen, me and Katie in front of Big Ben

Abbey Road

View from London Bridge

:: INVENZIONE :: Rome Show!

So last night was the big occasion.. we held a student work exhibition in our studio space and we all got to look at each others work along with all our professors and other friends and students around rome. I was a lot of fun and a great end to the semester's studies. Now a couple days of relaxing in rome then back to the states... its gone by too fast. Oh also the last couple days we've had some free time to do some fun stuff two days ago we explored Villa Doria Pamphili a beautiful park in the Trastevere hill and today we hiked it up St.Peter's Dome so theres a couple pics from that also. AMAZING VIEWS!

graphic design work at the show

the table with some of work displayed

me allison madison and ariel enjoying some wine after a great semester!

Me n kels on top of St Peter's Dome

Villa Doria Pamphili. Absolutely beautiful

Another 2 bite the dust!

haha ok so excuse the extremely cheesy title ... but like said in the previous post caffine craziness is def here to stay! Finished two projects in the last couple days so thought I'd share. The first is Rome Squares a project that has been ongoing throughout the semester and now at the end developed into a book to explore through type and image our time here in europe. The second is a typographic experiment to develop a 27th letter to the alphabet. For the project we had to combine all the letters found in a prefix or sufix of our choice. I decided to go for the suffix -ful. The project included the letterform itself and then a poster to introduce it within words.

Once again hope you enjoy the designs!

10 days mark...

time has gone by sooo fast here only 10 days left. Finding out rome is no different and no matter where you are in the world the end of the semester is still and Chaotic, busy time of no sleep and way too much caffeine!! Projects are starting to round up and we have our final Rome Exhibition here in Rome, next wednesday. I just finished up another Advanced Typography project where we had to design and construct a book on a set up opposites somehow connected with Rome. Here are a couple pics from my final book. Yay the end is getting closer!!

view of one spread

close up typography

looking down the whole project

another type close up

Switzy land!!!

ahhhh so it's been over a month since my last post... I'll try to catch up over the next couple days.

I'll start with our north field trip to Switzerland!

We traveled by train starting in rome changing trains in Milan than off to Zurich Switzerland. It was a very long ride around 8 hours, but worth ever minute while we were coasting through the swiss alps. Absolutely breathtaking views of snow topped mountains and waterfalls spilling out from the cliffs.

Upon arriving in Zurich our first stop was a Graphic Design Poster Gallery, where we got to see works top swiss designers. Our guide then took us down into the archives where they house the entire collection and let us see an original Art Nouveau Mucha Poster close up. For a graphic designer this was incredible, spine tingling. It would pry be the equivilant of catching a homerun ball from your favorite player or something lol.

After the museum we checked into our hostel which was quite far away from the city center but very nice, and modern. The rest of the night was on our own so we went out to find some food later... finding out zurich is very expensive, talking 30-80 franks for a meal... the cheapest we could find and had to settle for was a tiny italian restaurant where we found pizza for 15 something we would have only payed 8 for in rome...

The next day we were off to Basel, another hour and a half train ride. Basel, was much prettier and more of a small town feel. It borders both france and germany so when we were there it was only about a 20 minute car ride to either country. Once again our hostel was veryyy nice, clean and great breakfast so sneak lunch from! Exploring Basel there was a carnival around every corner. Fair rides and food stands lined all the main squares and parks. It was a very fun cultural atmosphere. It reminded me alot of Prague but not quite as bohemian. While here we visited the Vitra design museum, crossing over the germany line. A lot of the building on the complex being done by Frand O.Gehry were works of art themselves. We took an architectural tour of the facilities, then got to spend a couple of hours inside the vitra show room. Vitra is a high end furniture line, that focuses alot on the design aspects of their pieces. Many of the pieces inside the museum art collector pieces done by famous industrial designers. It was an incredible space and must see for anyone interested in interior design or any design at all really!

In Basel we also visited an old fashioned paper mill where they still do all production and decoration by hand. We got to make our own paper starting with shifting the particles throught the water. We also got to see how print making worked and marbalize paper.

Switzerland was a great place to observe and see for graphic design. Their cities wayfinding and signs are great design examples. Home of the clean swiss design style and bold typography.

inside the vitra store house

frank o gehry architecture at vitra complex

eating curry wurst at the festivals in basel

mucha poster up close

our hostel nicer than some hotels i've stayed in!

the girls in the leaves. beautiful fall weather when we were there!

making paper at the paper meal

AMSTERDAM

beautiful train ride back through the Alps to Milan then Milan airport straight to Amsterdam.

We took a train from the airport to centrale station looks dark and lively and the canal streets look beautiful even at night! Got to our hotel its cheap, near everything, small but decently clean.

Set our bags down then walked the red light district, not nearly as scary as I thought it would be. But yes prostitutes everywhere. Met a fun group of people from Brown, studying abroad and hung out with them the rest of the night.

Morning delicious Pancake Breakfast at Sara's Pancake House. Met up with natalie and simon a girl in our major and her boyfriend. Went to the museum district and looked around, tried to see the modern art museum but it was underconstruction with only one small exhibit up. In the afternoon we visited the Ann Frank house. Great Experience very sad, but saw the space where the frank family hid and her actually diaries.

statue of anne frank in front of the house

amsterdam pier