When in Rome...

This past Thursday through Saturday, we took a Villa-wide trip to Rome. We walked (and walked), per usual to most of the main attractions. It also rained pretty badly on Thursday and Friday, but today was gorgeous - making up for the soaked jeans, socks, shoes and cold bodies.

Being my second time visiting Rome - the first, two years ago with my Mom and sister, I found looking back at my pictures, that instead of trying to photograph everything in sight like last time, I was able to step-back, look harder, and take pictures of things that were particularly interesting to me. My apologies if you were expecting the large range of typical monuments. Here goes: Rome from a second look.

The Colosseum (of course).


A small monastery with a strikingly simple, yet beautiful courtyard & well.


THE Laocoon (need I say more Art Historians?).


The angels always watch you - especially in the Vatican.

The coiffured ceiling of my (favorite) building - the Pantheon.


The approach to the Vatican.

If you stand on this point, the Vatican colonnade aligns perfectly in perspective (see below).Molto (molto) bene!

Fiesole

I am in the middle of preparing my thesis research (due in one week!), but I will post a few pictures about our day trip to Fiesole yesterday, which is a hill town on the outskirts of Florence and home to a large area of Etruscan & Roman ruins including baths and a roman theater that is still used during the summer months.
To get there, just take the #7 bus allll the way to the top/end, and there you are! It actually overlooks Florence, and has some spectacular views (see opening image at top). You can even see Il Duomo off to the left to give you some scale. Oh, and Fiesole also contains lions, and tigers, and architects - oh my!
I topped off the day with, what I thought, was a simple mussel soup. Turns out, it was a whole lotta mussels (say 40 or so with a pool of broth at the bottom for them to be dunked!). Delicious! Later this week, it's off to Rome!

City of Basel

November 1 - November 3

The drive from Vals to Basel took about 4 sleepy hours, but over the next few days, Basel became one of my favorite cities - I could live here, easily. The disposition of the Swiss is so kind, and accommodating - the city seems to be family/kid/young adult/elderly/bike and accessibly friendly. Not only that, but the city houses a very large selection of great architecture - both modern and classical. Our focus, was mainly on the modern - but I loved the mix of the city. It was also very easy to traverse by foot, tram, bicycle or bus. In fact, there seemed to be very few cars.

Our hostel, Basel Backpackers, was located in a renovated warehouse district, which had great character to it with artisans, rock climbing, restaurants, etc. all within the small district. And, best of all, our hostel had an authentic Thai restaurant in it - so delicious, and spicy!
The location of Basel is interesting, in that it lies on the border of both France and Germany. On Friday, we took advantage of that, and spent the day in Ronchamp, France seeing Le Corbusier's famous Notre Dame du Haute (Our Lady of the Height). It was a bit of a hike, but had amazing views of the valley. I couldn't believe I was visiting this church - it was something that I had learned so much about, but was not prepared for the amazing experience of the interior. The light quality inside was so unique, and breathtaking. It was hard not to take pictures (we got a few), but the atmosphere of the place cannot be captured in a photo.
There was not much to do in the town of Ronchamp (read, nothing), and we were stuck there for some time due to the train schedules. We were very happy to get back to Basel, just in time for our 9:00 dinner reservation at Blindekuh, just around the corner from our hostel.

Let me just state, that this was perhaps the most amazing dining experience I have yet to have in my life. It is a restaurant where you eat in complete darkness - and by darkness, I mean pitch black - it doesn't matter if your eyes are closed, or open. Nothing. You are even led to your table in darkness. Why? Because Blindekuh is run by a foundation for the blind, in an effort to promote an understanding between the seeing and the visually impaired. All of the waitstaff is blind. Our waiter, Olivier, was fantastic and such a joy to talk to. At first, I admit the experience was a bit daunting - but after a while, we learned how to feel around the table for food, listen to each other intently, and savor the taste of each course with intensity. It is one of the best meals I have ever had!

Our last day in Basel consisted of cramming in as many architectural sites as we could - we needed so many more days there to see it all. I decided to start the day with a cafe and a pretzel man. Yum.
We saw works by Mario Botta, sculpture by Serra, and many Herzog & De Meuron buildings (outstanding...wonder if I can work for them in Basel?).
In the afternoon we were able to hope over to Germany and see the Vitra design museum. The building is by Frank Gehry, and there was a great exhibit on Le Corbusier - The Art of Architecture - which had some of his original models and drawings. Whoa.
We saw so many amazing things, it would be difficult to describe them all. I hope that the few pictures I have included begin to help describe the our travels (check my flickr site for more).

Finally, it was time to hop a night train from Basel to Florence. The train was a sleeper, although it was a strange sort of moving sleep (in fact, I still feel like I am on the train, and it has been many hours since we returned). This trip across France & Switzerland was so amazing, fun and influential to my own work/life. I couldn't have asked for better travel buddies - Scott, Amanda and Nicole. Merci and Danke!

Vals Therme

October 31 - November 1

Happy Halloween! Although they do seem to celebrate Halloween in Europe, we certainly did nothing of the sort. We drove "straight" across the Swiss Alps in our hatch-back Alpha Romeo (okay, Scott drove through the winding Alps - us girls were mere assistants on the trip, with Nicole as the trusty navigator), which turned out to be a great decision. We were able to take our time, and experience the spectacular mountain scenery around us. We took a few mountain passes which close in November, in fact it was starting to snow a bit when we were up there - just in time!

