Silly Megan

I left my outlet converter in Paris, and the battery on my laptop is uickly running out. Which unfortunately means I will have to cut blogging short by a few days. Unless I can find somewhere in barcelona that sells a converter. Thanks for reading everyone! I will fill in the gaps once I have reached Minneapolis, around this time next week.

Parisian Public Bicycles: Pretty Much Awesome

So my bike obsession continues.

The new super-socialist mayor in Paris has planted 10,000 public bicycles around the city for residents and toursits to use. You can rent them by the hour or day (via debit card or smart chip), and can also get monthly and yearly passes (much like public transit). You can pick up a bike and return it to any of the parking kiosks, which I have seen all over the city. It probably sounded like a crazy idea when first proposed, but it seems to be hugely successful. EVERYONE is using the bikes. Mom and Dad, you should give them a ride when you come in October! I am going to give one a spin tomorrow...

There are a few tourists in Paris

Scotland: Land of Sunshowers, Bagpipes, and Nonchalant Kilt Wearing

I got to Scotland late Friday night, greeted by a plaid-apholstered-double-decker bus, hard to discern scottish accents and a horrible exchange rate. I found Doug's apartment and we headed out to see the Festival revelry. (Every August Edinburgh is taken over by a barrage of festivals. It started with a theater festival, which has since spawned art, film, book, poitics and dance festivals). On Saturday I ate porridge for breakfast. Afterwards we went to see a collection of temporary garden installations around the city ( a good way to tour Edinburgh on foot). Sunday was our day in Glasgow, where we saw the School of Art (building by famous Scottish architect Charles Mackintosh) and tried to have proper tea. Monday I visited the Scottish Parliament building (for my project). I toured the building with a bunch of people from small-town Scotland and the teenage girls on the tour thought it was WAY COOL that I was American, and even COOLER that I used to live in New York. I then hiked up the crags to Arthur's Seat (very Camelot) and got great views of the city. That night we went to a concert of a little band from Brighton called Pete and the Pirates.

Aside from the weather, I had a grand time.

Smile, you're in Rotterdam

Before leaving for Scotland, I spent a day in Rotterdam. Rotterdam is home to many a famous design firm (OMA/Rem Koolhaas, West 8) and a few fancy design projects to match. The Kunsthal (by Mr. Koolhaas) was exhibiting the Rotterdam Architecture Biennial on "Power Cities" which was very interesting. It was all about mass urbanization across the globe, taking shape in different ways: informal cities, spectacle cities, edge cities, etc. The blow-up dolls are a shout out for Lily, I guess AMO made the t-shirts. Did you do any of this last summer on the job last summer?

I also made a stop at Showburgplein, which is a favorite project of landscape architecture students. The big red lamps can be moved around by passers-by and the kids love love love the fountain. The last time I was in Rottedam (spring break two years ago) it was dreary and rainy and cold when we visited here, so I was happy to see people and sunshine.

Watery, Windy Hinterlands

I decided it'd be fun to get out of Amsterdam for a day, so I took my now-trusty bicycle on a ferry over to Amsterdam Noord and hit the road. I got lost in the burbs (twice) but eventually found the route listed in my Lonely Planet. It was a very interesting to see small towns, farms, and the sea. Although, 50km on a one speed in gusty winds is something I probably won't attempt again amytime soon...

My Fleet

My new favorite way to travel.