Through Milano, Made it to Scudellate!

What a whizzing day. After waking up at 4:30am to catch a 5:10am train to make the 7:10 plane to Milano, you might be surprised that I'm pretty beat right now...And of course none of the traveling was absolutely smooth, however, I lucked out that none of the trains, planes, buses, or tubes cased disastrous effects for the rest of the trip.

First, Paddington Station. I managed to get there before 5:00...also before the main gates opened. After finding an open entrance, I made my way to a ticket machine to pick up the tickets I had bought the night before. Should be easy, right? Wrong. To get the tickets out from the machine, you must put in your credit card...which happens to have a chip and pin system in the UK, so my poor American card wouldn't work. So I tried the ticket office - which of course appeared closed. After trying another three or so machines and wandering around frantically for 5 minutes, I finally found somebody who worked there. Of course he had the magical touch, or at least the smarts to push open the automatic sliding door, which in England apparently works...I talked to the Lady behind the counter to get my tickets, which it turns out wasn't for the right train. Another 10 pounds and 5 minutes later, I was left 2 minutes to quickly sprint over to the 5:10am Heathrowe Express.

Then, after a fairly smooth flight (which I slept through), I arrived in Milano. Oh Milan was absolutely stunning. Compared to eclectic London and planned Paris, Milan was a perfect balance of historical and modern, tall with short, and green with buildings. The modern architecture in Milan did the best job at incorporating both the vernacular forms and materiality with the fascist modernism of simple geometries and sleek lines. Just beautiful. Unfortunately, my attempt at navigating the city was less than beautiful, thus lending no time to take pictures. I started my journey through the city by thinking 'Oh, I have a small map with few details and no road names. I can navigate with no troubles at all! Besides, the train station looks so close to the one I arrived at on the map.' Well, both assumptions were soon to prove VERY false. After taking the wrong direction for about a dozen blocks, I finally conceited to ask directions. Luckily, the hotel I stopped at had more detailed maps, however, the man at the counter suggested I take the metro. Take the metro? And miss the beautiful city? Of course I wouldn't do that because I had just inherited super powers of navigation and was going to walk. Another terrible, terrible idea. Lesson #342 of Europe - Always follow the locals' suggestions. After getting lost for half an hour and asking directions twice more, I managed to get around the huge construction project going on right in the middle of the city and finally find my way into the train station. And then had to pay .60 euros to use the bathroom. What a freaking cherry on top. I was sweating and panting so bad, I didn't care about forking over another Euro and went straight for the cold water tap (which was still luke warm...gahhhh).

I managed to get on the train and sleep/enjoy the countryside and still get to Chiasso with half an hour to catch the bus up to Muggio. After meeting up with one classmate, Colby, by chance at the bus station, we made our way up to Muggio, where by another chance, four more classmates got on the bus. We went up as far as the bus would take us, but were still about 30minutes downhill from Scudellate. A few classmates met us there and we all waited the hour and a half for the next small bus to take us the rest of the way. We managed to catch the beginning of the world cup match between England and Germany...which ended sadly with a huge loss by England. Very disappointing.

Now I've unpacked my things and settled into my top bunk and small locker. The landscape is to die for! I'm enjoying it so much. Pictures and more to come!

Ciao

Journey through London

I managed to see some wonderful architecture yestyrday as I wondered both above and below London. I'm finally getting comfortable with being in an urban environment. Its always been a bit nerve racking traveling in cities because of the vast amounts of people, the feeling of being a pesky toursit that doesn't belong, and the fear of getting robbed. But after travel over a dozen times on the tube and even being asked directions, I've become much more at ease. Suddenly where fear once lingered, courage and confidence has taken its place. There was a huge difference between arriving at Charles De Gaule on my first day in Europe -antsy, frantic, and scared - and arriving in St. Pancras just yesterday - calm, collected, and confident. I've been able to change tubes, buy my own oyster card (like a metro card, for the tubes), and walk around the city taking pictures without feeling out of place. I even was able to manage all of my bags through the city with little trouble (the only trouble was from my backpack taking up so much space behind me - I often had to put it between my feet on crowed tubes). Did I mention how crowded the tube has been? On at least half of my trips, I haven't been able to even turn in a circle its been so crowded.

I took another 408 pictures yesterday, for a grand total of over 1800 pictures. Already. And I haven't even arrived in Switzerland yet...oh well. I've had a blast taking them. Yesterday I captured at least 6 Wren churches, Swiss Re by Foster, Lloyd's by Rogers, City Hall (Foster again), Millennium Bridge (Calatrava), and the Globe Theatre to name a few. All the walking has left my feet very sore, but it's been worth every ache.

Last night I had my first couchsurfing experience. It was a blast meeting my host, Ali, and many of his artists friends and counterculture companions. Most excitingly/differently (and probably what boosted my confidence most) was going to Shunt, an underground art gallery/performance space/gay hang out/bar among the supporting structure of London Bridge Station. What a rush! It was the most amazing space/set of spaces, with each space between the brick structure filled with abstract sculptures, installations, projected movies, paintings, and pictures. I met a very attractive younger man my age who was a trapeze artist and circus teacher who had spent some time in San Fran teaching at a local circus school. In the back was a bar hosted by a glorious group of friendly Londoners where I met one of the organizers of the space who had a movie displaying among on of the more intimate and enclosed alcoves. It was a deeply moving film that seemed to bring to life a series of photographs from the holocaust paired with journal entries of people from the time. The way the film was shot - as a light being shined and slowly moved over the surface of picture collages - gave the images life, making you feel in touch with the loss shown on people's faces and on collapsed buildings. Very moving.

