Simple message here. I am featuring more of Adam's stuff, I just got the "Okie-dokey" for that one.
NEW FEATURE!
Some of the other guys have been posting things on their own blogs, so I linked them to mine! Just check the top of the column to your right and you can click on the link to their blogs.
Thanks to those of you who are following my European adventure! And a special thanks to those of you that are posting comments! I will be better about feedback from now on.
Buonanotta! Getting late here...
Monday, January 17, 2011
New Post After Two Days... Sorry About the Wait!
Sorry about the lag between posts everyone. I was going to do one on Friday night, but Adam, John and I became inexplicably lost on our way home from the Colosseum. We went through some nice neighborhoods... And then some places that have seen better days. They were not bad neighborhoods, pretty much just abandoned in a really creepy post-apocalyptic type of way. (I'll have pics of it when I feature the work of Adam Aalgaard again.) That was really a new experience for me. That area of Rome is under some urban renewal, and just has some empty parts of it that not a lot of people go to, at least at night on a Friday night. Speaking of night in Rome, when I walked home from studio tonight at like 10 pm, there was a massive amount of people eating out and socializing at the local cafes and bars on Trastevere. (Note: A bar in Italy is just a place where they serve food, drinks, coffee whatever. More of a hang out place with food than an actual bar as we know it in America. Great places to pick up a cheap lunch on the go.) These places have seemed somewhat empty in the past couple of weeks, but Sunday night just must be the night to go out at 10 pm and grab a late dinner or just hang out on the town. Every time we have eaten out, it has been almost a ghost town. We are probably just eating too early...
In other new, the lady at the register of the Billa grocery store thought I was Italian! She only asked me like 3 things, and I had practiced answers for them but you gotta take heart in small victories along the way. And this was one. Look for a photo post later this week from Adam's camera. We went to a church where you weren't supposed to take pictures with a flash and my camera just wasn't having it. I will write more this week on churches and the mystery of the Italian lavatory.
Ciao!
In other new, the lady at the register of the Billa grocery store thought I was Italian! She only asked me like 3 things, and I had practiced answers for them but you gotta take heart in small victories along the way. And this was one. Look for a photo post later this week from Adam's camera. We went to a church where you weren't supposed to take pictures with a flash and my camera just wasn't having it. I will write more this week on churches and the mystery of the Italian lavatory.
Ciao!
A personal favorite of mine. Bramantes Tempietto... and only 1/2 a mile away!
Not sure what this is, but I think it is a fascist Monument. Something really more modern than Bramante.
Next door is this fountain. Not seen in the picture are the armed guards with big guns. I think someone important lives behind this thing (it is essentially a porch for a house that is hidden behind it)
A camera version of a Mexican standoff
Rome from the hilltops. The dome in the distance is St. Peters. It seems small in the picture, but it is huge and really, really far away. Did I mention it was big?
Mike finding the way home. At the bottom of the stairs is the Tiber river with across to the old city of Rome
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Dining and more!
Buonacera! (Evening or dinner time greeting.)
Walking everywhere is great and all, especially because we have been eating like kings... I have no idea how the people of Italy stay so thin with all of this glorious food everywhere! (In their defense their breakfast is almost nothing and lunch is pretty lean most days.) Exploring the food has been just as much fun as exploring Rome itself! Cheese is the greatest thing a person can invest Euros in. The shredded cheese we find back in the states should not be considered cheese at all. Such an atrocity! Their processed meats are amazing too! Bologna is pretty much a delicacy here. We have yet to dabble in the fish market, however when Adam and I went to the store today we saw marlin being sold by the half fish (like 100 lb of marlin...). Pretty dang cool but outrageously expensive. (That possibly could have been the coolest thing I could have bought while abroad... Tiny bit of regret...) Anyway, here is a post dedicated to food cooked by us and by others, at outrageous bargain basement prices.
