Legoland

So, for those of you who don't know Denmark is the creator of legos, yes legos, and they have their own legoland. That is where we spent our day on Sunday. It was really cool They had lego sculptures that depicted all different kinds of stuff, such as the statue of liberty, mount rushmore, dragons, nights, towns, cities. You name it they had it. What a job that would be to build lego sets for legoland. Sounds like fun. The park also had some rides, nothing compared to what I've been on before, but it was enough to keep us entertained. Actually it was more than enough because we got to spend the whole day being little kids again. I even bought myself a lego lunch box. I can't wait to take it to class with me next fall. Legoland also had a section of the park that was the discovery of atlantis. They had real sharks and stingrays in an aquarium. That was really cool. All in all it was a very exciting and fun filled day. Now it is back to being an adult again and doing homework. Oh well.

Danish soccer and the Copenhagen Zoo

So, this Sunday night a bunch of us went to a soccer game in Copenhagen. The Copenhagen team was playing the mid Jutland team which is the main peninsula of Denmark. The Game was awesome. We had seats three rows behind the goalie, so close we could see the sweat splatter off there heads when they hit the ball with it. The fans were also very crazy and excited about the game. It was awesome to be in an atmosphere that intense. It was like being at an American football game multiplied by like a thousand. In the end the Copenhagen team lost, but it was so much fun. Then today the Pre-architecture students went on a field study around Copenhagen. We started it at the Copenhagen zoo though. We got a "backstage" tour of the new elephant house that is being built. That was really cool to be able to see all the plans and ideas behind it. The rest of the zoo was cool as well. It has been a while since I've been to one so it was nice to see some of those exotic animals again. Anyways I just though I would let you all know the excitement I've had the past couple of days with the soccer game and the zoo.

