Brussels

Brussels was a cool little city.  The environment was relaxed and way less touristy then florence which was a big plus.  The people were nice and the beer was good! We were in Brussels the shortest amount of time.  We managed to take a tour of the city before it got dark, then hungout at the local pub near our hostel. The next morning we were up and out at 730am for a train to Amsterdam.

Fall Break!

After a long week of midterms and work to finish studio work for our crit, we got a well needed fall break. My last midterm was my critique for studio on thursday afternoon. After, i still had to pack since we were leaving in the am. Since we were flying twice we could only pack one bag under 10kg or around 22lbs which was not easy for a 6 night trip. My backpack was jammed packed when we left and I still dont know how i brought new things back to Italy. I will post pics of all of our stops to follow this post. A quick itinerary of the trip is this:

Day 1

Train-Florence to Pisa

Plane- Pisa to Belgium, Brussels

Bus- airport to center city

Brussels

Day 2

Train- Brussels to Amsterdam
Amsterdam

Day 3

Amsterdam

Day 4
Amsterdam

Train- Amsterdam to Berlin
Berlin

Day 5

Berlin

Day 6
Train- Berlin to airport
Plane- Berlin to Milan
Milan
Train- Milan to Florence

Pienza & Montalcino

Field Trip with Arch_Studio

This weekend my architecture teacher took us on a day trip to Pienza and Montalcino with a stop at the end to a church built in 1100!   

Our main stop in Pienza was Piazza Pio.  We went into this Church, Cathedral dell'Assunta and into the Palazzo Piccolomini.  THe church was built on a cliff which has since been sinking.  The back half of the church is literally cracking off. We then had a guided tour through the Palazzo next to it.  It was very interesting with some great views off the back loggia.  

Cathedral dell'Assunta

View of Church leaning from Palazzo Piccolomini

Looking up at Piccolomini 

Tuscany's rolling hills

After we left Pienza we had a short bus ride to Montalcino, about 20 min.  The views from the bus were incredible but hard to capture with a camera.  Once in Montalcino Franco, my studio teacher, took us to his favorite restaurant for lunch and it was delicious. After lunch we walked around the little town learning about its history. Our last stop in Montalcino was the town hall building where we got amazing views of the countryside.    

Paul, Me, Brice, Dave