Long Study Tour pt 1 - Germany

Note: This blog post contains just a few selections of the many pictures I took on the Study Tour - for a larger gallery of photos, click on this link!!!! 

To start our trip, we crossed the Baltic on a ferry and landed in Germany!

We spent the first day in Hamburg touring the new harbor development called Hafen City.

They've completely redone a spot that used to be a shipping hub that was basically abandoned by the industry. Now it has fancy-shmancy apartments, shops, hang out spots, and the in-the-works Elbphilharmonie opera house (it's behind construction construction schedule because of a budget crisis... whoops). Hamburg seems to thrive around the water (there are more bridges there than in Venice!!!!).

Random fun at the harbor:

We ended our first day with DIS stuffing our faces with meat, potatoes, and beer, and proceded to wander through the Red Light District... which was... interesting. It's probably for the best that I have no photos to share. It was an outrageously obscene experience, but it was a experience nonetheless.

Next up was day 2 in Cologne, Germany after a hella-long drive on a bus. Oh Cologne - a town with some surprising gems. We saw the super-cool Kolumba Museum which showcased to the extreme a juxtaposition of old and new.

But the real highlight of the area had to be Kölner Dom, the most magnificent gothic cathedral you'll ever see. My neck nearly snapped from craning to see the top.

At first I was confused why they took us to Cologne, but once I saw that cathedral there were no questions. It was breathtaking.

Took a video to explain:

Day 3 started with a short drive over to Essen, Germany which was also a bit of a hidden gem. It used to be an industrial city with a huge coal mine, but now that mine has been converted into museums and hubs for design.

site model of Zeche Zollverein, previously a coal mine

The Ruhr Museum shows some extremely graceful re-purposing of the building complex, and the Red Dot Museum was a playground of the best in modern design aesthetic.

One of the big issues we talked about while we were there though was: to what extent should investors and developers come in and change the identity of a place, even if that identity change is meant with the best intentions? People are creating this "design hub" to attract people and money and promote culture, but apparently not all residents are comfortable with this dramatic change from their working class roots.

DIS students discussing srs business

Anyway, we sped off towards Amsterdam as day 3 came to a close - and for deets on that you'll have to wait for blog post part 2!

Peace,

-Mack