Spring Break

Wow, is all I really got to stay. Our three week break was great. We started off with a one week study tour with the program to various areas in Germany and the Netherlands. We saw a lot of architecture and it was very informative, though it was nice at the end of the week to go off on our own. Kelly, Emilie and I after the study tour stayed in Amsterdam for an extra day. The city was beautiful so it was nice to enjoy the non-architectural side. We went to the Anne Frank house and that was very moving. The next stop along our trip was Brussels. We didn't get much time in Brussels due to train line construction and thus a longer trip to Brussels.
Next we went to Paris. Amazing can't even describe it. The city is huge, beautiful and full of life. Of course we did all the touristy things like climb the Eiffel Tower, see the Mona Lisa, go to Versailles and walk the Champs Elysees, but we also saw some interesting parts of the city because both Kelly and her friend we were staying with have been there before, so they know all the little spots. One of the best spots was on a hill called monmart which has a huge church on top of it. It overlooks the city in all its splendor. We also got to see one of my favorite buildings that I've studied- Ste. Genevieve designed by Jacques Germain Soufflot. Ok, I'm a little obsessed with it. The bad thing though was that the workers for the church were on strike so we didn't get to go in. I guess I'll just have to do that the next time in Paris. We also went to probably the best museum I've ever been to in my life. It is called Musee D'Orsay and is an old train station renovated to be a museum. It houses all kinds of art, but the best works are the impressionist. The likes of Da Vinci, Michealangelo, Monet and many others are present here. It was amazing considering it was my first time seeing any of there works. The combination of the great architecture and the great art had Kelly's friend (who's not an architecture major) thinking we were nuts. We all loved it though. We spent most of the time oohing and aahing about how a certain stairs were placed or how the lighting worked. It was quite interesting to see people stair at us as we took pictures of the silliest things such as sound walls that lined the windows.
From Paris we headed to Venice and the first of our long train rides. It was 14 hours total and included three connections. We of course went through the Alps on the way and that was absolutely amazing. We caught a snow storm outside of Geneva and beautiful sun on the way down to Venice. The Alps are quite the site. Venice itself was quite amazing as well. There are no cars whatsoever on the island which is awesome. We didn't do much touristy stuff in Venice except for shop. They have a lot of glassware type stuff that is really neat and the girls loved it. They are also famous for Casanova so there is a mask shop everywhere we turn. And yes I do now have a Halloween costume for next year. You'll have to wait and see it though. We also visited St. Marks cathedral which is in the Eastern style of churches. It was the first of the type that I've seen in person so that was pretty cool. On Sunday Kelly and I got up to go to Easter mass (surprising I know) at the church close to the hostel. There was hardly anyone there, but it was nice none the less. It was a little difficult following since it was in Italian, but we still go the gist of it.
That morning then we got on a train to Florence. This one included a trip through the Tuscan countryside which is all that people say it is. Beauty like none other is captured in the hills. We got into Florence in the afternoon so took a little stroll around town. We stumbled on the Piazza de Loggia which is where one of our history professors studied as a student. That was pretty cool. The next day we headed out to the museum that houses Michelangelo's famous statue of David. Again more amazing art. His statue of David is talked as the best ever for the reason that David does appear as a macho warrior, rather his cunning and intellect is depicted as the result of his victory. He is not standing on Goliaths head as usual but rather striking a pose with the sling over his back and the rock in his hand. Michelangelo never seizes to amaze me. When then headed back to the hostel to pack and head to Rome and another amazing ride through the Tuscan landscape.
While in Rome, the first day we saw the Pantheon, a couple of plazas the Spanish steps and Trevi fountain. Again all were as good as I hoped. On Wednesday we got up early and headed to the Vatican. We had heard that the pope was going to making an appearance so we decided to catch that. We waited for almost two hours before seeing him, but it was well worth it. There were people from all over the world and even a group from Milwaukee. The pope read something and then proceeded to welcome everyone to the Vatican in like 8 different languages. One for the major groups that we were there. So yes he spoke in English, it was really cool. Then at the end we all sang the Our Father in Italian(ok I just listened because me singing let alone in
Italian wasn't going to happen). He than blessed us all and was on his way. We got some really good pictures of him which was nice. We then went to the Vatican Museum to see the sis tine chapel. Yet again Michelangelo amazed me. We also got into St. Peters which was pretty cool as well. On Thursday we spent the day around the ruins starting with the Colosseum, which was really cool. I much rather enjoyed the ruins of the Roman Forum though. I got to see the columns where a lot of things I've learned have come from. It was amazing. That night we ate at the restaurant affiliated with the hostel and it was amazing. We got our first authentic Italian meal. The other nights we stumbled on bad places to eat. Oh well, that just made Thursday's supper that much better. Friday we went to the bone chapel which is a church over a sanctuary that uses the bones of monks to make little chapels. It is hard to explain, but I got an information booklet about it though. We than spent the rest of the day shopping. I got an Italian tie and that was about it. I surprisingly made it until like 3:00 before I told the girls that was enough for me. Who knew that shopping required so much thinking. I always thought it was just pick the first thing you see that looks good. The girls sure loved it so I wandered back to the hostel and took a nap. It was nice to have a little me time though after spending almost three straight weeks with them.
Saturday found us back on a train headed back to Copenhagen. It left at 7:42 in the morning and was non-stop to Munich. From Munich we took an over night to Copenhagen. We got back at about 10:00 this morning. It was a long 26 hours, but it saved us a lot of money and we got to the see the mountains really well.
All in all it was a great three weeks. We had our bumps along the road, but who doesn't. It is nice to be back in Copenhagen which is really starting to fell like home away from home. It will be tough to leave this place come May. Anyways its been one long journey and its back to school tomorrow so take care everyone and keep an eye out for some pictures on flickr.

study break

So, I finished up my last class today before break. It was quite a nice relief after the many hours of studying for midterms and working late nights on my project. We are headed for the rest of Europe on Sunday as well. We will be traveling with the program here for a week through Germany and the Netherlands. And then we are off on our own to France and Italy for two weeks. I can't believe that it is already here. Time has flown since arriving in Denmark. It is exciting and sad all at the same time. Exciting to be going to experience the rest of Europe, sad that once we get back there is only a month and a half left of time spent here. It should be a fun couple of months though.

Field Study to Malmo

So, this past Monday we took a field study to Malmo, Sweden with my Urban Design theories class. It was a lot of fun. We started out with a boat tour of the new harbor which took off from Nyhavn (which translated means new harbor).

This harbor is known as the post card district of Copenhagen which you can see why from the pictures.

We got off in a new development in Copenhagen. It is mixed residential. The building was designed as a whole, but the facades were designed by about 30 different architecture firms.

This way it doesn't all look the same and it keeps it exciting. Those Danes sure know what they are doing. After that we boarded a bus and crossed over into Malmo, Sweden. That was quite a site to be driving over a huge straight.

We also got our first glimpse of the twisting torso from here which is designed by Calatrava.

