Bilbao, Spain (Basque Country)

Two great things happened in Bilbao. First, I got to see my building finally! Second, we had an amazing time in a city we thought would be pretty low key. We arrived at the airport around noon on Thursday and rode the airport bus to the city center. The airport is on another side of the mountain from the city and we had to travel through a tunnel to get to the city. When we exited the tunnel on the other side the Guggenheim Museum stood ride in front of us. It was a great first view of the building, because we were looking down on it and the city. That has historically been my favorite pictures of the building, because you can see this building that changed architecture and the city it changed in the background. I will save the details for my thesis, but Bilbao was a booming turn of the century building that had fallen on hard times the second half of the 20^th century. The Guggenheim was built to give Bilbao a new cultural face and to attract tourism. In a study before the Guggenheim was commissioned, the figure was that 200,000 people would visit the Guggenheim a year. After 10 years of operation the building has attracted over 1.3 million people per year, completely changing the city of Bilbao into one of Spain’s cultural center. The first afternoon most of the group went to San Sebastain beach near Bilbao, while I stayed back to visit my building independently. It was sunny that day and I knew I needed to take advantage of it, and take some photos of my building. Bilbao is rainy most of the year, which is why Frank Gehry selected titanium for the exterior of the building. The building was cooler than expected and everyone seemed to like it. The interior was just as incredible as the exterior. That evening I went to dinner with my two professors to talk about my presentation and to walk around the exterior of the building. We ended up at a contemporary hotel, where we thought we were going to eat in a restaurant. We found a reception/party of some sort and we heard American Music. We waltzed in to check it out and next thing I know we are getting free wine and appetizers. We stayed there more than two hours just talking and enjoying the party. Great music, conversation, wine, and food in an awesome atmosphere.

My presentation went very well I thought. The executive architect/construction manager met us for a tour. He had a lot of great insight into the construction of the museum, and I got a lot of my questions answered. We ate a Doner Kebab after that which has been the other half of my diet other than PB&J and pasta. You can find these things on every street in Europe. I kind of laid low after the tour and whatnot as I was tired. The next day I slept in and we explored a good bit in the city. We had some of the best pizza I have had in Europe. Much better than anything I had in Italy. We returned to the hotel where we had some homemade Sangria and played some card games. After a while we headed down to Old Town Bilbao, where most of the turn of the century buildings are. We had dinner and headed back to the hotel. That evening we ventured across the river to an Irish Pub called M’OR O’RlESS. Pretty cool place to experience some local atmosphere. We had a few drinks and requested some American songs. Pretty funny because everyone looked at us when they started playing. We headed to a local “discoteca” after that expected to find a young dance club. HA! The average age was about 45, which did not stop us. We were the life of that place. We all danced to Spanish music for a good two to three hours. I was ringing wet when we got out of there. Good Times. The photos and video are fantastic. We had a easy morning at the hotel, where I actually got a chance to eat breakfast and relax before checking out to head to the airport. We have had a good bit of early flights on this trip and that is hard traveling. We rode on a tiny jet to Paris. Although it was pretty nice it was pretty tight in there. The Captain came on and said: “I want to welcome abroad the students of Auburn University. Welcome to Paris the last leg of your European tour.” That was pretty cool. After getting to the hotel in Paris we had our usual group meeting. Tomorrow is Bastille Day, so the city will be alive with people, parades, and most importantly fireworks at the Eiffel Tower.

