Le Palais idéal (Hauterives, France)

There is nothing ideal about the palace of Ferdinand Cheval. That doesn't stop it from being utterly magnificent.

Ferdinand ol' chap took 33 years to build this palace, using rocks and stones he picked up during his day job as a mail man. He started off with stuffing the stones in his pocket, then upgraded to a basket, and when that wasn't doing the job, he invested in a wheelbarrow.

Clearly the wheelbarrow worked, because the palais, whilst no Buckingham, is huge. It incorporates different ideologies and faiths. It has, amongst other forms of architecture, a hindu temple and an islamic church.

I realised after that i was so fascinated by the construction of the palais that i had clean forgotten to get a picture of the palais in its entirety. Of course, that's what google images is for. For now, my paltry pictures below will have to do.

The Cube Houses (Rotterdam, the Netherlands)

Last stop on the road trip (ROAD TRIP!!) was Rotterdam. This was a city i had wanted to visit for ages, ever since i saw the video from the Beautiful South song. Before we left Brussels, A cautioned me that Rotterdam was really nothing like the video.

Although there were no open fields in sight, nor brazilian dancers, nor scuba diving men, i still loved the city. Its skyline is very Miami-esque.

The Cube Houses in particular were out of this world. They are built on a bridge/overpass, and are very eyecatching. After all, any building that looks like it could topple down at any moment is eyecatching.

The next time i visit Rotterdam, i'm going to make it a point to go inside and see how on earth the flats are laid out.

Part I - 9. Cubic Houses (Rotterdam, Netherlands)

De Hoge Veluwe National Park (Honderloo, the Netherlands)

The next morning, on the way to Rotterdam, we stopped by de Hoge Veluwe National Park. If you are an outdoors/nature lover, you will love this park.

To quote wikipedia:
It is approximately 55 square kilometers in area, consisting of heathlands, sand dunes, and woodlands. It is situated in the Veluwe, the area of the largest terminal moraine in the Netherlands. Most of the landscape of the park and the Veluwe was created during the last Ice Age.

The park is quite expensive to visit: its €8 per person, and €6 if you want to take a car, which means we spent €22. Of course, if you spend the whole day there, it is totally worth it. But given that we only had 3 hours to spend, was quite steep. The best thing to do when you get to the park is to leave your car outside and take one of the free white bicycles they have at the entrance. The park is quite flat, so very easy to bike or walk around. 

Note: Avoid the restaurant in the centrum.. its overpriced and completely not worth it. 

Wozoco Apartments (Amsterdam, the Netherlands)

After Groningen and the Wall House, next stop was Amsterdam and the Wozoco Apartments, which are also known as Oklahoma.

Amsterdam's buildings are quite cool for most part.. a quick circle around the Ring will show you buildings that look like they were made out of cartons, buildings that look like pieces have been shaved off, etc. 

  

Part II - 19. Wozoco Apartments (Amsterdam, Holland)(I cant bring myself to call it Oklahoma..) were also fabulous.

 

Its a normal building block - except for these huge cubes sticking out of it.. cubes inside which people live. Definately mind boggling.

We also stopped by Muiden on the way to Almere (where we spent the night.. in our attempt to avoid Amsterdam), and got to see Muiden Castle.

Also almost got a parking ticket, but thats neither here nor there.

The Wall House (Groningen, the Netherlands)

This weekend, we went on a road trip (ROAD TRIP!!) to the Netherlands to see a few more weird buildings.

So the plan was to leave the house at 8am on Saturday, and be in Groningen by noon. Alas, the car had a flat the night before. So first thing on Saturday morning, A went to a mechanic. Alas, the mechanic's car jack stand malfunctioned, and almost toppled the car onto the next car. Further alas-ing, the mechanic did not know how to fix it, and called an expert. Alas, the expert was on holiday. Finally, about 3 hours later, the car was brought back down safely, and at noon, we started on our way.