He also designed the new Milwaukee art museum. The twisting Torso is part of a new development in Sweden that is mostly residential and is also really well designed. The life in the place is just like being in the old city center of Copenhagen.


Europeans just get smarter and smarter the longer I'm here. We than made a couple more stops on the way back to Copenhagen. One a small village placed next to a train stop and the other a beach that was created by adding sand to a low part on the sea. It sounds weird, but works well. The whole day was a lot of fun and it just went to show me how great design is over here. The US has a lot to learn from the Europeans.

Carlsberg: Probably the Best Beer in the World

So, this past Saturday my friend Luke and I decided to go to the Carlsberg Brewery. It turned out to be well worth our time. The architecture of it was amazing, which surprised me quite a bit. For instance we walked through what is called the elephant gate for obvious reasons as you can tell. We did a walking tour of the museum which was inside the old factory. We saw there huge collection of bottles that they sell around the world and found out as of 2000 they were the fifth largest beer company in the world. The best part of the tour though was the two free samples at the end of it. And I definetely agree with their slogan, it probably is the best beer in the world. The beer tasting was good because of the beer, but there were also a lot of people in the bar area from all over the world. When we first got there we had no place to sit, but then soon some people moved and we took up seats next to an old couple. They didn't have much to say, but gave us one of their free drink tickets. It always pays to sit next to nice old people. Once the old people got up three people about 20-22 year olds from France sat down next to us. We didn't quite know this at first until we asked the guy if he spoke danish so he could translate our chip bag for us. I had some suspicion that they weren't from Denmark because I could understand some of the words they were saying. Turns out he speaking French, but we had a great conversation with the three of them. They had some great tips for when we're in Paris, since that is where they are from. It's amazing the things that will bring people together from all over the world. It was a great day between great beer and great conversation.

the wild west

So, this past weekend all of the one semester DIS students had a study tour to western Denmark. We left on Wednesday morning and headed out to Jutland (that's the main peninsula). We traveled across the island that Copenhagen is on and then crossed over to another island. It was beautiful. There was a huge bridge and you could see forever. It was really nice to be out in the open air and away from the city for a while. On the larger island which in English is spelled sealand I believe we stopped at a little church. I think it was mainly to give us a break from sitting, but it also had relevance since we are architecture students. Anyway we continued on into Denmark and made some stops at another church and a sustainable community. Both were very nicely done. The excitement of Wednesday though came when we got to our hostel. It was right in the middle of Aarhus with a great view of the harbor front. It was a prime spot even if it was a little more run down. Oh well, nothing like getting used to hostels.
The next day we got back in the bus and saw mainly the sites in Aarhus. We went to the town hall designed by Arne Jacobsen, which was much disputed at the time, but now it is so well known it is on their register for historic buildings. We then saw the Aros museum which was amazing. It was built on the idea of a main pedestrian walkway that cuts through the center. There is a huge spiral staircase and a long walkway down the middle. The way the exhibits were set up were quite amazing as well. They had this one in the basement called the 9 spaces. It was kind of suppose to go along with the 9 layers of hell. It was amazing. After that museum we went to a couple more, but ended up in Kolding to see the castle and find our hostel. The castle was also quite nice. It had partially burned after it was burnt and was restored in the 1980's about. The restoration was really tastefully done. They kept the new and old parts separate basically so you could tell the difference between them and at the same time enjoy the full castle, it was nice. After that we went to the hostel which compared to the first night it was like staying in a hotel. We had dinner made for us, really nice rooms and were up on a hill overlooking the city. It was beautiful. The only down fall was that it was a 10 minute walk from the town center. Oh well.
The next morning we got up and went to the swimming hall in Kolding. The was a ton of fun. The building sits right on a body of water and has a beautiful shape. It was a lot of fun. We then again spent the day traveling around looking at buildings. There were none that were extremely inspiring except for a vacation community that was designed for patients with muscular deficiency's or something along those lines. It was built to be a get away for these people that didn't fell institution like. They did a good job. Apart from all the equipment needed for the patients the place was really homey. It was on the seaside and had a tremendous view of the bridge.
All in all the study tour was really well done. Everything seemed to flow nicely and it was good to get away from the city a while and actually see some hills. Of course nothing like the hills of southwest Wisconsin, but still something compared to Copenhagen. Here's some of the photos from the trip and look for more to be on flickr within the next couple of weeks.