After leaving Shunt, I traveled with Ali on the Overground (a train connecting through the suburbs) to his beautiful home in South Norwood, about 20-30 minutes south of the city. He showed me his lovely garden, cooked a delicious dinner, and shared some wonderful concersation. Though I enjoyed stayin g with Ali very much, I'm rooming with one of my uncle's friends for the next two nights beause her flat is a bit closer to town & a lot closer to Hethrowe where I fly out of Sunday Morning.

Today has been a little lazy since my jet lag just seet in. I was doing so well until around 10:30 when my head went all fuzy. But I did manage to get a cell phone finally! For £20 (courtesy of my uncle, Charles. Thanks again!) we were able to find a nice phone that works very well (and comes with £10 of free credit). The number is: 00 44 7502 1123 70.

Overall, London has been a much dofferent experience than Paris, and just one look at the sky line could make that clear. Unlike Paris - uniform building heights and widths, a classic french baroque style throughout, and a planned axial boulevard pattern that frames views and guides people in an almost militaristic way - London is mcuh more elclectic - varied building hieghts, styles, ages, a muddled web of person-scaled alleys, and a feeling of personal liberation of self-expression. Unlike Paris that seems to make one feel uniform (one reason why stopping to take a picture feels more out-of-place), London's variety, though a bit muddled, expresses a variety of ideas from a span of peoples, places and times. Instead of replacing old buildings destroyed by WW2 like in Paris, London allowed new architectural icons to take over the cities infastructure and take over the skyline. Part of me would like to see more of the original historic infastructure have more leverage, but the other part of me enjoys the craziness.

Pictures of London are still being uploaded, so keep your eyes peeled for those and take a look at some of the Paris Pics.

Ciao!

Hello from London -

Just arrived in London from Paris. Paris was amazing! Sorry for not commenting en route, after two 9-hour days walking around town, I'm beat! If you haven't checked out the pictures on my picassa album yet (and not all the pictures are uploaded, sorry) you should. I've taken over 1300 in Paris alone!!! There are some great ones from L'Institue de Monde Arabe (novel), Ste. Chapelle (damn, forgot my arch history already...), La Villete Park (Tschumi et all), and many more. Check it, there's quite a variety.

This morning I took the Eurostar across the channel - what a nice ride! Well, minus the whole wake up at 5.30hr thing. Anyways, St Pancras Station is probably my new favorite reuse building. Between the old brick, the oxidized original trusses, and a beautiful array of new spider-mullion glazing, this building is SO awesome! The semi-venetian ( or perhaps moorish?) arches are just beautiful. After taking two SUPER crowded tube rides (the piccidily line was partially closed due to a worker strike, gotta love Europe) I made it to my uncle and my grandmother's flat across from Kensington Gardens. I'll be headed to St. Pauls for lunch with my uncle, so plenty of Wren pictures to come. Perhaps some Indigo Jones as well?

J'Arrive!

Well, I made it one piece after an entire day of traveling. After two delayed flights (which lucky didn't effect each other. Thanks tailwinds.) I made it to Charles DeGaule in Paris. There was a strange difference between leaving and arriving. When saying goodbye, I felt surprisingly numb to the emotions I should have been feeling (sorrow at saying goodbye, anxiety, excitement), which I can probably relate to the lack of sleep preceding the flight. But what was more surprising was the tidal rush of emotions I felt arriving in Paris. All of the emotions I had missed before came flooding all at once - regret, fear, denial, anxiety, and of course, nausea. It took all my effort not to loose the airplane food I had eaten the night before. And then getting to the exit and not finding Chakib sent my adrenaline skyrocketing to add to everything else. Still, I was able to get cash from an ATM, by a phone card, call chakib, find chakib, and get to his apartment all in one piece. Excitement has finally won out over the other emotions now that I've had a chance to shower and relax for a few minutes. Still a little anxious, but hopefully that should pass soon. Check out the pictures from the apartment! So Europe...

Excitment Building!

I just got a handful of emails from my summer studio professor, Tom Di Santo. He sent us a bunch of pictures and now I can barely sit still. I just realized - I'm going to be there in two weeks! I feel so appreciative that I get this awesome opportunity!

Also - I finally figured out how to post pictures. Its complicated to do it on the blog, so I've set up a Picassa album where I'll put all of my pictures and captions. I'll try to put a few and a brief description on the photos tab so that you know to check out the rest on Picassa.

Here's the link: http://picasaweb.google.com/avincentcp

Enjoy!

PS. Is it too early to count down hours? 3 days, 20 hours, 44 minutes until Paris!

Starting the Tour

This year marks my fourth year of architectural studies and is the beginning of a year-long adventure around the world. My journey commences June 2010 with a studio in Switzerland and will take me through Rome, Brisbane, and San Francisco. The goal for 'Le Grand Tour' is a three fold experiential analysis combining observations of culture, society, and architecture in a variety of places, settings, and peoples. The purpose of this blog is to record my progress abroad and keep in touch with those back home. Stay tunned for pictures, texts, and sample projects from my various trips around Europe, Australia, and the Bay Area. Thanks to everyone who's supporting my journey and allowing me the wonderful opportunities ahead.

Enjoy!