Travel Guides

I have found two good sites for European visitors to New York City and Atlanta, and a site for American visitors to Paris.

Europeans to Atlanta:

http://travel.yahoo.com/trip-view-1483370-tara_travel_agency_s_best_of_atlanta_tour

Europeans to New York City:

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Travel-g60763-c96990/New-York-City:New-York:Activity.Advice.For.First.Time.Visitors.html

Americans to Paris:

http://www.eurovacations.com/EVWeb/Custom_SavedItin.jsp?fromlist=Y&sourceid=Evac&theme=Evac&utype=webuser&dest=Paris&item=Pkgs/2008011502200828


When I was comparing sites, I noticed that the European travellers had a lot more details about where they were going to go, and mostly weren't the big "Grand Canyon" type of places. The Georga trip to Atlanta mentioned places like the aquarium, art museum, and other places (probably) only popular to locals. But the trip to New York City focused on the Brooklyn Bridge, Manhattan Bridge, WTC site, Statue of Liberty, and Ellis Island. Atlanta has a lot to offer what Europe does not necessarily. Atlanta places emphasis on all of the minor places for visitors like the aquarium. Europeans seem to like the USA for its techological improvements and innovations, and treat the Americans like an oddity that needs to be visited and seen. So the Europeans put less focus on places like Gettysburg, Lexington & Concord, Old Ford Niagara (which you'd think the French would want to come see), and other battlefields. This is in comparison to Americans flocking to battlefields all over Europe.

The people going to Europe, in specific a trip to Paris, was focused on the Versaille Palace and Gardens. Also they offer a Seine River dinner cruise. I find this funny because it is built outside of Paris (so the King could escape the city, which was probably a good idea for the beheadings of his ancestors later on). The European travel packages focus on more national, manmade, and historical landmarks. The people travelling to Europe definitly want to discover the Europeans during their respective hay-days. So going back to Rome and seeing the Coliseum, Versaille in France, and Big Ben in London. They also want to go see the Acropolis in Athens. Europe offers Americans the ability to be in a time and era that the Americans could never be a part of, and a heritage that they could never be a part of.

Covered Bridge

I was searching around the internet on a "Picture of the Day" thread and a member posted this. It is from their town in Pennsylvania. The construction esign of hte bridge I found to be very interesting, especially in light of our last class together.

What Style Is It?

This has been one of the hardest assignments I have ever done, so I hope my work has equated to adequtely labelled houses!

Prairie Style. The long style house as well as the dark and light contrast on the outside of the building made it look like a Prairie style.

Greek Revival. The columns that are on both sides of the main entrance as well ast he big windows and the roofing structure (entablature?).

French Colonial. The steep roof, the big front porch, the wooden beam porch, and the windows (espeically the third floor with the peaked top to them). Also, the centrally located chimney.

Bungalow. Gabled roof facing the street. The porch that spans the middle front of the house, as well as the battered front porch piers.

Second Renaissance Revival. The main difference between the bottom floor and the floors above it, as well as the style of the roof made me think of the second renaissance revival style. Also, the inclusion of gateways and arched openings made it stand out.



Unknown. It really feels like this should be something, and after reading Blumenson I really feel like this can be classified somewhere. I just cannot figure out what it is. Does anyone have any idea or any clue? I am at a loss and it is seriously bothering me.

Anyone else have trouble using and understanding the terms in the Blumenson book? I stumbled over several and had to google many just to understand what they were talking about. Overall, I hope I did a good job and would like any comments if anyone agrees or disagrees with my choices.

Urban Panoramas

The first picture are from atop a building in Memphis, Tennessee. The second two pictures are from the acropolis in Athens, Greece.

One of the most obvious comparisons are the importance (or even presence!) of sky scrapers in Memphis over Athens. For cities in the United States that sprouted during a time when skyscrapers were possible, they shape the landscape in an almost all-encompassing way. For Athens, which has been developing for over 2000 years, the ability to build sky scrapers is impossible in a city that has been dominated by one or two level houses for the majority of its lifetime. I would feel that this trend occurs over a lot of European cities. Low-laying cities dominated by one or two story buildings versus the skylines of Memphis, New York City, or any other major city in the United States dominated by sky scrapers.

Greek Buildings

I have taken various Greek classes, and if my memory serves me, this is the first example of a peristyle collinade on any building in the Greek world. This drawing of a structure is the Heroon at Lefkandi. The columns are wooden, and support a thatched roofing structure. The date is sometime around 1000-800 B.C.E. for the building. Wikipedia has more information, all though it is limited in comparison to what I was taught in my class, and I do not wish to post it all since this thread is about imitation Greek architecture, not real Greek architecture!

I have various examples of Greek styles throughout my neighborhood. All I had to do was go up and down 2-3 streets and take pictures while I drove. The columns and the roof styles point towards Greek-styled houses. Some are more obvious than others, since some encompass the entire house while some have columns only on the porch.

The Buffalo Museum of Science is aonther example of the Greek Style of architecture. ALl though it really is only found in the columns, the Greek influence is there.

I'll start with the most obvious piece of Greek architecture found on UB's campus. I know that it isn't a full building, or anything close to a collapsed building even, but it is very Greek-like.

The next building is the albright knox art gallery in Buffalo. I know that many other people have posted this, as well as my next example, but it still is appropriate I feel. Its overwhelming impact on the Buffalo area makes it deserve to be in every post. If I remember correctly, it was built for the Pan-Am festival? Does anyone know for sure? I think they needed a more permanant and fire resistant building to house the priceless pieces of art. It is also very reminiscent of the buildings in Washington D.C. The columns as well as the roofing style show the Greek influences.