Today was our first rainy day since arriving over here in Paris. I was able to pull out my handy rain jacket (thanks Mom) and use it all day today as we traveled outside of Paris for the first time. We took a train bright and early this morning to a small town about 40 minutes outside of the city called Poissy. After getting off the train and walking for about ten minutes in the quaint, slower-paced suburb, we came across a beautiful Romanesque/Gothic church. This is what I love about France, and especially Paris, you can be strolling down the street and suddenly run into a beautiful piece of architecture. Since we had extra time this morning, we were able to look inside the La Collegiale Notre Dame church. This church was built during the Romanesque architectural era and finished in the Gothic era. An interesting fact I found out was that the same man who was in charge of restoration for Notre Dame in the 1800's was also working on restoring this church at about the same time. After visiting this church for about 20 minutes, we walked another 20 minutes or so to finally see the Villa Savoye by Le Corbusier. To architects this villa is extremely important and even though I'm not a huge Le Corbusier fan, I was excited to see this piece. I definitely have to say this experience of visiting a smaller house compared to the many ornate cathedrals, churches, museums, and opera houses was a different experience, especially because it was done in the stark modernist style. It was hard to appreciate the architecture that Le Corbusier so carefully designed without having an explanation from my teacher, and especially because it was raining and almost chilly outside. We had plenty of time today to explore and sketch the villa after a few short meetings with our teacher. After being there for a few hours today and especially doing many sketches of the villa I began to get why this villa was such a big deal to architects. The main principle behind this villa, more importantly the modern style, is that functional is beautiful. I began to understand the complexities and all the little details that make this place such a master work that you can only get from visiting it firsthand. Overall, I enjoyed our visit today and the change of pace traveling to the villa gave us, although I definitely wouldn't want to live at Villa Savoye...sorry Le Corbusier. Just to add in, the Savoyes didn't want to live there either...the roof leaked when it rained. Good thing it didn't leak today! Tomorrow we are going to be visiting Maison la Roche, another work done by Le Corbusier. Aur Revoir!
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