11 September, 2009

A few days behind

My favorite place to think in Europe is on the train.

We spent our day in Hanover wandering through the Herrenhauser garten, an old classic with fountains, statuary, parterres, grotto, and a maze. Yup. That’s right a real maze of over trimmed shrubbery. It was easy to find the center. There were four ways in.

I wonder if I can convince any of my clients to put a maze in their yards and gardens, I am so sure I could design a better one. You know the kind with gnomes popping out and walls magically moving and children disappearing into for centuries at a time only to reappear and hour later covered in dirt, leaf litter, and a lifetime of imaginary adventures… I really think the bar for quality maze design has been set entirely too low.

Have I mentioned that I am planning to do residential design when I get back to Portland? This is one of those dreams that I mentioned a few months back. It's the kind of dream that I now have the drive, inspiration, and faith to pursue. I am determined to work for myself and directly with clients who will own and use the landscapes that I work with them to design.

I am in the dreaming stages of business planning; letting my imagination run wild with the possibilities. I am thinking beyond residential design and landscape architecture for that matter. For now lets just say that I am going into the business of creative collaboration.

Last night in Hannover Julia and I met with some of her future colleagues, she may be returning to Hanover in a year or so for an internship with a health organization focused on helping immigrants understand Germany's health care system. Many of the minority groups in Germany are unaware of the benefits that are available to them.

We had a great evening discussing the cultural experiences each of us had enjoyed while traveling in different parts of the world. Later that evening Julia and I returned to Tim's place for our second night in Hanover. He and I are both expecting visits from our families this fall and we talked about how interesting it will be to see our parents' perspectives on Europe and the lives that we have been living here.

Off to Prag. Think. Think. Think.

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