Day 7 Saturday, September 6, 2025
Today I catch the metro about 12:30 to go drawing at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière and Bob stays home a bit longer before going exploring on his own. He caught the metro to the Gare du Nord and then walked all the way south to the Jardin de Luxembourg to sit and read for a bit.
Sadly the studios of the Académie are no longer in the same historic building. These three photos are from previous trips and visits to draw in the 121 year old studios where so many artists have been before me.
On the way to the new location which is only a couple of blocks from the old studios I see these flowers that had been placed on a window ledge….I wonder what iis the story behind these roses?
Here is the new studio. It seems rather sterile and bare, but at least the life drawing sessions are still in operation. I believe that they are trying to find a better studio but the lady who talked about all this spoke very quickly and I only caught part of what she was saying. My French has improved, but not enough to understand the whole conversation. You can see my spot in the foreground of the photo, with my sketchbook on the stool and my red bag on the floor.
The model was tall and my drawings weren’t great today, but it is all a learning experience. Four 5 minute poses.
a 10 and a 15 minute pose
A 30n and a 35 minute pose.
After drawing I walked to the Jardin de Luxembourg to meet Bob. Thank heavens for cell phones and texting or I would never have found him. The gardens were very busy today.
The Medici Fountain is a monumental fountain in the Jardin de Luxembourg that was built in 1630. I really like this fountain. 
In 2006 we saw a giant nose floating in the water as part of an art installation.
We walk toward the Jardin de Plantes, a botanical garden about 45 minutes away. We pass the Pantheon, which is a mausoleum containing the graves of many famous people including Victor Hugo, Marie Curie, Voltaire, Louis Braille, and Alexandre Dumas. It is closed and I don’t think we will have time to visit this trip…guess we need to return to Paris at least one more time!
I do not miss eating out in Paris. Sitting check by jowl beside smokers is not my idea of fun. I much prefer the meals we prepare at home in our bnb’s.
As we enter the Jardin des Plantes we see this huge Plantane tree which was planted in 1785 and is now classified as an ‘Arbre Historique et Remarquables’. It amazes me that someone knows exactly when this tree was planted… 240 years ago!
These little orchids are growing at the base of the tree. We have the same ones growing back home in Alberta.
Sue loved this interesting flower and wanted a closer look.
Another huge old tree. Can you tell I love trees.
We couldn’t find Sue but then Bob spotted her checking out this rather strange creature.
The Botanical garden was a bit of a disappointment, we had just started to explore some of the more interesting areas when we were told to leave as the park was closing, a half hour before it actually closed.
Everyday on our walk to the metro near our bnb we pass these beautiful Passion flowers. 
We got home about 8:30, another full day.
Friday we managed to start our day at noon. Soon we were at the Eiffel Tower. Somehow it doesn’t seem right to be in Paris and not visit this iconic landmark, even though we have visited it several times already including climbing to the second level. We will try and book a visit on our return to Paris at the end of our trip to go all the way to the very top level! These tickets book up weeks ahead.
Two years ago we picnicked on the grass near here, but there were not nearly as many people as there are today.
and a 15, a 10 and a 25 minute pose. 
We walk towards the Louvre and find a place for tea and a snack. We stroll along the Seine and find a place to sit, but it was very busy, lots of cyclists, joggers and people going by so we walk to the Tuileries Garden just west of the Louvre. The name comes from the tile kilns which occupied the site before the palace. 
The train station with all the tracks and overhead electric lines that power the trains.
There are also many sculptures in this church that retain their original polychrome finish. We are so used to seeing bare stone sculptures that it is easy to forget that many if not most sculptures were originally painted in realistic colours. These are some of the most beautiful that we have seen on this trip.
We have seen several tree sculptures in different towns by this artist, whose name I have forgotten! I quite liked them all.
We were pleasantly surprised though to find that food here was reasonable. I bought a cone of yummy hot roasted potato slices for just 3 euros. There were lots of other affordable food options as well as hot chocolate and hot alcoholic drinks and mulled wines for 3 to 5 euros. There are so many people here that sometimes it is difficult to get to the front of a booth to see what is for sale.
Near the booths is an area with beautifully decorated trees and ….
a skating rink! There is a 3,000 m² artificial ice rink with skating paths throughout the park. We watch the kids learning to skate, everyone is having a good time.
This all takes place under a canopy of the most beautiful trees, all lit up with thousands and thousands of white lights.
Just take look at the size of this tree! It is enormous! 
A special attraction is the tree of hearts, and we see couples taking selfies here.
I love all the lights and there is Christmas music playing, children laughing and everyone is enjoying the evening. I am beginning to feel Christmassy!
As we leave the market, I take one last photo looking back towards the Parliament Building…
This is a smaller market, only 70 stalls, and the only decorated trees are the man-made ones. 
We see a booth with goods from Bomo Art, the little handmade book store we visited in Budapest.
There are also some pretty crazy animal candles, cute stuffed gnomes, blue and white pottery and wooden boxes and cabinet with drawers. The tall one with six drawers is ‘only’ 350 euros! That is about $500.00 Canadian. Still nothing I really love to take home with us though.
These little pink snowmen were kind of cute…
and a tree decorated with bird ornaments is different. Only at 10 to 15 euros a bird this would be a very expensive little tree! There are at least 150 birds on this tree, so it would cost between 1,500 and 2,250 euros, which is $2000.00 to $3,200.00 Canadian! No bird trees for me!
The booths are centred around this big fountain…
and there are lights projected on a nearby building, adding to the festive feeling.
It isn’t very warm, the high today was only 9° and it is colder now that the sun has gone down. We want to walk and see some of the streets lit up for Christmas …
but we are both getting chilled so we head home to finish getting ready for our trip home tomorrow.