Barcelona

Jeff and I arrived in Barcelona Saturday afternoon, after a very pleasant flight from Prague.  We flew right down the coast of Spain on approach, and were able to get a great view of Barcelona out of the window.  The city is large in comparison to Vienna and Prague, so it was an experience when we got off the plane and headed to the hotel.  The airport is located way outside the city, and we had to take a train to get to the metro line.  The map was pretty confusing, and so was the big train station. We finally got to the hotel only to find some of our guys coming out the door, and you would have thought we had been separated for months.  The hotel was located on La Rambla which is one of the major avenues in the city.  It is really neat because there is a large pedestrian walkway right down the center of the road.  There are also fully grown trees, which creates a wonderful canopy over the concourse.  This is one of the major tourist areas of the city, and there are tons of tourists.  We saw street performers like never before on La Rambla.  Everything from an Alien to a guy painted white sitting on a toilet.  Some were really good, while others needed some work.  The hotel was pretty roomy, but not the nicest we have stayed in by far.  The rooms were large and the A/C was pumping.  They know how to use the A/C in Spain, and I love them for that.  I have had some sort of cold for a week or so, and I am sure the freezing room has not helped that.  I went with Jeff to view his thesis building, before the entire group went later in the week.  The Sagrada Famila is a very interesting church, which is still under construction.  It was designed by Antoni Gaudi, which was and still is the man in Barcelona.  If you have a chance look up a short bio up on him and read up, it would be worth your while. I have a good bit of photos on his works that I will upload on Flickr.  Barcelona itself is full of tourist and the tourism industry appears to be thriving.  It is a very dangerous city to be pick pocketed in.  I was almost a victim myself, but I was lucky enough to get my wallet back after it was removed from my pocket (long story).  I spent a lot of time working on my paper in Barcelona, I felt rested up after free week and being in the same country as my building probably helped.  I did some prep work for my presentation, which was Friday of that week.  I was not fond of Barcelona. The city was dirty and much too crowded for me. I liked Gaudi’s buildings, because they were different.  Regardless of architectural style I have come to appreciate seeing the differences in design.  It takes a good bit of nerve to commission a building that will change the history of architecture; both Gaudi and Frank Gehry (architect of my thesis building) have set new architectural bars.  I was disappointed that there were no burritos and margaritas.  It is really odd that we think we are going to find “Mexican” food in Spain, because they are Latin.  It is a completely different ballgame in Spain.  We had some traditional paella and tapas.  Some was good and some was awful.  We left the hotel at 6am on Thursday morning to head to the airport.  We had planned to take a bus to the airport, which was supposedly the easiest way to get there.  It was a fairly frustrating journey.  We kept losing members of the group to the old taxi cab trick, but we finally got there.  I was asleep before, during, and after take-off. I woke up around the time we started descending.  The view out the windows was amazing, we were flying over the southern Pyrenees.  The Bilbao airport was small, but really cool.  It was designed by Calatrava, who has a good bit of works in Europe.          

Praha

Well Prague was the last stop on our independent week of travel. What a great way to say goodbye to free travel, by going somewhere that most people don’t.  Prague was developed in a different sphere of influence than any other part of Europe we have visited.  It had that Eastern Gothic look to it, the old city had a lot of castle type towers with playful roofs.  The city was pretty busy with tourist, but not with Americans like the places we have been so far.  I would say most of the tourist were European or from the eastern block.  We stayed in a nice hotel that I talked about in the last post.  The metro was fun to figure out, because there was not a lot of English.  One of the staff members at the hotel made us a map of places she liked to eat, and get coffee and such. It was really nice, because she recommended some awesome places.   The food was great and we ate plenty of it along with Czech beer (Budweisser).  We spent one afternoon in a coffee shop that she recommended.  It was off the beaten path and was very nice.  We had some great coffee and pastries, and when it began to Thunderstorm  outside we started in on the wine.  We were there quiet a while before the rain finally stopped.  It was neat to walk around in a culture that speaks mostly Czech and nothing else.  Since there was not a lot of Americans there we were more mistaken for locals than english speaking tourist.  I would say Prague is still one of Europe’s best kept secrets. Most people do not plan to visit the Czech Republic when making travel plans for Europe.  I would say if you want to see a city with a different flair and a progressive atmosphere, visit Prague.  The food, drinks and atmosphere are reasonably priced.  The conversion rate was $1USD to 15.5 Czech Korunas, but don’t let that fool you because their inflation made up for it.  Check out the pictures of receipts in Prague on Flickr.  It was pretty easy to drop between 500 and 1000 CK  at lunch or dinner.  The flight out was nice.  They had a  nice new airport that was simple and easy to get through.  We traveled on a discount airline, but the plane was brand new and nice.  I just had negative leg room…

Arriving in Barcelona was a slight to see.  We flew down the coast and got a great view of Barcelona on landing.  It is a large city right on the water with mountains surrounding.   It always takes a few hours to get used to a new place when you first get to a new country.  We have been in six countries in just over a week, so we have been through some cultural shock.

