Day 53, Thursday, October 17, 2019
I had a relaxing day at our Munich Airbnb and Bob spent the better part of the day sorting out the transit system and where to get tickets. I went to life drawing in the evening. The session was at an artist’s apartment, which was really more of a studio than an apartment. Everyone was very nice and made me feel very welcome.
Here are some photos that were posted on the Meetup page for the session. Maurice is the artist who hosted the event. That is him in the centre of the photo.
Here is our model, Bettina, she is very pregnant. How wonderful! It has been ages since I have had the chance to draw a pregnant model so this was an unexpected bonus.
The drawing on the left is mine.
I did a couple sketches to warm up.
Then spent about two hours working on this drawing.
Bob came to pick me up after the session and on the metro ride home I did a bit more sketching.
This was interesting, the older man with the facial hair was sitting right across the aisle from me and he was only on the metro for one stop so I sketched quickly hoped he didn’t notice that I was sneaking peeks at him. The young man with glasses did notice I was drawing him and he smiled at me, I smiled back and he tried not to smile as I continued sketching. As he got up to leave I showed him the sketch and he said something in German, then he smiled and said ciao, so I think he liked it.
Day 54, Friday, October 18, 2019
We both had a relaxing quiet day. It is nice to have some down time after seven weeks of holidays. The big event of the day was going for a little walk to get some groceries.
This
I draw while we listen to the service and choir. Of course we can’t understand any of it!
I was tempted to finish this drawing of the altar from a photo but in the end decided to leave it just as it was.
The cathedral was badly damaged during the Second World War.
But today is beautifully restored. The ceilings are particularly ornate, this is the ceiling of one of the small side chapels.
In the basement is a crypt with a small chapel, and its very own ghostly apparition that flies around the room! Tough to catch its likeness in a photo but there it is on the back wall.
After the service we find a Bio Fair (Organic Fair) right around the corner. There are people everywhere enjoying the sunshine, food and drinks. Great people watching today!
We have lunch here but are too full to have one of these giant donut-like pastries, which are served either with sauerkraut or sprinkled with sugar and filled with jam.
Nearby is St. Peter’s Cemetery. Cemeteries in Austria are very neat and beautifully kept.
We learned that plots are rented in Austria and if the rent is not paid the bones are dug up and the plot is rented out to someone else. The remains are either moved to a mass gravesite or dug up and buried deeper in the same plot and the headstone removed so that the plot can be reused! The headstones are on the wall of the church for exactly this reason. The rent on the plot was not paid so the grave was reused and the headstones were placed here. This explains the many headstones we have seen on cemetery walls and other churches.
Bob insisted we needed a photo of me hiding in the cemetery!
We almost miss seeing the catacombs dating from the 12th century. Can you see the windows high up in the cliff above the cemetery? Pay particular attention to the little door below the windows. This is where Saint Maximus and 50 of his followers were thrown to their death in 477AD, because of their faith.
This is one of the chapels carved out of the rock high in the cliff.
A view of the graveyard through one of the windows as we climbed down from the stone chapels.
Bob has a few more places for us to visit. The Church of Our Lady dates from 1221 AD. It was very dark everywhere except for right around the altar where there are soaring pillars and arched ceilings.
Next is the Horse Fountain. This fountain has a ramp (the white area on the right side of the photo) so that horses could walk right into the fountain to cool off.
This fountain is just a bit smaller!
Notice the dates on these buildings…1360 on the apricot coloured one and 1258 on the brown one. I am amazed that these houses are this old.
We see a very long line up… it is people lining up for ice cream! Soft ice cream in a cup with a choice of fresh fruit and other toppings.
I see this curious ‘wand’ and wonder where it is from.
This is a view of the side of the Salzburg Cathedral.
We walk back through the Bio-Fest on our way home and now I know where the wand comes from. These look like such fun to make.
Walking past this house we notice a sign saying that this is where the creator of the song “Silent Night’ was born.
One more church!.. with lots of paintings and a pretty green and white ceiling. The skull was on a plaque near the door, and the little bronze plaques were in the square outside. They mark the location where a person was arrested and taken to a concentration camp. We looked for these in other cities but couldn’t find any. It has the person’s name, date of birth, date of arrest, the name of the camp and their date of death. 
The horse fountain in the square near the Salzburg Cathedral glows in the late afternoon sun.
I thought tying them up was a clever way to deal with unruly tall grasses.
In a yard near our Airbnb I spot these little rock gardens. I might have to make one of these in our garden at home. I am always collecting stones!
The fall colours are brilliant in the late afternoon sun as we arrive home.
