on the street in paris

 Most of these photos were taken in the St. Germain area of Paris.. one of my favourite neighbourhoods for walking around in. Paris is a very walkable city.. especially when the weather was as nice as it was a few weeks ago. It was great to browse the shops in the area and of course I had to stop at Ladurée [I did twice while we were in Paris actually..haha]. I took a picture almost exactly like the fourth photo last time I was in Paris.. interesting to see how small things have changed.

Feeling a bit better now about the state of things here in NL.. we had a bit of a studio crisis as our P4 presentation date was moved a week earlier than we expected, but after a bit of pressure we’ve convinced our tutor to move it back.. so we’ve actually gained a much needed extra 2 weeks. Still things are going to be busy.. I’m trying to work on job applications and my online portfolio/website on top of studio work. At least I’ll feel comfortable devoting a day or two to that this weekend now that we know we’ve got some extra time.

Anyways, hope you’re enjoying spring!

bonjour

Our trip to Paris was great, although a little short. We decided taking the train was the best option since you can get it direct from Rotterdam which is definitely more convenient and relaxing than flying [for me at least]. Although we were only there Wednesday-Saturday early afternoon we managed to see and do a lot.. including finding reasonably-priced and good quality sushi. Japanese food is pretty much my favourite and here in the Netherlands it’s usually super overpriced and underwhelming  [compared to what I'm used to in Vancouver at least], so I’m always super excited to have sushi when I travel. More photos to come.. these are just a few street shots taken on the first afternoon there. Couldn’t have asked for better weather!

stanley beach

I think this is one of the only times where I can say I’ve enjoyed spending the afternoon at the beach in November. Making the relatively short trip to Stanley that Sunday with a few classmates was definitely worth it. Stanley is just on the other side of Hong Kong Island and it was a nice [and much needed] break from the busy city environment where we had spent most of our time. One of the best parts of the trip was the fact that my studio mates and I were able to spend time together in a totally different environment than the usual classroom setting, and I’ve made some great new friends because of it.

Even though it’s not that cold in Delft yet [hanging around 10 degrees], I definitely would like to be back on this beach!

cannon beach afternoon

 Cannon Beach was a wonderful place to spend a few days. At some point I’d like to see more of the Oregon coast but for this trip it was pretty much perfect just to spend my time here. One thing that was really neat about being on the Pacific coast was this ever-present fog bank that would engulf the beach in the morning and move to hover off shore for the rest of the afternoon, only to move back in later in the evening.

Five days and counting!

here comes the sun

The same day we visited Borough Market and the Operating Hall Museum we spent some time near St. Paul’s Cathedral before heading across to the south bank. It was such a beautiful day and it finally felt like spring had arrived. In typical Northern Europe fashion it rained again before we left London but overall we had pretty good luck with weather on the trip.

Speaking of which, the weather here is finally starting to warm up to spring-like temperatures [flats without socks + lighter coats!]. Needless to say this nice weather has made working on projects very painful… it’s just no fun staying inside when it’s so nice outside. Luckily I spent some time outside today and yesterday and had a pretty fun weekend as well! Hope everyone else did too..

 

shift

Strangely, three of my photos from my trip to the beach last month are kind of half double exposed. I actually think it looks kind of cool so I thought I’d post them all together. I was going to post more Germany photos but I’ll save that for tomorrow perhaps.

I got back from London a little under an hour ago and although I’m a bit exhausted I have to say it was one of the best trips I’ve been on. It’s such an amazing city… I took a ton of photos [both film and digital] and I’ll be sharing them soon. Hope everyone had a great weekend!

scheveningen

 

Aside from being one of the most difficult place names to properly pronounce, Scheveningen is pretty close to my idea of the ideal colder climate beach. Rolling sand dunes and tall grass, tiny shells in the sand and even old army bunkers. I’m sure it’s nice in the summer too but there was something totally refreshing about being there on a windy and beautifully sunny winter day. We wandered along the beach and explored the sand dunes and then headed to the pier [which is one of the most bizarre structures I've ever seen.. but more on that later].

I feel like I have to be super productive this weekend as there’s only just over a week until I head off to London for a few days.. I’m getting pretty excited. For now I’m just glad it’s Friday!

happy new year

Happy New Year everyone! Hope 2011 brings you happiness, new adventures and good times!

sun

The day I went to Amsterdam a few weekends ago was one of the brightest days I can remember in the last while. I really enjoyed just walking around and soaking up the sun, knowing it might be one of the last days of real warm weather before spring [so far that's been the case..haha]. These photos are all a bit overexposed although I kind of like the effect.

I only had one exam this quarter, but some other projects and stuff to finish up but now it’s all over! The exam was thankfully pretty straightforward [architectural theory can get pretty convoluted]. Unfortunately I still have quite a bit of work to do before our design studio meets again next Friday.. uggggh [which subsequently has postponed my Berlin plans].

As for the rest of the week I’m planning to get a haircut, try and find a warm winter coat, finish my roll of film, try some new recipes and maybe treat myself to an oliebol [dutch donut type thing] from the stand that just opened up nearby. Then it’s off to Venice on the 13th!