Wien

Vienna, Austria was an amazing city.  The city was recovering from the Euro Cup finals when we arrived on Monday evening from Munich.  The train ride from Munich was awesome. Riding through Southern Germany and Austria is incredible.  I took some pictures on my iPhone that I will try to upload later, but take my word for it the views were awesome.  I finished a book I started on the ride to Munich, called the 21 Irrefutable laws of Leadership.  Great book if you like books like that. The train was a German one and was probably the nicest one we have been on yet.  I actually got cold at one point, which has not been the case on any of the other trains.  We arrived in Vienna about 7:30pm and immediately discovered that we needed a map.  We had heard that they are are not big on maps and that was the case.  Luckily a student from South Carolina stopped to help us and told us the easiest way to get to our place.  We took a tram almost to the door of our hotel.  The hotel was an apartment style setup.  The downstairs was like a living area with kitchen, living room, dining area, and the bathroom.  The bed room was located upstairs almost in a loft style setup.  We ate at McDonalds for dinner, because it was the only thing still open that was close.  I don’t eat at McDonalds in the states hardly at all, but it is fun to try it in the different countries we go to.  In fact it was encouraged by Auburn’s Study Abroad Department and our professors, because it is interesting to see how these American companies have adapted to different cultures.  We ate at a subway in Munich, which was similar but with a little twist.

The next day we pretty much just explored as much of the city as possible.  There is a lot to see in Vienna!  Plenty of churches, museums, palaces, and parks all around the inter city.  The public transportation made it really easy to get from place to place, although most of the sites were very walkable.  We had a kebab for lunch, because it was recommended that we save our money for dinner.  The churches in Vienna were more in the Gothic Style which was neat to see.  We went to a museum of modern art and an architecture exhibit, which made me dizzy.  We returned to the hotel to clean up for dinner.  We went to a Heurigin which are places were you can eat good food and drink local wines.  The place had a real local feel to it, sort of like a local pub/restaurant.  It was expensive, but it was some of the best food and wine I have had in a while.   I tend to alternate cities  as far as spending money on food or antiquities.  Either way somehow I have managed to stay on budget.

The final day in Vienna we spent viewing some sites in the morning and trying a local coffee house (invented in Vienna).  We climbed to the top of the tower on the church in the center of town, by this point I feel like I have climbed to the top of everything in northern Africa and Europe.  We returned to the hotel to pickup or luggage, only to get some bunk directions from the hotel staff.  We ran up onto the platform of the train as it was pulling away. We had to wait three hours on the next one, so I got a hair cut in a train station! Looks great and feels better also.  We had a few glasses of wine at a cafe before the next train arrived.  The train ride to Prague was different.  We are not in Kansas anymore. About an hour in you could tell that we where in the sphere of influence of the former USSR.  People and the Architecture are much different around these parts.  The hotel in Prague is very nice, it is the same brand we are staying in when we get to Bilbao, Spain, so that is good news.

Well I need to go explore the rest of Prague.  Have a great holiday weekend and be careful on the roads.

God Bless America.

Happy Fourth of July!

Happy Fourth of July from the Czech Republic!

Prague

We have arrived in Prague, Czech Republic.  Update from Vienna, Austria to follow.

