More Photos

Last of the Geneva posts, just a bunch more photos from the Auto Show. Enjoy!

Top and above: Subaru Viziv2 Concept

VW T-Roc Concept

Cadillac Elmiraj Concept

Porsche 919 LeMans prototype racecar

Audi S1

Bugatti Veyron

Pagani Huayra

Pagani Zonda

Engine from the Koenigsegg One:1

Bentley Continental GTC

Nimrod

Maserati concept

Rolls Royce

Morgan 3-Wheeler

Morgan Concept

Ski Week

Well, I hope to finish up my Geneva series this week with a pictures post, but for now, I'm going to take a break from that and tell you all about the ski week that just ended.

As some of you know, the ski week was a big reason I chose to come to Bogenhofen instead of going to Friedensau. Well, it lived up to expectations! We spent a week in Gosau, a small village in the Dachstein Ski Region. Our first day, well, half day really, was an interesting beginning. The weather was snowy, a very good sign, but on the ground the snow was heavy and wet, and quite difficult to ski. It was also foggy and hard to see.

The second day was better, with softer snow, and bits of sun popping through the fog here and there. That was the most tiring day, as our group spent the entire afternoon skiing in deep snow, which wasn't exactly powder. More like 5 inches of powder on top of 6-10 inches of soft, wet snow. But it was fantastic! The third day was the best!! Soft snow, beautiful sunny weather, and finally my muscles were conditioned for the skiing! We spent a good chunk of time in the fun park, which was tons of fun! 

The next couple days the weather was about the same, but it gradually got warmer, which meant that the snow got softer and stickier. The scenery in this area was fantastic! The mountains are so much more rugged than anything short of the Tetons in the US. You feel so small skiing in the shadows of these majestic mountains. 

Anyway, that is the short story of the ski week, the long story would take too long. Sorry I don't have any pictures to go with this post, my camera's batteries were dead, and I didn't realize it.

Observations on Design from Geneva

I'd probably lose my Industrial Designer's card if I didn't make at least a few design-related observations from Geneva, so here goes.

• First, orange seems to be an in color this year, at least for cars. I realize you don't necessarily bring your white, silver, black, etc cars to an auto show, but the number of orange cars and cars with orange trim or interior pieces was surprising. Not only sports cars were sporting orange, but everyday cars like Renault Twingos, Citreons, and Subarus were sporting orange color schemes. Surprisingly, Lamborghini had not a single orange car in appearance.
• Chris Bangle's "flame surfacing" design language may have been controversial, but one cannot argue that it has been influential. You can see it's influence in Mazda's Kodo design themes, as well as in Mercedes current look. Subaru also had a concept at Geneva that showed traces of "flame surfacing", and Nissan and Honda also appeared to have been influenced by Bangle's influence. 
• The new Mustang, wow! Finally, this is the what the Mustang should be, just enough retro cues, but a sharp, modern look overall, with no interference from said retro cues.
• Lamborghini Huracan, perhaps the nicest looking Lambo in a long time. Clean, much cleaner than the Aventador or any of their latest concepts/limited editions, yet unmistakably a Lamborghini. Also somewhat more organic than previous Lambos, but not enough to detract from the overall stealth fighter look. Personally, if I were buying in this stratosphere, and basing my decision on styling, I would go Lamborghini over Ferrari and McLaren. Ferrari has placed function over form with the 458, and the McLaren 650S just leaves something to be desired, although it looks better in person than in pictures.
• Speaking of McLaren, when I first saw pictures of the 650S, I thought it appeared to be the front of the P1 attached to the rear of the 12C. In person it appeared much more cohesive than the pictures made it seem. However, when put next to a P1, it just appears tame, and somewhat lacking. Now, this may be due to the simple outrageousness of the P1's design, but other companies do a better job of keeping their products design in a family, while maintaining individuality and visual excitement. 
• Surprisingly, Porsche's stand was not very exciting, for one, they did bring all silver, white, or gray cars, and once you've seen one Porsche, you've seen them all. The best part of their stand was their new Le Mans prototype. 
• Finally, Audi, while your design language makes for gorgeous cars, please, give some differentiation to the various models other than the shape of the LED running lights. I get that you want to show continuity between models, but this goes too far. When an A8 looks like and A6 that looks like an A4 that looks like an A3, well, if I have to measure the wheelbase to know which model it is, it might be time to make some changes, even if they aren't drastic. On the other hand, I'm not sure if I've seen a small car that I wanted more than the new S1. That is a fun looking little car. Without driving them back-to-back, I might even pick it over a Mini Cooper S.

More observations and pics to come later.

Geneva Auto Salon: First Part

Well, to cover the Geneva Auto Show I'll need at least two posts, maybe more, so this is only the first part. Long story short, this was far and away the main reason I decided to go to Geneva when I did.
This was a fantastic, but overwhelming experience! There were so many people there, and so many exhibitors that it was impossible to see everything.  This picture shows a small portion of the exhibition hall, but hopefully it can give you and idea of the magnitude of this show. Exhibitors come from all over the world to show off their latest wares under the spotlights of the Palexpo Center.

There were many fascinating cars to see, including the world debuts of the Lamborghini Huracan, McLaren 650S, and the Koenigsegg One:1. There were all of the usual suspects, such as the VW AG, BMW Group, GM, Renault, Citroen, Fiat, Honda, Toyota, Nissan, many other major manufacturers. In addition, tuners such as Techart, Ruf, Klassen, and others showed off their latest creations. Geneva also attracts some unusual creators, such as Rinspeed, who showed off an autonomous car at this year's show.

