Date: Fri, 06 Nov 1998 12:13:17 -0500
Subject:
Hi everyone!
I think I've got the official slow computer today, so we'll see how this goes. On MOnday I should have my new eth address, so I'll write to you from there!
Everything's going well hee- classes are started to really get going now, which means I have TONS to read! There was a lecture series this week, about "Venustas,"or "beauty," or "Schoenheit", which wasone of three qualities of architecture described by Vitruvius, an ancient Roman writer/architect. On Tues I heard David Copperfield and Moneo, (both of whom gave their lectures in English!) and yesterday Peter Zumthor, Enric Miralles, and Leon Krier (They're all VERY well known architects!!) The auditorium was packed, and I was sitting on the floor for the fist two yesterday, but it was well worth it. Most lectures begin with a theoretical chunk, then go on to explain their work. But Peter Zumthor spent the whole time just talking about Schoenheit. The room was pitch black, except for the orangey light coming from his lecture stand, shining up eerily on the underside of his face. For slides he had simply solid colors- blue, then green, then fuschia, etc,, each staying for a few paragraphs, then changing, in sync with the mood of what he was saying.
And he just gave descriptions, almost meditations on the meaning of Schoenheit, ex: an apricot tree has it, the children playing in the park on a summer day, the sunset, ......... I thought he captured it so well in the way he presented it!
The other lecturers were very inspiring, funny, whatever, as well. It amazes me how much exposure we have here to so much of this- so many lectures form famous architects, so many guest lecturers in classes everything!
We had the first frost last night- and it was on the ground still when I went to class today. The sky was crystal clear above, only a bit foggy on the horizon. I tried to take some pictures of the mountains to the south, because they were so beautiful today! I hope they come out well!! :)
Speaking of beauty, I'd like to tell about a walk I took last weekend, along a "Wanderweg" (hiking trail/foot path) called "Panorama Weg" It starts practically at my doorstep, and heads up the mountain a bit, but mostly just along the bottom of the mountain, just high enough to always have a good view of the city, the lake, and the surroundings! I passed a farmers field, but the cows weren't in that field today (Mom, I WILL get a picture of them for you at some point!) :) (yes, cows- this IS Switzerland!!!) and along the back sides of some little community gardens and things. At one point I stopped at a bench that overlooked the lake, and started writing.
This is so beautiful! To be able to walk out my door in one diretion and head right into the city, and the next day walk right up a mountain, in the middle of the woods, where all SEEMS untouched. (not really, though- clearly marked Wanderwegs, benches, bridges, over streams, etc.) It's refreshig to walk here, to feel like I'm getting away from the city, even though I can still ssee and hear it below. Where I'm sitting I can see the lake directly in front of me, the deep blue of a clear fall day, with a few stark white sailboats gliding along, the city half-hidden to the
left, but still reaching around the other side of the lake, the sun shining through the trees to my right, the low drone of the Autobahn between me and the lake, a dog barking in the distance, a cow bell dinging, people walking along the Wanderweg just behind me, 2 horses passing by, and a bird calling overhead, the wind blowing softly through the trees and my hair.
I would never find this at home- a protected "wilderness"- an Erholungsgebiet- so close to a city- it would all be suburbs in the states- "Panorama Estates," or something like that. You'd have to travel much further to find this.
I kept walking, then it started to sprinkle (the weather changes so quickly here!) , so I turned down the hill to head home. As I turned around and started to head out of the trees, I saw a giant rainbow! I told the people coming in the other direction, because I didn't want them to miss it, and they smiled and told me they'd been watching it the whole way! I got out of the trees a bit more, and could see the entire half-circle of a rainbow, uninterrupted until it hit the horizon on either
side, and there was a faint second arch above it!! It was fantastic- the best rainbow I'd seen in a while!!!
I went to the flea market that happens every Saturday morning at Buerkliplatz- a little square downtown right on the end of the lake- and bought a little crystal (A piece from an old chandelier, I think) to hang in my window, like the one I have at camp. Now I get lots of little rainbows on sunny afternoons! It's great! (The only problem is the timing- now-especially now that daylight savings is over- I don't get back until it's dark. (And when it's nice out on the weekends I like to be out
anyway!) But I like to know they happen!
Take care everyone! Have a nice weekend!
Lotsa love, Cor :)
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