MUNCHEN

What can I say about Munich, Germany other than it was a blur.  Not just from the beer, but because we were only there about two days.  We arrived late Saturday evening from Lugano, and walked to our hotel which was about a mile from the main train station.  It was very nice, except that we did not have any A/C. I guess that was the one thing Jeff and I forgot to check into when booking these hotels.  We were looking for the best location for the best price.  The train ride form Lugano was incredible.  The ride through Austria was amazing, the alps are huge.  Although it was a nine hour train ride it seemed short. I read from Lugano to Verona, Italy where we changed trains.  I am reading this book that Brett our GTA just finished on leadership.  I like books like that, so I asked him if I could read it.  We meet a girl from Georgetown on the ride from Verona to Munich.  See was traveling alone, so we all headed to the bar/restaurant car for drinks and snacks.  We stayed in that car for about 4 hours of the 5 1/2 hour train ride.  A group of 5 of AU students came with us on the same train, so we hung out also.  After arriving in Munich we checked in and headed out to check out the night life.  It is pretty hopping in Munich, so we had a great time.

Sunday morning we got up and meet the other 5 AU students and headed to Mike’s Bike Tours.  This is one of the things that everyone recommends doing while in Munich.  This guy from NJ started this company and you basically ride around the city with a guide who speaks English (prob an American) through the city for about 4-5 hours.  The tour was obviously geared towards Americans, so it was not strenuous or anything.  You basically travel around 5 miles in 4 hours, so you stop a lot to look at things.  Our tour guide Franky was from one of the Hawaiian Islands and was hilarious.  He told inappropriate jokes every chance he got, but he knew a lot about the city and surprisingly a good bit about the architecture.  We rode through the central old town part of munich and then entered the English Gardens.  This park is roughly ten times the size of New York’s Central Park and has a man made river running through it.  Most of the residents go here to hang out and lay out (some nude).  We entered the park to make our way to the Chinese Tower Beer Garden.  This beer garden is the second largest one of its kind in the world.  I have dreamed of this place.  You walk in to this wooded park area where there is benches and tables as far as the eye can see.  This place can hold 8,700 people.  This place is famous for the beer, but the food is amazing as well.  You walk up and grab a huge stein of beer and grab some food, then sit down and feast.  The good was meat and potatoes, oh how I have missed thee.  It was like I had been reunited with a loved one.  I had scalloped potatoes and they were the best I have ever had. The beer is also very good.  I was concerned about the temperature, because they do not drink it ice cold like we do, but it went down fine.   It is much sweeter than our beer, so that must have helped.  After drinking a stein of beer and eating a plate full of food we jumped back on our bikes and headed back.  We took our picture with Franky on return, and we also meet Mike (Yankee).

After we returned to the hotel to shower we all meet back up to try to find a place to watch the Euro Cup final.  Germany and Spain were playing for the Euro Cup that night, so we knew it would be crazy and we were right.  The central part of town was just overflowing with people watching the game at cafes, pubs, or wherever there was a TV.  Facepaint, hair paint, German Flags, and noise makers they had it all.  We could not find a place to sit down, so we head back to the beer garden we had lunch at.  We knew that they were going to have a couple of big screens, so we thought it would be a cool place to watch the game and the people.  The place was packed out!!! People were standing on benches and tables in the very back trying to see.  It was cool to see the build up of emotion before the game started.  I mean all you can say is they love Germany and their soccer.  It was similar to pre-game at Jordan-Hare.  Unfortally Germany did not win, but that did not stop them from partying in the streets.  They were happy that they made it to the finals and they celebrated as such. It is always cool to go to bars or local hang out places and hear the American influence.  They have their on music, but I would say the bulk of the hits played are American artists.  We headed home pretty early, because a big thunderstorm was rolling in.   It rained hard most of the night.

We packed up and checked out of the hotel Monday morning, since the other group was staying right down the rode we put our luggage in their rooms until we got ready to leave.  We found a Subway for lunch.  It sounds corny to eat at an American food joint in Europe, but it is very interesting to see how these companies have adapted their businesses internationally.  Although they are similar, they often have different menu choices and ingredients.  It  was nice to have a sandwhich after the meat and potatoes we have been eating.  I have not weighed myself, but I do feel like I have lost a considerable amount of weight.  If I get a haircut I might loose a few more pounds. We departed from the main train station mid afternoon for Vienna, Austria.  We rode on a German train, which was a lot nicer and cooler than the Italian ones that we have been riding for the past couple of weeks. The train ride was amazing again.  Austria is a beautiful country and I knew that I would enjoy the train rides this week. Our hotel here is basically a apartment style hotel.  We have two floors in our unit.  The downstairs being the living room, kitchen, bathroom and the upstairs being the bedroom.  We have a map of the city with the big hot spots circled.  We plan on hitting it pretty hard tomorrow and try to see as much as possible.  We are supposed to meet two of our professors from Auburn at some point that are here for a conference.  We leave Wednesday afternoon for Prague, which will be our last stop on free week before heading to meet the rest of the group in Barcelona, Spain.