We can see Hohensalzburg Fortress high on the hill above Salzburg. Tour guide Bob informs me we will visit there on Tuesday.
We can see beautiful green alpine meadows in the hills above Salzburg.
We pass dairy cows right in town just a couple blocks from the train and bus station. The advertisement above the cows gave me a chuckle. 
We pop into a downtown church when we get off the bus. It looks like a community church from the outside, with big cheery murals on either side of the door. The inside is much less ornate than many of the churches we have visited and there is lots of information on community programs and events. Nice to see.
We stop at some food stands selling wine and beer, and have a bit to eat. These giant doughnuts look interesting but we pass. They are as big as small plates!
The gardens around the Mirabell Palace are beautiful. In the movie ‘The Sound of Music’ Maria and the children dance around this Pegasus fountain and sing ‘Do Re Mi’.
The grass contains elaborate knot patterns decorated with flowers. These are freshly planted pansies, hundred of dozens of them!
The Zwergerigarten is a surprise. It is the oldest ‘Dwarf Garden’ in Europe and was built in 1695. Yes, a Dwarf Garden! We had no idea there was such a thing. 
This fellow insisted on trying on Bob’s baseball cap!
The collection of 28 marble dwarf sculptures was sold at auction in 1811. 17 of the sculptures have been recovered and put back into the park in their original positions. Here are some of these curious sculptures.
We have tea and cookies in the garden and then I draw for a while.
I used a new brush pen that I got just before we left for holidays. I think it is going to take a while to get used to. I used a water brush to create value with the water based ink in the pen.
Walking through the garden there are some more knot designs created with flowers in the grass.
There is a small Orangerie…
with some goldfish, a turtle and a few birds.
Looking back towards the Mirabelle Palace.
The two towers in the background belong to the church we visited earlier.
These young girls were enjoying the Pegasus Fountain, and I enjoyed watching them.
There seems to be several unicorns here in Salzburg.
I have time for a quick sketch of a beautiful enormous tree while waiting for Bob.
There are a lot of big trees here.
We have never seen a giraffe quite like this before!
We walk along the river heading towards the Old Town.
The Old Town and the Castle on the hill make a striking view.
People are out enjoying the warm weather.
This is the house that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart lived in with his family until he moved to Vienna in 1781. His family occupied the entire top floor. We were looking for a free film and somehow ended up in the museum instead, so we had a quick look around.
This street was the inspiration for the song ‘Silent Night’. It is a long street so no idea exactly where this inspiration transpired.
This door had interesting marks scratched on it that looks very old.
Here is the entrance to the “Silent Night’ street.
As we explore some of the side streets, we pass this ‘House of Pleasure’, and yes, it seems to be that kind of pleasure!
We also see some graffiti that I quite like. Note how the little ledge is incorporated into the image. Very clever!
This little sidewalk fountain had red roses stuck in small holes in the paving. I wonder why?
We check out the Marionette Theatre, but unfortunately there are no performances while we are here.
While we wait for the bus home I notice an empty store front where someone has written on the glass windows with a black felt pen. It is an interesting different sort of graffiti.
Our bnb has a lovely wild flower garden out front and there was a little bouquet of the pink roses on our table inside. The green door leads into an entry area, and the three smaller windows are in our apartment. 
The inside view of the two windows by the green door. I think the shutters must be original. The building is 400 years old and our apartment was originally a stable.
This is the door opposite the green door, looking out to the back yard.
The two big windows of our apartment from the back yard.
The farm buildings are connected to the house. The buildings form a square with the interior yard area you see here. There is a short fence with a wide gate on one side of this yard.
Everywhere I look there is something interesting.
I did get a bit of a shock meeting this fellow in one of the barns.
There is a little sitting area if it gets warm enough for us to enjoy it.
I spent the afternoon with my three new friends. It took a while for them to get used to me, but they love bread! A few slices helped convince them that I was pretty harmless.
I spent a couple hours observing, drawing and taking lots of reference pictures. These sheep do not have wool that is useful for spinning. The fibres are too short, so they are raised for their meat. I had never seen sheep with undocked tails before. I had no ideas their tails were so long. At times they looked quite dog like. They are also very fidgety models!
When Bob gets back from his ride he makes friends with this fellow but the other two want nothing to do with him. This sheep is nine months old and the poor guy doesn’t realize he will be butchered soon.
His new buddy follows Bob, hoping for just a bit more bread.
Years ago I found an old copy of Henry Moore’s Sheep Sketchbook and I have wanted to draw sheep ever since. I just had no idea how difficult they would be to sketch. Seems like my idea of what a sheep should look like just isn’t what these sheep actually look like!
