Adventures: July 2008

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Villa Savoye and the Eiffel Tower

Hello everyone,

Look at me updating again. haha. Anyways yesterday I ventured off to a Paris suburb, Poissy, to see a famous vacation house built by an architect called Le Corbusier. I did my term project on him last semester in my french class and found him more interesting than I was expecting so I was eager to go check out the place. He was a pioneer of modern architecture between WWI and WWII. He designed a lot of buildings but for my project I focused on 3 of his buildings, Villa Savoye being one of them. It is a house he designed for a rich Paris couple to use as a vacation home to get away from Paris. During WWII it fell into disrepair because the Nazis actually occupied it. The Savoyes (people who owned the home) were pissed because the architect seemed to care more about showcasing the home as an architectural piece of art rather than care about the functionality of the home....such as the fact that it leaked horribly. Recently they put money to renovate it and fix the leaks so it looked pretty good when I visited it. I just found it neat that everything he designed was for a reason. For example, the house is built on pillars so a car can drive underneath it, and the curvurature of the house is the exact curvature of a cars turning radius. He also believed in open airiness and unobstructed views. For this reason he used ramps and spiral staircases and also had roof gardens and sky slights throughout the house. Come to find out as I was reading a poster there, he designed 2 buildings on Matt's campus! One is right next door and its funny because I had mentioned to Matt how that building was in the exact style of an architect I had studied. I guess I didnt even need to make a day trip! haha.

Anyways after visiting the house I wandered around the town of Poissy. It was actually quite charming and felt small-townish considering how close it was to Paris. I enjoyed a delicious lunch of Indian food and then read in a park that was at the base of a chateau. Although I never saw the chateau so I only half believe it was there. Haha. The town was also right on the Seine so they had a nice walking path right along it. I enjoyed my afternoon there.

Then last night Matt and I went up the Eiffel tower. We didn't go all the way up, mostly because we've already done it and there was a really long line. It was actually sort of neat to walk up the 600-something steps..it gives you an interesting perspective. To actually be inside the Eiffel tower. I found it really neat. Especially since it's lit up blue. I apologize that all the pictures are mixed up I don't know why the blog rearranges them like that.

Anyways tomorrow Matt and I are heading to Brussels. I can't wait to go back! we're taking a 4 hour bus ride to get there. We have to catch the 5:30 metro, which is just about the 1st one so its going to be an early morning. We're going to spend friday night and saturday night there and head home Sunday evening to Paris. Then I'll be in Paris Sunday and monday night and take a train to Amsterdam early early Tuesday morning where I'm probably going to try to get a flight back on Tuesday afternoon. I hope returning goes as smoothely as getting there! we'll see I guess.

Thats it for now. Oh and P.S. mom - it got really hot here the second you left. Haha. For the past couple days its been 85 and sunny.

Villa Savoye Pics

View from atop the Eiffel Tower

Villa Savoye

Blue Eiffel Tower

Sunset through the blue Eiffel Tower

View from the Eiffel Tower

On top of the Eiffel Tower

Villa Savoye Staircase

Villa Savoye

Bathroom...I really liked the built in chaise lounge at the edge of the tub

Villa savoye staircase

Villa Savoye

Sign

Staircase..again

Ramp up to 2nd floor

Living room which opened out to the garden on top of the 1st floor roof. Le Corbusier also designed the furniture

Roof garden...so cool

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Update

Phew I just put up a bunch of pictures so I hope they are enjoyed! hehe. Not too much has gone on since the last time I updated. Mom and I went to Honfleur, which is a port city on the Normandy coastline. Grammy Butler recalls that mom really liked the place when she was younger. The small quaint beach town is a nice break from the grandiose chateaus and cathedrals which have been the focus of most of our previous visits. The town was extremely cute with stores and restaurants lining the harbor area. In the morning mom and I bought some Camembert cheese at a local market in Deauville where our train dropped us off, figuring we would eat it with some bread for lunch. It ended up that we stopped at a cafe instead for lunch and didn't get around to eating the cheese...well the cheese started to get really really stinky. I know the french like their cheese stinky but this was too much! So mom found some plastic bags that are supposed to be used to pick up dog dropping and wrapped the cheese in about 6 bags. It no longer smelled! haha. The next day we used it to make omlettes and it was actually quite good but after mom left I couldn't bring myself to bring the cheese over to Matt's place. hahaha.

On mom's final day in Paris we went to the Picasso museum, which I liked alright, and then went shopping. At night we went out to this nice Italian restaurant for her final night here. Maybe not the most Parisien thing to do but it was excellent. Our waiter sang Italian songs and asked us to buy his CD. Apparently the waiting job is to help fund his music schooling. Haha. Then early on saturday morning mom headed back to the US. It was absolutely unvelievable how fast 2 weeks flew by when she was here. Probably because we packed so much stuff into such a short amount of time. It was sad to see her go but I think she had a good time.

Nothing too exciting has happened since Mom left. Matt and I have mostly been relaxing and he has been working. On sunday we went to the Bois de Vincennes..which is this huge park and went on a great run all around there. Then we came back and had a picnic in the park across from his dorm. Yesterday I sort of just wandered around. I eventually found this huge huge grocery store which was fun to slowly go through all the aisles. Most of the grocery stores here are really tiny and dont have too much stuff so it was cool to see more french products. I bought some waffles like the ones I ate in Brussels and they are about a million times better than I remember them! haha. I can't wait to try them for real in Brussels.

Today I went and bought bus tickets for Matt and I to go to Brussels this coming up weekend (fri morning to sunday evening). I can't wait to go back! It will be really fun to reminisce about all the fun we had when we studied abroad there and eat lots of waffles. I also bought my train ticket to Amsterdam, where I will find a flight home. The first day I will try and fly home is next Tuesday, a week from today. I can't believe its almost time to come home. The time has just flown by. I wouldn't change a second of it though..its all been great. Then I spent the whole rest of my afternoon at this huge science museum here. It was great! It was on par with the Boston Science Museum which if you know me, you know I think quite highly of it. I could have spent even longer there! hehe.

Thats it for now. I hope you enjoy the pictures!