architecture | loveliness.

Tag: architecture
- queretaro
  
  Posted at 8:00 am by jasminedesirees, on March 6, 2018
  
  Almost a year ago, as part of my Master’s program, I joined a group going down to Queretaro, Mexico to work on written and visual stories about the area.
  
  I’ve been to many different places in Mexico, but never to Queretaro, so I was really excited to go. It’s such a beautiful city, with amazing architecture, including an aqueduct that runs through the city of Queretaro.
  
  The story I was working on was actually about the Sierra Gorda region of Queretaro, which is a few hours away, down a very windy road (almost all of us got car sick) near a town called Jalpan (but more on that later).
  
  So my time in the city of Queretaro was mostly spent transcribing interviews and logging video footage, but when I wasn’t doing that, I was drinking tequila and wandering the streets.
  
  Queretaro had some amazing restaurants, we stayed near the town square, which has tons of great little places to eat and really cute local shops. On our last night in town, we had an amazing dinner at Tikua Sur Este, where we had probably 10 different courses, including a stuffed pepper with chocolate sauce that I still think about.
  
  If you have a chance to go to Queretaro, I would highly recommend it, I can’t wait to go back and visit again sometime.
  
  Posted in Mexico, travel | 0 Comments | Tagged aquaduct, architecture, mexico, queretaro, queretaro city
- the wright house
  
  Posted at 8:00 am by jasminedesirees, on May 2, 2016
  
  For the last few weeks, the David and Gladys Wright house, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, in Phoenix has been offering free yoga classes.
  
  Right now the house is still a private residence (Frank Lloyd Wright’s granddaughter lives there) but they are working to turn it into a museum. The vote is in December, so they are trying to give the community as much access to the property before that, through events like this, so that people will vote to preserve it.
  
  The classes are offered by different yoga studios throughout the valley and there are usually a couple hundred people there. Not only were the yoga classes free, but they also had a bunch of free stuff for people who attended, including t-shirts, tote bags and yoga mats.
  
  We had been arriving about half an hour before the classes started so we could go through and tour the house. I went to two different classes, the first time I took a bunch of pictures, but they were all on my Snapchat (jasminedesirees). I thought I would remember to download them the next day but I didn’t, and I lost all of them. But luckily I was able to go again and take some more pictures.
  
  The first time I went through the house, they had a “docent” there to answer questions about the house and the family, and it was really interesting. The house had been slated for demolition in 2012, but the wrecking crew showed up to tear it down, and called the city to make sure they were really supposed to.
  
  The city stopped the demolition, put protections on the property, and arranged to have it sold at auction. It was bought by a private citizen, who still owns it today.
  
  Sarah, Frank Lloyd Wright’s granddaughter, lives on the property because it’s still zoned as a private residence, so in order to have events like yoga classes or anything else, someone has to live there and invite everyone in.
  
  Last week was the final yoga class, but it was such a success that I’m sure they will do it again. At the end of the last class they played a Frank Lloyd Wright monologue where he discusses creativity. It was a very fitting end.
  
  If you get the chance to go check out this amazing property, definitely do it. The house is amazing (I love the wooden ceiling inside!), and the views of Camelback and the sunset are worth it even if you don’t get to go inside. I also want to go here as soon as I have a free afternoon.
  
  Posted in Arizona, art, other things, USA | 0 Comments | Tagged architecture, Arizona, art, david and gladys wright, frank lloyd wright, yoga
- castello di amarosa
  
  Posted at 10:29 am by jasminedesirees, on December 10, 2014
  
  We spent Saturday being chauffeured around Napa in a limo, drinking lots of wine and enjoying the gorgeous December sunshine. We visited the Castello di Amarosa, a vineyard and winery, and also the most amazing castle I’ve ever seen.
  
  I’ve really only seen the Iolani Palace, and Sleeping Beauty’s castle in Disneyland, so I don’t have a lot to compare it to, but still.
  
  We did the guided tour, so in addition to the public areas of the castle that anyone can visit if they come to the vineyard which includes a ballroom and a chapel, we also got to see the underground portion, including jails and a torture chamber, and many feet of tunnels stacked with barrels of wine.
  
  It took fifteen years to build the castle, and all of the materials are authentic, sourced from ruins of castle in Europe. All of the iron work in the castle was recovered from ruins, and if they couldn’t find it there, they had it made in the authentic style as it would have been in 12th-16th century Europe.
  
  We learned a lot about the wine they produce during the tour, and also about the castle itself, and it was really interesting.
  
  All of the stonework was done by a master stone mason, and different sections of the castle were done in the styles from different centuries, so they point that out to you on the tour, and explain what the differences were, and why.
  
  For the last stop on our tour we stopped in a private underground tasting room that felt a lot like a dungeon, but at least there were bread sticks, and tried a bunch of the different wines that are made by the vineyard. I really liked a lot of them, I used to hate red wine, but in the last few years I’ve really grown to like it more and more, especially Zinfandel.
  
  My favourites were Dolcino, it was a sweet white wine; Simpatica, which is a blend of Muscato and Riesling, and one called Fantasia, which tastes like melted frozen fruit punch juice mix. Our guide said he often uses it as a mix with vodka, which sounds like a terrible/amazing idea.
  
  They have activities at the castle all year round, and every year for New Year’s Eve they have a black tie masquerade ball. It’s expensive, but it sounds like so much fun, so we’re going to try to do that for NYE 2016.
  
  If you are looking for me at any point over the next 12 months, I’ll probably be gluing feathers and glitter onto my mask.
  
  Posted in California, exploring, USA | 0 Comments | Tagged architecture, California, castello di amarosa, castle, napa, Sleeping Beauty's castle, wine, wine tasting
- rectory
  
  Posted at 1:44 am by jasminedesirees, on January 23, 2014
  
  I signed up for AirBnB awhile ago, but hadn’t had a chance to use it yet. After the new year I got an email from them offering one night free if you booked two nights, so I decided to give it a try when we went down to L.A.
  
  We found this amazing house to stay in, it used to be an old Catholic rectory, turned into a home by a cool musician and his wife. Our stay was lovely, he worked nights and slept during the day so we barely saw him and had the place to ourselves, and it was one of the most beautiful and most unique places I’ve ever stayed.
  
  There was a lot of stained glass windows, and lots of tiny little details that really made it special. I also loved his collection of musical instruments, scattered around the house as decoration, and also ready to be played at any time.
  
  Our first AirBnB experience was awesome, I’m planning a trip to New York in March (I’ve never been, and I’m soooo excited, I’ve wanted to go since I was little) so I’ll definitely be looking around to find a neat place to stay there during my visit.
  
  Posted in California, Los Angeles, travel, USA | 0 Comments | Tagged AirBnB, architecture, catholic church, decoration, design, Los Angeles, rectory
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