House of Wannsee Comference

Today we went on....another field trip. Not complaining, just seems like every post is of a field trip!

The building we visited was built in 1914 by a toothpaste factory owner. Later in 1940 it was purchased by the SS to be used as a hostel for SS members visiting berlin.

To think that SS members were in the same exact room as I was had a very creepy feeling.

I'm melting...

It is so hot and humid today that I am actually going to find a place to swim!  Hopefully tomorrow will be better. Studio is hotter than outside, so I wont be posting any photos today.

Video of Lauterbrunnen valley, another video tomorrow!

Lauterbrunnen Switzerland from Jonathan Holland on Vimeo.

Lauterbrunnen is...fantastisch, erstaunlich, unglaublich

I made it back safe and sound from Lauterbrunnen. I don't really know how to put into words how awesome it was there. The people reminded me of "Mainers" they were incredibly nice and friendly, and there waves were always complimented with a smile. While in the small downtown on each side there were massive cliffs so tall you couldn't see over them. To get out of the valley and see more of the mountains we hiked up to the base of Eiger. As we were hiking the fog aka clouds started to burn off and by the time we got to Eiger we could see nothing but Swiss alps!

On Saturday Steve and I took the tram out of the valley to a town called murren. This town was perched wright on the top edge of the cliffs seen in the valley of Lauterbrunnen. While we were up there we talked with an 80 year old women that owned a clothing shop in the front room of her house. She had lived in town since 1952. She took us through the shop, then to her back porch where we saw where base jumpers jump off the cliff and fly down to the valley.

Later that day we saw a group of cows being herded down the street. Because these towns are so small (240 people in Murren) they have to live off of the land as much as they can. Almost all of the locals have a large garden, cows, sheep and/or goats. I saw whole families out in the fields flipping hay by hand.

For me, this is the ultimate vacation place. It beats Chamonix by a longshot. Hopefully I will be able to go back and snowboard Mt.Schilthorn.


Below are pictures of the Lauterbrunnen valley

 Picture of us after the clouds cleared! Eiger's northern facing slope is on the left

Here I am...face...to...face with Eiger.

The next three pictures are from the town of Murren. It was so peaceful there. 

Heading to Lauterbrunnen tomorrow!

T - minus 13 hours till lift off! Tomorrow is going to be a travel heavy day for myself and the guys going with me. We will be flying to basel at 6am, then taking two trains to get to Lauterbrunnen for 12/1PM. The valley this small town sits in is know around the world for its waterfalls (73 of them). 

We have decided that we are hiking Eiger mountain  It is well know for its very steep northern face. Many people try and rock climb Eigers' face. We will be hiking around the face to the top of it! Bellow you can see a picture of the mountain and its face.

I am unsure if I am going to be able to post while I am nestled in the swiss alps. Worst case there will be new content Monday the 17th!

Want to see more pictures?

If the pictures here I post aren't enough and you just want more...I have uploaded 235 pictures to my Flickr account.

CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE PICTURES!

DMY Design event

Last Thursday I went to a design event held a Tegel airport. It was inside two massive hangers, which was very cool. Design events are great to go to because you see a lot of awesome products that make you say, "man thats so simple, how have I not thought of that"? As I was walking around I found myself taking more pictures of the patterns made up by the products rather than the products themselves! I have a lot of photos I would like to share, however I have tried to choose my favorite ones.

The first two pictures are of two different lamp. The top one is made out of paper, and the second is made of plastic called acrylic. 

These two chairs are made up of inflated bicycle tubes. It looks very comfortable, however I didn't sit on either.

Wool coaster sheep, pretty punny! 

Jewish Museum

Yesterday my class and I went to a jewish museum. Unfortunately my camera died so I only have a few good pictures. There was one room that was designed to give you the feeling of solitude. The only light coming in was at the very top. Made you feel like there was virtually no hope!

Christina sitting on the floor...very eerie!

In this room you could walk on the "faces" they would clang as you walked across them. Sounded as if they were all crying for help...

Grill project

My group was given the task of improving the grilling experience for Germans. We chose to create a multi purpose pillar. It provides water that can be drank, used to wash up, cool off the grill before leaving, and even mist people on a hot sunny day!

Grilling, the german way!

My project in studio right now is dealing with grilling. We are tasked to improve the grilling experience at the abandoned airfield. My group and I went to the air field and grilled using everything a German would bring. The disposable grill was only two euros and came with charcoal!

V2 rockets from WWII

Here is part of a German V2 rocket. 3,000 of these pounded England during four months of the war! They were manufactured by Jewish prisoners.

Here is something that's different!

Slugs over here have shells on their back.

Lauterbrunnen Switzerland

Two weeks from I am going to be going to visiting the town of Lauterbrunnen in Switzerland. Here are some of the pictures of the town i will be staying in and the mountain range that I will be hiking!

CAN'T WAIT!

Chillon Castle in Switzerland

Hello all, 

I'm working in studio today because it is very rainy here right now. I was looking back through my photos and found some worth posting of a castle in Switzerland. We were passing through a city in Switzerland when we made a "pit stop" at the Chillon castle. We literally had fifteen min to explore the castle. To check out the castle, CLICK HERE. When inside I heard music and was instantly raw in that direction  I had never seen an instrument like these before. The sound was so awesome! 

I have found a group playing on YouTube. Turn up the volume!

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

Random cool pictures

One day at the Vitra Museum I took these photos. I thought they looked pretty cool. See if you can guess what they are pictures of! Here is your hint (not really a hint) all the pictures below are taken inside a fire station. 

My new whip

Got a board yesterday so I can easily cover more ground when exploring!

Cool thing about the board is its made in Germany by a team of four guys. The bearing are made by a German company that massive bearings. Ones that stand five feet in diameter!

Eiffel Tower..at night

I know what you might be thinking, wait did you go back to paris? These pictures are ones that I didn't get to post when I was in Paris. The tower is beautiful at night. Every hour on the hour the tower sparkels with lights. 

My favorite atribute of the tower is its styling. It looks very "steampunk". If you don't know what steampunk looks like, click HERE. This next photo is looking up underneath the tower at one of the legs.  

The all-mighty wall

As I was walking around the city I found a piece of the old Berlin wall. It's not as sturdy and monolithic as I thought it would be. It stands twice my hight and only 30cm thick!

I will survive!

I have found two places to eat that have great food and are right next to my studio! One of the pictures are of shaved....steak?....and the other is the best pizza I've ever had. Everything is homemade and fresh!

Palace of Versailles

A few days ago my class went to the outskirts of Paris. We saw the Palace of Versailles! This is the largest "house" I have ever seen. Inside and out the detail of the palace is mind blowing. The gardens outside are so impressive. Having done landscaping before I could only image how many hours go into keeping there bushes...and trees perfectly square!

The inside of every room was even more beautiful than the gardens outside. Just about every room had massive paintings on the walls and the ceiling. 

You don't have murals on your ceiling too? Maybe you should get some...