We finally made it to Vals Therme in the afternoon. Vals is a small mountain town in Switzerland which holds a famous natural springs bath house by the architect, Peter Zumthor (one of my favorites). This is what the exterior looks like, followed by some interior shots of the lobby & dining room.

It was more amazing then I had even imagined - not only for the architecture, but for the experience of the baths. We spent all afternoon bathing our cares away in the hot baths, cool baths, flower baths, indoor baths, (and my personal favorite) the outdoor bath which had a stupendous view of the snow-capped mountains. Nicole and I shared a beautiful room overlooking the same mountains, and we even got big fluffy robes and slippers to walk to the baths. Ta da!

At night, we had hotel-guests-only access to the baths, for bathing in complete silence - it was an experience of utter serenity and relaxation. I slept so well that night, in the Swiss down-comforter wrap. Nicole and I woke up early the next morning to the sound of sheep's bells, and a frosty view of the mountains, followed by a sauna & soak before breakfast. (And oh what a breakfast it was - food galore, and a great selection of tea!)
This was the perfect place to relax in the middle of our trip and soak our cares away! No more sinus headaches, or feet and back aches. We didn't want to leave - I will certainly be going back again someday! I did not include interior pictures of the baths, well for obvious reasons (wet and camera do not mix), but there are some fantastic images on the Vals Therme spa website. We bid adieu to this warm cozy place for our last stop of Basel, Switzerland.

Interlaken

October 29 - October 31

After Paris, we spent a few days in Interlaken, Switzerland - sadly, it rained the whole (full) day we were there, so no outdoor sports. Per the recommendation of my sister, was stayed at a great hostel called Funny Farm.
It was really a decent place, although the halls were very much reminiscent of The Shining. But, we had our own bath and a bar just downstairs. They also served up some great burgers and delicious Swiss beer. Mix that with a pool table, some foosball (where I kicked ass against a guy from BU), and you've got yourself a good time my friends, no matter what the weather. Not to mention, the abundance of bells (oh yes, more cowbell please).
We did lots of walking on the rainy day - Interlaken is still breathtaking being surrounded by the Alps, and spent time deciding how exactly to get out of Interlaken and to Vals the next day. After realizing how expensive the train tickets were becoming, the four of us decided to rent a car. Yep. Tomorrow, we drive all the way across the Swiss Alps to the small town of Vals - where the thermal baths await us.

October in Paris

October 25 - 29

Welcome to fall break 2007 [EU]! On Thursday October 25th, Amanda, Scott, Nicole & I left for Paris in the afternoon, and arrived around 10:45 that night after a delayed flight. We checked in to our (very) small hotel room, ate fromage et jambon crepes at midnight, and explored the eclectic Bastille district that our hotel was in (which I highly recommend). Although I am certainly not fluent in French, and I was really surprised at how much came back to me - I could at least order food, and decipher some of the signage!

On Friday, we began the day with crepes outside of Notre Dame - sucre burre sil vous plait!

Notre Dame was so much larger than I had ever imagined. We spent the rest of the day walk walk walking Paris: From Notre Dame to the Jardin de Tuileries, down the Champs L'Elysees (which reminded me of a larger Michigan Ave. in Chicago) to the Triumphal Arch - do not be fooled fair walkers, the Arch is much farther than you actually think it is! Then, we headed south to the Eiffel Tower - it's HUGE! We explored a little more on foot, and then had amazing Mexican food and drinks for dinner near our hotel. I don't think my feet have ever hurt so bad in my life! But is was so worth it. Although my photos look very overcast, I assure you that Paris in October is stunning - the trees were all changing, and it was nice and cool. And the scale of it - the Parisians sure knew how to build big!

On Saturday, we spent the majority of the day at Versailles. The palace was (again, quite large) a bit too crowded for my taste, but the grounds, Trianon, and country estates were absolutely fantastic. If you know me, you know that I (a) love French culture and (b) love the movie Marie Antoinette. I was in heaven.

That night, we saw Paris by night, and got to see the Eiffel Tower all lit up - it even sparkled for us! And, in the spirit of not eating Italian food, we had Thai for dinner.

Our last full day, Sunday, Scott & I conquered the Louvre (in about 5 hours).
The Mona Lisa is quite an amazing piece of work, although I dare say it has lost some of its intent - you can't even get close enough to see brush strokes behind the thickened security glass. She still watches though, with her secretive smirk and air of je ne sai qua (could she be Da Vinci's muse, Genevra de Benci? The answer lies behind the smile). And people are so busy taking pictures and video (yes, photography everywhere in the Louvre, surprisingly), that they fail to notice all of the other outstanding pieces of art on the other walls of the room. I think my favorite pieces in the Louvre were the large format paintings which were, literally, the size of small houses.

After lunching at the Louvre - or perhaps I should say the mall connected to the Louvre, we bought our expensive Interlaken train ticket and spent our last hours in Paris at Le Centre Pompidou (modern art museum).
So not only is the building outstanding, but the main collection inside was breathtaking - Picasso, Rothko, Kandinsky, Durer glass, Pollack....all right in front of you! I caught myself so many times just going "oh my gosh...I never thought I'd see this piece". I highly recommend the Pompidou if you like modern art - even a little. For dinner, we had one last round of yummy (and cheap) crepes. For many more images of Paris, check out my flickr site. Next round, Interlaken.