Spring Break '09

Who Lois & Aya
What Spring break oh nine
When Friday April 24 to Tuesday May 5
Where Milan, Greece: Crete, Santorini, Athens
Why Why not?
How Airplane, Train, Metro, Bus, Ferry, Car, Scooter, Taxi, Foot

• April 24-27, 3 nights
• Slept at Giacomo's and Lake Como
• Met Alex, Louie, Kevin, Barrett & Yoon Jung
• International Furniture Fair | Design week, metro tickets, pizza, Red Bull, umbrellas, chairs

Ryanair to Milan- my first airplane ride since January

Welcome to Milan- Design Week was a party!

Naba Party

Our wonderful Milanese host, Giacomo!!!

Alex, Lois, Louie and I did a 40minute/ €7 commute from Lake Como to Milan

La Triennale di Milano is the country's only design museum
It had a Japan Design section: here are nesting bowls

Welcome to Rho Fiera!

This was the International Furniture Fair- a 1km stretch with warehouses full of displays of different design companies, furniture, lighting and student/ young designer work

Cacti was a reoccurring theme

No Problem is a four-person Danish design collective
Isabel walked us through each project and made me want to get up and change the world

This booth by German designers reminded me of Kevin Quale's work which integrates yarn with furniture

Norman Copenhagen's chair from the Camping series

The Young Serbian Designers were the first designers I spoke with who I found to be very welcoming and informative

I liked Reinhard Dienes' display in fair because he used the boxes he shipped his work in
He also uses dark walnut wood... :)

Campana brothers' chairs were all over the Kartell section! This was the part of the fair where we saw the chairs we learned about and name them or their designer upon sight.

I found my favourite pieces to be at the Moroso section. These bent pipe and central location in the fair also made their space seem like a forest and sanctuary

RISD-NABA exchange students reunite! This is at t35, the venue for Giacomo and Anita's installation project in Zona Tortona.

• April 28-May 1st, 3 nights
  
• Met Heather & Dan
• Rented a car & drove to beaches
  
• Hiked the Samaria Gorge
• Olive trees, blue waters, grocery stores, sand, ouzo (Greek liquor), leathery buttery olives
• Photo credits and thanks to Dan O'Neill!
  

• 

• May 1-2, 29 hours
  
• Met Liam, Emily, Emily, Erin, Ben & Mike, still with Heather & Dan
• Rode on scooters & 4 wheelers to chase sunsets and find beaches
• Sunblock, swimming pools, Mythos (Greek beer), cats, black sand, 'margaritas', gyros, haircuts

Greek coffee is a sweet espresso with foam on the top and grounds at the bottom
Here it is enjoyed by locals who navigate their way through the island




Our hotel

Kamari
Black sand beach

Dove Mike?


Ferry ride to Athens

• May 2-5, 3 nights
• Met Santorini group minus Dan, stayed with Savignys
• Hung out with history, ate home cooked meals, rode buses
• Sketchy taxi ride, Frappes (cold Greek coffee drink), Acropolis, marble, red poppies, traffic

Docking

Our wonderful family in Athens

Frappes are frequently enjoyed by the Greek. For €1.80 you can enjoy an instant iced coffee beverage served either glyka megala (with milk & sugar) or skyto (without). It's INTENSE and makes me palpitate but it cured the lazy mood that came with the overcast weather
Lois and I spent a wonderful day together at
THE ACROPOLIS


Tita Sally brought us to the Central Market in Athens which was so interesting!

Meat Market

Fruits and Vegetables

Now I understand how the gods and the greatest thinkers came from Greece.