Working 9-5

The publisher for our book is in Lugano with us and we are working on panel boards to start putting our chapters together. He is going to roll these panel boards up and take them back to the US where he will start layout and design before we return. We will have about a week to finalize our chapters once we return and then it will go to him in order to make the printer in time for the fall classes. We have been working on all elements of our paper this week, so we have not had a lot of time to explore. We are having a group dinner atop the mountain across the lake tonight. There should be some great pictures taken at sunset this evening. Lugano is beautiful from down here, so I can only wonder what it will be like from the top. I have not taken that many pictures this week, because we have been in class or working. I will be sure to take plenty tonight.

Germany and Spain will play in the Euro Cup final on Sunday. A bunch of us are going to be in Munich, Germany on Sunday, so it could get exciting. Personally I am for Spain, but I would not dare admit that while in Germany. If Germany wins they will party in the streets for days. We have a long train ride tomorrow. I think we leave here at 1pm and get to Munich at 10:30pm, but it will be a awesome ride through the alps. I hope to get a lot of work done on my paper on these long train rides next week. Although the group is getting along great, it will be nice to get away next week in some smaller groups. Hard to believe that we will be home in twenty something days. The speed of travel is about to accelerate again, after we slowed down in Italy and Switzerland. Expect the pictures to pick back up next week and flow in until we return. As excited as I am about next week, I am really excited about Spain. I think it is going to be incredible. Jeff and I will be in Prague, Czech Republic on July 4th, so we will have to find a way to celebrate.

Looking forward to some comments and thanks for reading.

Venice Video

http://rivesjm.wordpress.com/traveling-schedule/venice-italy/

Lugano, Switzerland

We arrived in Lugano, Switzerland yesterday after a miserable five hour train ride.  The views were incredible out of the train window, but inside it was five hundred degrees in our train car. For some reason the a/c was not working as well in our car as others, fate i guess.  The last 20 or so minutes of the train ride were breath taking.  The mountains and lake in and around Lugano are beautiful.  I can not wait to get in the water tomorrow afternoon.  We were greeted at the train station by a lady with a huge Auburn Banner.   It is always neat to travel somewhere and get a War Eagle or see something Auburn.  The lady works for Franklin College, which is the American University we are staying at this week.  We traveled about 15mins from the train station on foot to our residence hall.  This was a sudden departure from our hotel stays.  We are pretty much the only ones in this hall, after a group left this morning.  The rooms are nice and house between two and three.  All the rooms are equipped with there own bathrooms and kitchenettes, which is nice because we can cook! We all went to the grocery today and got food.  The markets here are much different from the ones in the states.  There is nothing super about them.  It was nice to cook my own meal last night and tonight. We are on the Swiss Franc for money here, which is equal to the USD.  Although everything is expensive here doing our own cooking should allow us to save some money before we leave for free week.

The university is about a 15min walk straight uphill from our residence hall.  We all got lost this morning on the way to class, but getting lost around here is pretty cool.  The views are fantastic everywhere you go. Down by the water or up on the hills, it is all incredible.  There is a tram that goes up a couple of the mountains. We are looking forward to going up to the top and snapping some photos.  Tomorrow we are going to another tunnel project in the mountains.  This one should be different from the one in Rome, because I imagine it is through solid rock.  The publisher of the book is coming into town on Wednesday to start helping us put the book together.  We have all been working pretty hard to get most of our research converted into text for our chapters.

Thanks for reading and the comments.