Each semester at DIS, there is a short study tour(3 days) and a long study tour(6-7 days). This semester the short study tour was of western Denmark, mentioned in a previous post. The long study tour was October 3-9th to Germany/Netherlands. And the tour certainly was LONG.
October 3rd:
Germany first. And we stopped at the city of Hamburg.
We saw Herzog De Mueron's Philharmonic in construction. Loving the curved and etched glass.
Also in Hamburg was St. Nicolai church memorial. It had been destroyed by a fire, rebuilt and then destroyed again during World War II by air raids. It was one of/if not the only building to survive WWII in Hamburg. It was not rebuilt again and now remains in ruins as a memorial.
October 4th:
We drive towards Cologne, Germany, making stops along the way at:
Langen Foundation by Tadao Ando. Just another art museum but not just another piece of architecture. The things Ando does with concrete and glass are genius.
and Museum Insel Hombroich. You can probably already tell by the number of pictures above (which btw don't do this place justice) here that I REALLY REALLY liked this place. It's basically art, architecture, and nature spread out over 62 acres of meadowland. It was not just an art museum, not just a building, and not just a park. It was all together a gorgeous, effortless walk-through of all of the above. Multiple pavilions, each uniquely different from eachother were distributed over the land and housed pieces of GREAT art. And it all started with a Germany real estate broker who just wanted a place to store his art collection.
Once we arrived at Cologne, we visited the Kolumba Museum by Peter Zumthor. In addition to Hamburg, Cologne is another city that suffered damage during WWII. St. Columba church was destroyed during the war and Zumthor built upon the remains (the red brick) creating the Kolumba Museum. Don't you love the walls and how the light shines through?
Also in Cologne was a ridiculously tall Gothic cathedral, Kölner Dom. It also shared its fair share of hits during WWII but did not collapse. And it's a good thing it didn't. Because it was breathtaking.
October 5th:
We left Cologne but made a stop in Essen, Germany to visit the Ruhr area.
Zeche Zollverein Ruhr Museum was a museum featuring the culture and history of the industrial Ruhr area. I believe the building itself was a coal-washing plant back in the industrial days before it was rebuilt as the museum it is today. But a lot of the remnants of the plant remain in the museum, like the machinery and I think some of the structure.
Still in the Ruhr area, Red Dot Museum featured different types of modern design models of furniture, lighting fixtures, and kitchen/bathroom utilities. It was strange to see the contrast between the modern design and the old building itself.
Also in Essen: Zollverein School of Management & Design by SANAA. It's supposedly a big deal because it was the first new building built on the Ruhr valley site.
And then it was goodbye Germany. Hello Netherlands.
October 6th:
Our hostel.
It was surrounded by some gorgeous fields.
Our first day in the Netherlands was in good ol' Amsterdam:
Something that I love about the Netherlands are the canals that run between the buildings. It really gives a whole different character to a city. OH AND THE SUNSET THAT NIGHT IN AMSTERDAM WAS SO COOL.
October 7th:
We also visited Rotterdam:
Van Nelle Factory. They make tea, coffee, and tobacco. Pretty cool building, just not my favorite. I did like the view they had out their window though.
Kunstal Art Museum by Rem Koolhaas WAS one of my favorites. In terms of art, this place beats all art museums hands down in my opinion. There was a ridiculous variety of art genres. And the architecture is such a mind fuck to be in. It's like an organized maze.
That evening after dinner, we were waiting around for our tour bus to pick us up. We happened to be near a bar at one point and one of the bar workers offered our entire group of 33 students and our tour guide FREE shots. So of course we couldn't turn that down. The bar was a wee bit too excited and lit lights and started to play dance music. 20 minutes later our bus came and we all left with free alcohol in our tummies. Pretty amusing.
October 8th:
We spent our last day in Utrecht.
We walked around Utrecht University.
and visited the infamous Schröder Haus! Only one of the most iconic buildings of the Modernist movement. No big deal.
After Schröder, me and two of my newfound DIS buddies went to a nearby shop and bought a block of cheese, bread, and a fat block of pound cake. It was all delicious and we ate all of it. I also bought some stroop waffles (thin waffles layered with caramel)to bring back to Copenhagen. The Dutch know what good food is all about. Mmmm...
Uhm yeah so the study tour was not too shabby. Haha, just kidding, it was actually really great.
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