Day 43, Monday, October 7, 2019
Here are the drawings I did yesterday. I found these sheep quite a challenge to draw. They move around a lot and they have quite a different shape from other animals I have drawn. 
There are none of the usual landmarks to use when drawing an animal, as their boney bits don’t show at all. Even their faces are soft with few angle changes to define their shape. 
I did really enjoy the afternoon with them and by the end of the afternoon I felt I was starting to figure out how to approach drawing them.
I asked our host, Peter, about the history of the house so he takes us on a tour. This is the old living quarters, where his wive’s two aunties lived. They didn’t have much money so they never renovated, like so many of the other houses in the neighbourhood. The door leads to two bedrooms and the stairs to the attic. These rooms are not being used now.
The date 1705 is carved in the ceiling beam, but Peter tells us that the cottage is actually 400 years old and was originally a fisherman’s cottage. He says this is a typical farmhouse. I never got a chance to ask him if the original fisherman’s house was always this big, or was it added on to over the years? 
I would love to be able to poke about in this attic! There are spinning wheels, a sewing machine, old chests and trunks, baskets, containers of all sorts, and lots of boxes filled with who knows what?
The entry area between our apartment (which used to be a stable), and the living quarters has this big metal door behind the stool. Upstairs is another enormous attic that runs the length of the building.
Here there are even more interesting things: old fishing nets, more chests and trunks, old baskets and wooden buckets and vats, and all sorts of interesting things that have probably been there many years. Now I look at all the houses we drive by and wonder what is up in those attics! I wonder what treasures might be hidden away in all these old houses?
This is only some of the huge woodpile Peter has cut and stacked, ready for the winter. We think that the air quality here must be very poor in the winter with all the wood burning that takes place. Most of the houses around here have enormous piles of stacked wood just like this.
I went out to pick a few apples to cook for dessert and noticed a pear tree. Most of the pears had fallen and weren’t good to eat but this one pear had landed on a branch and was sitting balanced there, just out of my reach!.
One more view out a pretty window. Bob went for another bike ride this afternoon and I did a bit of blogging and relaxing. We are both finding it a nice change staying in the country. It is so quiet and peaceful. We have enjoyed our time in the cities, but this is a relaxing break from that routine.
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!
It is a long street lined with mostly modern shops. Not really what we were expecting.
This is the gate that leads onto the shop lined street. I do wonder why the geraniums grow so well here, Everywhere in Germany and Austria there are window boxes spilling over with blossoms. Mine at home don’t do nearly as well!
We wander through the gate, and decide it is time to leave.
I do see these lovely prints in a little window inside the gate.
While we are getting information on how to hike to the castle the clouds get very dark and threatening.
But just as quickly they start to blow over and in less than ten minutes the sky is relatively clear.
On the path towards town from the carpark we pass vineyards with lots of green grapes. They look ready to pick.
We find the path and start our climb…and it is definitely a climb! I am so glad I have our hiking poles, they really help climbing these big uneven steps that seem to go on forever.
A view of the town from a much needed little rest stop.
These little blue bells are the same kind that I have growing at home. My oldest daughter brought me seeds from Dawson City many years ago and they grow quite happily in our flower garden. This gorgeous blue beetle glistened indigo and cobalt with touches of turquoise. He, or perhaps she, was about the size of my thumbnail and paused in its travels long enough to let me take its photo.
It is hard to see, but this old gentleman and his wife (you can just make out her bandaged leg and green skirt), were being helped down the trail by some kind hikers who stopped to help them. We have no idea how they managed to get this far, as they were having difficulty walking here where the ground was fairly flat. Someone at the bottom of the trail had told us to “Look out for two old Brits on the trail…I don’t think they are going to be able to get down and will need to stay up there!” They were very fortunate that kind strangers stopped and came to their aid. I think they will be exhausted by the time they make it down, or maybe they will need even more assistance?
This sign explains what the castle used to look like. We are able to make out a few of the areas but most of the castle has been destroyed.
Some views of the castle.
We see a riverboat cruising by on the Danube far below. It is starting to get very windy up here.
The valley is dotted with village after village as far as we can see.
We wonder if this is where king Richard was kept prisoner?
You can see the castle walls stretching all the way down to the town.
We head down to town on a different path, one which is a bit easier than the one we climbed up. There are displays along the path explaining about the history of the Castle and King Richard the Lionheart.
The path ends back in town.
We see black grapes growing along the road and hanging on houses. They are quite tasty.
The castle walls go through the town all the way down to the river!
Then we see a very large chair!
The sky is quite dramatic and it is getting dark by the time we arrive in Hörsching, our home for the next three days.
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