Walking everywhere is great and all, especially because we have been eating like kings... I have no idea how the people of Italy stay so thin with all of this glorious food everywhere! (In their defense their breakfast is almost nothing and lunch is pretty lean most days.) Exploring the food has been just as much fun as exploring Rome itself! Cheese is the greatest thing a person can invest Euros in. The shredded cheese we find back in the states should not be considered cheese at all. Such an atrocity! Their processed meats are amazing too! Bologna is pretty much a delicacy here. We have yet to dabble in the fish market, however when Adam and I went to the store today we saw marlin being sold by the half fish (like 100 lb of marlin...). Pretty dang cool but outrageously expensive. (That possibly could have been the coolest thing I could have bought while abroad... Tiny bit of regret...) Anyway, here is a post dedicated to food cooked by us and by others, at outrageous bargain basement prices.
The salad course of Brad and Cory's meal
Chefs in action on the tiny stove in the biggest kitchen of all Architecture students
Cory and Brad's cavetelli (oh yes)
Dinner...
Brad's pizza at Borchetta
Adams pizza at Borchettos... Yes that is an egg... and yes, it was awesome!
One could live for years alone on the citrus here. So much fresher, and in an off season.
They all try so hard at being blood oranges, but some just dont make it.
Brad enjoying Borchettos... and hamming it up for the camera
Penne with vodka sauce. No actual vodka, just tomatoes, cheese and cream sauce.
Mike and spaghetti with clams in it... Somebody was jealous of him (me, dang that looks good)
Rome through the Eyes of Adam Aalgaard... (pt 1)
You may tire of my rather pragmatic view of Rome through a digital lens, so here is a different perspective courtesy my friend Adam Aalgaard (camera enthusiast).
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Studio Project and Another Market
Hello America!
We received our first studio project today and visited the site for the first time. We are remodeling a deconsecrated (all holy objects have been removed and the building is allowed to be used as a non-religious building) church one block from the river in the old part of Trastevere. It is not very big and has not been used since the 1970's when it was a wood shop. The church ended its life as a religious establishment in the early nineteenth century, but still contains some nice marble columns where the altar used to be. We must change the space to be used as a performance area, practice area and display area for some ancient forms of musical instruments such as the lyre, harp, and an early organ called the hydraulous. Those are just several instruments that we can choose to use in the creation of our music space.
We are also being educated on the basics of music theory and chord composition with its relation to spacing and orders of ancient architecture. Several early Greek and Roman architects/math theorists/musicians thought that all three disciplines were extremely connected and theorized this in their writings. Fairly interesting thoughts possibly linking music and architecture. Acoustics is a very difficult subject, and this music education is very helpful in its understanding. I also don't remember music theory being this difficult, I am however doing a great deal better understanding it than most of my peers who seem to not have a musical background. More on this project as it develops...
Just some more pictures of places I was today. Nothing too special, but we start our history tours on Friday so make sure to log on and view some really old fancy looking rocks stacked on top of each other. Also feel free to post comments or questions in the comments bar at the end of each post.
We received our first studio project today and visited the site for the first time. We are remodeling a deconsecrated (all holy objects have been removed and the building is allowed to be used as a non-religious building) church one block from the river in the old part of Trastevere. It is not very big and has not been used since the 1970's when it was a wood shop. The church ended its life as a religious establishment in the early nineteenth century, but still contains some nice marble columns where the altar used to be. We must change the space to be used as a performance area, practice area and display area for some ancient forms of musical instruments such as the lyre, harp, and an early organ called the hydraulous. Those are just several instruments that we can choose to use in the creation of our music space.
We are also being educated on the basics of music theory and chord composition with its relation to spacing and orders of ancient architecture. Several early Greek and Roman architects/math theorists/musicians thought that all three disciplines were extremely connected and theorized this in their writings. Fairly interesting thoughts possibly linking music and architecture. Acoustics is a very difficult subject, and this music education is very helpful in its understanding. I also don't remember music theory being this difficult, I am however doing a great deal better understanding it than most of my peers who seem to not have a musical background. More on this project as it develops...
Just some more pictures of places I was today. Nothing too special, but we start our history tours on Friday so make sure to log on and view some really old fancy looking rocks stacked on top of each other. Also feel free to post comments or questions in the comments bar at the end of each post.
Mike playing his guitar at our site
A typical street in the Ghetto near our studio
Another one...
The street outside of the de-consecrated church in Trastevere
El Livorno Market
The stairs I climb Every Day (I'm on the 4 months to sexy legs workout plan)
Tomorrow will be a creative day. I have some time to kill between classes.
Buonanotta! (For whatever timezone it applies to you in...)
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