Groningen is a university town towards the north of the Netherlands. We made a beeline for the Wall House, but caught glimpses of alot more bizzare buildings en route. They included the Cow building, the Measels building, the Pyramid building, and the Building Blocks building. My own nomenclature.

Finally, we got to Part I - 26. Wall House (Groningen, Netherlands). A really strange little house, with a very sluggish canal running beside it. The house is in two sections, separated by a larger than life wall (which requires some serious repainting, if i may add). 

The house is then divided on the one side into what can best be described as boxes. Of course, each box is a different color.

On the other side, there is a long passageway, with the entrance at the head of the passageway. Pictures speak a gazillion words, so i'll ixnay on the explanations. Here are the pictures. 

The Atomium, Brussels

The Atomium is a spectacular structure. It was built for the 1958 Expo, and is in the shape of an iron crystal, magnified to 165 billion times!

Part II - 30. Atomium (Brussels, Belgium)

Next to the Atomium is Brupark, which has a Mini Europe. I have yet to visit, but once i do, will post pictures. 

Also at Brupack is the Atomium Village, which has a bunch of fabulous restaurants, and is a favourite place of mine. There is also a Kinepolis movie theatre, should you want to make it a dinner and a movie kinda night. 

Bahá’í House of Worship a.k.a Lotus Temple (Delhi, India)

I visited Delhi for the first time ever this December, so in the 30 hours I was there, i squeezed in a day trip to the Taj Mahal, and a half day tour of Delhi.

One of the stops was Part I - 28. Bahá’í House of Worship a.k.a Lotus Temple (Delhi, India).

This would have been on January 7th 2011. Delhi was smothered in a thick layer of fog, hence the haziness of the picture. (Note aside: a good workman often just has rotten tools).

Truth be told, I did not enjoy visiting the Lotus Temple. While it was incredibly tranquil and beautiful, it was too cult like and eerie. Prayer to me is associated with joy and pain and humanity, all of which have their own special sights and sounds attached to it. This temple felt too stifled.

La Sagrada Familia (Barcelona, Spain)

Last one from Barcelona. Part III - 45. La Sagrada Familia (Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain). A UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The first word that popped into my head when i saw the Sagrada Familia was 'grotesque'. The building is beyond huge, towers over the city, and is anything but delicate.

Up close and personal though, it was spectacular. The architecture is brilliant. If i recall correctly, in order to get the structure correct, Gaudi first built the model upside down and suspended it, to determine there the weights fall. I believe a model can be seen in the museum, which is in the basement of the church.

The inside is structured after trees, with the trunks as the pillars, and the weights distributed above, modeled after branches.

We saw the Sagrada Familia on 27th March 2008.

La Pedrera, Barcelona

Another Gaudi one in Barcelona. Part II - 33. La Pedrera (Barcelona, Spain).

Saw this on 28th March 2011. Again, no straight lines, all curves.

Mind House, Barcelona

Part I - 17. Mind House (Barcelona, Spain) is in.. err.. Barcelona, Spain. Shocker.

The Mind House is at one of the entrances to Parc Güell, which was designed by Antoni Gaudi, the craziest architect that ever was. Entering the Parc is like stepping into a parallel universe, where gaudi-ness (pun intended) and over-the-top-ness are just 'it'. Gaudi's work is really extraordinary. From what I can recall, he based all of his designs on nature, and since there are no straight lines in nature, there are no straight lines in his architecture. A must visit.

I visited Barcelona with my cousin back in 2008, and had a whale of a time basking in the sunshine. After dreary London, it was incredibly refreshing. We saw the Mind House on 27th March 2008.

The Dancing Building, Prague

Let me start with Part I - 12. Dancing Building (Prague, Czech Republic)

I saw it on 10th October 2010. I was in Prague for a conference, and stayed behind an extra couple of days to go sightseeing. It just so happened that the map that the hotel (Ibis) gave us had a tiny image of the building on it, which i then decided was a must see. I'm very glad i did, because as much as i loved Prague, going back just to get a picture of this building would have been a bit much, even for me!