McLaren 650S

McLaren 650S

Lamborghini Huracan

Koenigsegg One:1

Koenigsegg One:1

Rinspeed XchangE

Looks like there will be at least two more posts needed to cover this show! Hopefully they'll be up this week.

Jet d'eau

This is probably the most impressive water fountain one is likely to see. Not necessarily for its aesthetics when viewed up close, but for its sheer height and volume of water. The fountain began as a safety valve for the hydraulic power network of Geneva, and could reach a height of about 30 meters. The current fountain can shoot water up to 140 meters. The fountain is powered by two 500kW pumps, which shoot 500 liters of water per second. This means that at any given moment, there is about 7,000 liters of water in the air. Also, when it leaves the nozzle, the water is moving at about 200km/h.

As you can see, not the most aesthetic fountain ever designed.

But it certainly looks better here! 

At night the fountain is lit up with lights, color varies by night. Here it wasn't completely dark, and my camera has a hard time at night, but it gives a faint idea of what the fountain might look like all lit up.

Geneva: Touring the City

Well, while Geneva may be better known for banking than for tourism, there is still quite a bit to see. The old town is quite well preserved, and very beautiful. It sits at the top of a hill in the center of the city. The main attraction that I saw was the cathedral. It was a bit different than others I have seen so far, with the entrance reminding me more of a Greek temple than of a traditional cathedral.

As you can see however, the rest of the building has more typical features that you'd expect to find on a cathedral.

As is typical in most "old towns" in Europe, the streets at quite narrow. This would've been one of the main streets during the Middle Ages. To us, it would appear as little more than an alley.

Some places did have wider streets, such as the main streets that entered and left the city. Here is one of the gates that leads into the old city. This is not the main gate, but a secondary one.

Another attraction in Geneva is the Flower Clock, which is a clock face made out of flowers. Every season has different flowers, and the hands are different colors. This early in the year, most of the flowers were pansies, but it was quite pretty and cheerful.

The main attraction in Geneva is the Jet'Deau, but I'll be devoting a whole post to that.

Geneva: The Journey

Friday was the day I had been waiting for, the day I would leave to go to Geneva, Switzerland. What is in Geneva, you may ask? Well, many things, but the main attraction for me is the Geneva Auto Show that takes place during the first and second week of March. But that was the plan for Sunday. Meanwhile, it was Friday, and I had an eleven hour train ahead of me. Now, I suppose I should mention that this particular route takes one through some of the most spectacular scenery on Earth, the Alps. It was quite the impressive trip! The scenery was typical post-card Alps, small Austrian and Swiss villages on the lower slopes, massive rock walls, and peaks covered in snow, complete with beautiful blue sky! This route took us through Salzburg, Innsbruck, and Lichtenstein and into Zurich, where we changed trains for the last three hours of our trip. Zurich has a massive Hauptbahnhof, with 50 plus platforms for long-haul trains, plus other sections devoted to local trains, buses, and the Metro system. To top if off, we had 12 minutes to find the right train, but fortunately it was only a couple platforms over. So with that out the way, we were on our way to Genf (Geneva). We got in around 8, and found our hostel. The room was even smaller than my room at home, but it was pleasant. Next up, in the morning, sightseeing around Geneva! Here you can see a map of the route our train took. 

Milan Cathedral

Okay, so I know that Europe is full of impressive churches and cathedrals, but I've seen enough that I was starting to get a little bored of them. But wow! The Milan Cathedral is amazing!! When you first come out of the Metro station at Duomo Station, the first thing you see across the piazza is the cathedral. It doesn't appear as large as it really is, because it doesn't have any obvious towers or turrets sticking up. What it does have is amazingly intricate stone work. You start to get an idea of how large it really is when you start walking towards it. It takes longer than you might think to cross the piazza until you arrive before the front doors. Then you go inside, and that is when it hits you: this place is MASSIVE! The columns are 20+feet in diameter, and there appears to be enough seating for half the city! Once you've walked down the main part of the nave, you still have the apse to see, and this is mostly taken up with a gigantic pipe organ. The stained glass windows are gorgeous.

view of the front from Duomo Piazza

stained glass window

massive columns

Apologies for the lack of pictures from the interior, but after taking these I was told by an annoyed looking Italian lady that you must buy a ticket to take photos inside. The ticket was 3 euros, and I didn't feel like paying to take more pictures. But you can get an idea of the size of this place by using the people for scale.

One thing that is worth paying for is going up to the roof terraces, which basically means you either climb 245 stairs (yes, I did count them!) or taking an elevator to the roof. From there you can walk around on the roof of the cathedral and get stunning views of Milan. For me, this was about the coolest thing! Walking around on the roof of a cathedral! Not something I'd ever imagined doing, yet here I was! It really felt like being on top of Milan, even though there are skyscrapers much taller than the cathedral, they are several kilometers away. 

some of the impressive stonework one can see up close when you go up on the roof.

Golden statue on the peak of the roof: tallest point on the cathedral.

Part of the walkways on the roof.

View down into part of the piazza and the entrance to an expensive department store.

Part of the skyline of Milan

One of the many gargoyles and statues on the roof

Part of the stairway to the roof

Peak of the roof