Not sure if I have a photo of the trams we used here in Prague so I snapped this one from the bus window. They run every few minutes and are a fantastic way to get around the city.
Soon we are in the countryside. It always surprises me how quickly cities transition into rural areas in Europe. You are in the city and then suddenly you are not.
The views here are quite similar to the countryside around home in Canada. There are those big round hay bales, and…
then something we do not see at home. We see several huge haystacks of loose hay piled high. They must have a machine that throws the hay up onto this haystack?
No idea what was 
This big double decker bus drives through small villages on narrow roads. I like being up high as I can see over fences into the yards of the houses we pass and sometimes into windows. I am always curious and love these little glimpses into people’s lives.
I also do some sketching today, standing outside waiting for our bus and then later on the bus.
I forgot to post this page from yesterday so here it is today. Most of the museums charge a fee to take photos. That is what the big yellow sticker is about.
We pass several fields of pumpkins, all lined up ready for harvest. Halloween is coming!
In the evening, Bob leaves me at Wenscelas Square where I join a Prague Urban Sketcher group. There are about ten of us, and after introductions we head our separate ways to draw for 1 1/4 hours, before we meet up again. It takes me a bit to get going so I start with what I am familiar with…people.
It started to rain so I found a sidewalk table with an umbrella and drew two of the sculptures on the huge St. Wenscelas Statue at the top of the square.
I tried to draw a part of the National History Museum, but wasn’t too successful, the perspective was way off and the dome lop-sided. People seem easier to draw than buildings, so in the last few minutes before we gather I sketch some of the people walking by on the sidewalk. Wenscelas Square is an awesome people watching place.
At the end of their set, the band members ‘mooned’ the audience to great applause and laughter. There was also a tall, big fellow dressed in a long curly blonde wig and a nightie with a cape! No idea what that was about…maybe a stag party?
While waiting for everyone to gather back for our last ‘show and tell’ I had time to draw these three. This is only the second Urban Sketcher Meet-Up that I have attended and it was fun. The other sketchers were very welcoming and there were some fantastic drawings. I wish I would have taken a few photos of their work. I just checked and there is a 
As I was leaving, the National Museum looked beautiful lit up against the night sky.
Here is the very, very long, steep escalator I go down to catch the metro home.
Do you remember the TV tower from near our very first bnb when we arrived in Prague a month ago? We are in the same neighbourhood. It looks quite spectacular at night. It is only a ten minute walk from the metro to our apartment.
The Prague Astronomical Clock, or Prague Orloj, is a medieval astronomical clock. The clock was first installed in 1410, making it the third-oldest astronomical clock in the world and the oldest clock still operating. Crowds gather here to watch it strike the hour.
We enjoy this street performer and the poor lady volunteer who is terrified by pretty much everything he does, including pouring lighter fluid in a circle on the ground around her! He never does light it but her reactions made the crowd laugh.
We find the Senat, where there is a free concert. We were expecting classical music but a group of students perform and sing more modern songs, including Hey Jude, These Boots are Made For Walking, Can’t Buy Me Love and Cabaret. Some of the songs are in Czech and some are sung in English, with a heavy Czech accent! It started to rain during the performance but we had brought our umbrella so we stayed dry.
I tried to draw but didn’t manage much. 
Bob notices the neighbourhood pigeons roosting on the roof across from us. We have a quiet day settling in to our new place. It feels so roomy after the tiny little apartment we had in Dresden. 
I found a life drawing group that meets tonight from 6:30 to 9:30 and decide I should go. It is a thirty minute walk to the studio but the address opens up to an inner courtyard with lots of shops and doors. No idea where I need to go…I ask for directions and finally the fourth person shows me where the atelier is.
No photos are allowed inside the factory but it is OK if I sketch. It was tough to draw on the tour as we never stayed in one area very long. Our guide Gabriela gave us directions, as we drove our car from one enormous factory building to another.
After our two hour tour of the factory we have another hour tour of the museum where Gabriela talks about all the cars. I am not a car enthusiast but I found it all quite interesting. Here are a few of the Škoda cars from the museum. 
One area has cars four levels deep. We also went into a special area with Škoda race cars, but we didn’t have the camera with us then.
The museum used to be an old factory building. You can still see some of the cranes and other machinery high above us.
This was fun! We put on virtual reality goggles and earphones and got to ‘drive’ one of the vehicles through early 19th century Prague. Soon it was time to drive our rental Škoda to Prague and find our next Airbnb.
and lots of windmill farms.
Our new apartment in Dresden is tiny! 
This is it, other than an equally tiny bathroom. 
Here are some metro sketches from Berlin that I forgot to post.
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