Day 86, Wednesday, November 22, 2023
I have a life drawing session at L’Académie de la Grande Chaumiere and Bob sets off to explore a bit more of Paris.
Today he visits Les Invalides, which was built in 1670 by Louis XIV in order to provide housing and hospital care for wounded soldiers. Today it is a museum, a monument, a mausoleum that contains the tomb of Napoleon and a hospital for war veterans.
This was the tallest building in Paris before the Eiffel Tower was built. Napoleon’s tomb is located below this golden dome.
Les Invalides is enormous, and was once a city that housed over 4,00 inhabitants. This arial view gives an idea of its size.
The huge central courtyard, which can be seen in the above photo houses a collection of cannons.
This is one of the building entrances that face the central courtyard. Les Invalides houses huge military museums with thousands of artifacts in its collection. We visited inside on a previous trip. It took a whole day to visit the numerous museums dedicated to all things military from ancient to modern times. Today Bob wanders outside, in the gardens and the courtyards.
I spent the afternoon at my beloved Académie de la Chaumiere drawing a lovely model named Inez. These are five 3 minute poses and one 15 minute.
Three 5 minutes, the portrait was a bit longer but I forgot to mark the time.
Two 20 minute poses
And a 25 minute pose.
I had arranged to meet a friend that I met years ago during my month in Paris. Ivy met me at the Académie, we drew together and then went for tea at a nearby café. The same café that I visited in 2014! We had a lovely visit, catching up on the last nine years!
Finally I headed home where Bob had supper waiting. Quite a lovely day.
We discover a semaphore station built in the early 1900’s on the same site as an old lighthouse built in the early 1800’s. There are also more World War II bunkers here. Not surprising since they were built all along the coast of France. The three pillars were to hold radar equipment, but it was never installed, and there are several Tobruks, or machine gun nests.
One of several large bunkers.
I liked this one of the young man with the bandaged nose.
Our drive to Vienna was long and uneventful. We stayed on the freeway and it still took us about 5 1/2 hours. We had to wait about an hour for our Airbnb host to meet us, but we found a parking space just outside the apartment and our car was warm, so it wasn’t too bad. It took forever to figure out how to pay for street parking but we finally sorted it out. We take our rental car back tomorrow so we just need parking for one night.
This central four-storey building was the beginning of the palace and was built in 1644. Over the years numerous additions were built until it reached its present configuration in 1776.
The Nymphenburg Palace was originally a summer residence for the Bavarian rulers. This is the Great Hall. Musicians would entertain guests from the gallery.
One of the many rooms with original furnishings.
Many of the rooms are not that big and seem to serve as connecting passages to other larger rooms.
The south apartment bedroom of the Electress, who was the consort of the king.
Our reflection in the bedroom mirror.
Every palace has to have a Chinese inspired room.
The audience room of Queen Caroline…
and her bedroom have their original furnishings. This room is where King Ludwig II was born in 1845. The bed is hidden by a cover on a high frame which was spread over the bed during the daytime.
The official Hall of Beauties is under restoration but the paintings are on display in a corridor. From 1826 to 1850 King Ludwig I had a series of 36 portraits painted of what he considered to be the most beautiful women. Beauty was considered to be an outward sign of moral perfection!
We finish our tour of the palace rooms, and go explore the grounds. Unfortunately we realize that the park pavilions closed for the season a week ago. I do manage a peek inside the Magdalene Hermitage, which was a pavilion used for contemplation.
Much of the grounds are in the style of an English park, with paths…
and little bridges over water features.
This creek was so covered with fallen leaves that the water was barely visible.
This shows just how long the canal water feature is…looking towards and away from the palace on a bridge that crosses the canal. At one time gondolas sailedd these waters. Neat reflections too.
Walking back towards the palace along a tree lined path.
I liked the reflection of the palace in the water.
Looking out towards the garden from the Palace steps.
It is almost closing time, but we manage a quick peek inside the Carriage museum, which is one of the most important museums of court carriages, travel and equestrian culture in the world. The Coronation coach of Emperor Karl VII is here…
We can only begin to imagine how much these coaches cost!
Besides dozens of coaches there are numerous sleighs on display.
Parades and competitive games with these carousel sleighs were a popular winter amusement at court. Women would sit in front of a male driver and try to hit rings or paper maché figures with a lance or sword. Notice the rear view of the sleigh in the mirror.
Just a few of the many coaches on display in one of the halls.
One last selfie before we leave.
and one last look back towards the front of the Palace…
with a photo stop at the swans.
I have life drawing tonight, so we head toward the metro and after checking out my route, Bob heads for home and I head towards my drawing session. I have a bit of time so I sit at the Sheraton Hotel having a cup of tea and doing a bit of sketching.
These were a bit better.
Sketches from the Sheraton Hotel.
My first drawing at the Meetup session. Still having some issues with proportions and the head placement in relation to the body.
I started again after our break and did this portrait which was better. Bettina, our model, really liked it and said that it looked like her. 
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.
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.
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