After Haltstatt, we took a train to Linz and visited the basilica in the city. Impressive!

Behind me is the lake in Haltstatt, Austria. It is a small town, and by small, I mean like everyone knows everyone. It was one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. The snow just enhanced that beauty as well.

So I am standing there enjoying the view and Pat says in his head, "Let's make a giant snowball and throw it Zondlo's head. Yeah that will be really funny!" I wasn't laughing.

More Carlos Scarpa. We visited several of his buildings or additions to buildings during our travels. I love the way in which he takes detailing to a whole new level.

Venice was amazing! And the views that were offered were out of this world

This is the first project we did. It was a urban analysis of a site...my was a church called Santa Maria, which is located in Trastevere. The project was a lot of fun and I have a new found love for hand drawing.

The Victor Emanuele Building, aka The Wedding Cake, is one of the largest buildings in Rome. It is called the Wedding Cake because of all the different layers. The view from the top is incredible. In the back is one of the few modern additions in the old part of the city. It is a elevator up to the top of the building.

We went to the Forum and learned all about the history of the place. The ruins were very interesting and cool to see. We learned about the various temples, and other buildings there. There were markets built there, which were then turned in basilicas, and an interesting fact is that there was a maximum width that the building could be, but no maximum length, so you could build a building that went on forever….

The Campdoglio is one of the best sights in Rome. It was designed by Michelangelo, but not finished by him. Also, the view from the back of it that looks over the Imperial Forum is amazing!

Thoughts...

My semester in Rome has been one of, if not the best experience of my life. I have learned so much about the italian culture, the world, and architecture. I did not expect the experience to be what is was...I thought that I would be stuck in studio all the time, building models and such, like I am back at Catholic. However, Rome was our classroom, and we traveled around to different areas in Rome constanly. Which allowed us to learn and see with our own eyes, rather than hearing about it or reading about it off of a Xerox. The two trips that we went on were amazing...traveling around Europe with the rest of my classmates, many of them my close friends was something I will never forget. We went to many of the big cities, like Venice, Milan, but also to smaller ones. I spent my Spring Break in Austria...I will definitely go back. I spent time in Salzburg, Haltstatt, and Vienna. However, the best part of the time was Capri. The views were amazing and seeing Casa Malaparte was one one of the best parts of the trip, if not the best.