I like to use a Bic Fine Ballpoint pen for these subway drawings. A pen forces me to commit to what I put down, no erasing makes it challenging.
We saw these Trabants on the way to the DDR museum. While there Bob discovered that the cars’ bodies were made from a material called Duroplast. This was a composite material made from cotton fleece and granulated phenol, which was heated under pressure and formed into a rigid component for use on the exteriors of the cars.
While walking to a nearby park to draw I passed this store dedicated to the Ampelmann, the little character that lets pedestrians know when it is safe to walk.
While I sat drawing the church I watched these young ladies walk out onto the nearby fountain for some photos. I quickly got my camera out because I knew what was going to happen next.
Surprise!! I laughed so hard, as did all their friends!
We had a picnic lunch and then headed to the Stasi Museum. This museum is located on the former grounds of the headquarters of the GDR State Security. We had a two hour tour that talked about how the lives of the East Germans were controlled, manipulated and repressed by the political police system of the former East Germany. Seems like everyone was spying and informing on everyone else, and almost every aspect of people’s lives was controlled by the state. It must have been impossible to trust anyone. Most of the exhibits were like this office room below, not very interesting I thought, but our guide’s talk was very interesting. He told us anecdotes about his life as well as his parents and grandparents lives during this time.
I hung out at the back of our tour group and did some sketching of people in the tour while I listened.
We were here before but I wanted to get a photo of Bob with one foot in what used to be East Berlin and one foot in West Berlin. The cobble stone line marks where the Berlin Wall used to stand.
Another view of the very unique Sony Centre. We catch the 100 Bus to the zoo near here.
First stop at the Berlin Zoo is the Panda enclosure. Unfortunately we don’t get to see any real pandas but there is a video of Meng Meng and her new babies.
We have our picnic lunch on a bench near this fountain. It reminds me of the famous Manneken Pis fountain in Brussels.
I love blue flowers and these are gorgeous, but no idea what they are called. Does anyone know?
The Berlin Zoo is Germany’s oldest zoological garden and home to the world’s largest variety of species. Almost 20,000 animals of around 1,300 species live in the 33 hectare zoo. For some reason at least 19,000 of them were in hiding today!! Here are some of the animals who were kind of enough to stay in view for us. This large male Mandrill monkey has formidable teeth.
The Emperor Tamarin has to be one of the cutest monkeys I have ever seen.
The baboons were tucked far away in the rocks but I zoomed in for a photo.
This young man was engrossed in his book, and not interested in the animals at all. I tried to see what he was reading but the title was small and in German.
Bob found a friend.
This African porcupine was up nice and close, finishing off his lunch.
Luckily the elephants were out and about. This is Victor, a 26 year old bull, and a female from his harem.
She came over to say hi, extending her trunk out towards me!
I took lots of reference photos of the elephants and spent a bit of time sketching them live.
These are the other two females in Victor’s harem. Each day he chooses who to hang out with in a separate enclosure. The young elephant is Victor’s daughter.
I love giraffes too, but they were a bit too far away to easily see and draw.
Look carefully. How many Asiatic Ibex can you spot in this photo? Can you find all nine of them?
When our oldest daughter was about three years old she kissed on of these Marmots on the nose! He was standing up on a stone retaining wall and she just walked up to it and gave it a peck. Kind of scared us though!
In the hippo exhibit this big fellow opened his mouth wide and made a huge splash before sinking out of sight. Perhaps his way of letting all the visitors know what he thought of them?
The Nyalas are interesting with their distinctive white stripes.
There were several sloth bears but they were all in separate enclosures. Perhaps they aren’t very sociable. This fellow was pacing back and forth continuously. We saw several animals exhibiting repetitive behaviours which we know is a sign of stress from being in captivity. That is hard to see but this zoo, like many others we have visited, is building bigger more natural habitats for their animals. We also see attempts to keep animals engaged with different ways of offering them their food and ‘toys’ for them in their enclosures. It is a trade off. Without the protection and breeding programs of zoos some of these animals would perhaps be extinct.
We saw lots of Gemsbok when we were in South Africa. It was amazing to see them in their natural habitat.
I have soft spot in my heart for zebras. Just love their stripes!
This was a new species for us, the Mountain Bongo. Their legs seemed too small for the bulk of their bodies, but they were very striking, with their white stripes agains their reddish hides. There are only 100 of these animals left in the wild! Interesting fact…the red pigment in their hides can bleed in the rain!
I forgot to take a photo of the main gate when we arrived but took one of the side gate where we exited the zoo.
We pass by lots of trees that appear to be grown for timber. Their lower branches have been trimmed so that the trunks grow straight.
Not far into Germany we stop at Slawenburg Raddusch, which is a reconstruction of a fort built by Slavic people in the 9th and 10th Centuries. It is surrounded by a moat for added protection.
This well is 40 feet deep. 
We climb to the top of the wall which offers a great view of the surrounding landscape. 
This model shows what the original fort would have looked like…
and how it was constructed. The dirt used to fill the walls came from around the base of the fort and created the moat.
I thought these straight pins for sewing were pretty amazing, considering they are so ancient.
Here is a view of part of the museum with its large display of pottery,,,
and burial pits, where cremated remains were placed along burial gifts for the deceased.
I was intrigued by the shapes of some of the pottery. All the pottery was made by hand without the aid of a potter’s wheel.
I wonder what these pots were used for?
The tour was great. We rented an audio guide for €1.5 and it was very well done. We got so much more out of the display because it. We managed to finish our visit through the museum just as it was closing at 6:00 pm. We see lots of wind-farms on our way to Berlin. We arrive in Berlin as it is getting dark and 
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