Took a train west towards the towns of Melk and Krems and enjoyed an out-of-town river boat trip down the Danube. Nice weather, medieval streets and a load of coffee and ice-cream. The image looking between the roofs over the river is of the Abbey at Krems, while the churches of Krems and the dome at the Abbey of Melks demonstrate the styles in the area.

Well ... today we had our final crit with Prof. Will Alsop on the top floor of the Architecture School. With a bright morning outside we waited 45 minutes for him to start and were some of the last to be seen. Due to time constraints we had only 5 minutes to explain our scheme however we felt that it was self-explanatory enough through our drawings thus his comments were 'I like your drawings/images' and 'do we like this? I think we do .... NEXT!'

The marks remain a mystery so we will not find those out for some time, however he has asked us to keep in touch and will endevour to update us on the proceedings of the project in Le Touquet. He also mentioned to Niall and myself that we should contact him when we get back to the UK - could be interesting.

We had our last Seminar today on Theory of Parametricism and the value of the meanings (if any) it provides. Prof Dr. Kari Yormakka, a Finnish Philospopher and Architect has led several seminars this semester in Theory and Practice. Here he is sitting with Niall and I going through our papers which we intend to finish next week ... this guy is just a brain of knowledge and has written many books on contemporary issues in Architecture.

Long section through the artist retreat - might extend it as an image to encompass the sea for clarity of context.

Tonight we visited Schonbrunn for a Viennese Concert delivered by the world famous Vienna Philharmonia Orchestra. The Star Wars theme, Viennese Waltz and Mars, by Holst, were all played out superbly over one of the best PA systems I've ever heard - it was tops.

After most of the 150,000 people had legged it we stayed and I managed a night time group shot - which was bloody tough considering the lack of light ... so here goes. In this photo is (L-R) Macjek, Merve, Pepe, Oksana, Jiri, Alex, Asia and Berthina - most of which will be leaving Vienna for their home countries over the coming weeks. Its all a bit sad really ....

I stole an industrial sized balloon from the Prater Park after trying to retrieve a frisbee from a tree. We're slowly decorating it as an art installation ... cartoon Yan being the first.

A hiker follows the walls of cor-ten laid as a trail of bread crumbs through the forest ... eventually arriving at the retreats.

Working hard at the moment - with Viennese changable weather its not all bad, but on a great
bright day I spotted this massive dog from my desk. Across the street is a 5 storey housing complex which I assume might be part of the oringal Jewish quarter. Consequently the inhabitants range from Go Go Dancers in the 'Safari Bar' to elderly woman who just watch the world go by from their balconies. This particular dog was eyeing up some young lads trying to start a motor bike, while I sat at my computer and listened ....

Render of an Artist Retreat looking east from the beach. The timber clad studio space sits upon the pre-fab jigsaw wall to gain views over the coastline, while the wall also defines a space for the retreat and guides visitors in from the tram stop on the other side of the woodland