Enough Sunlight Hours to Finish a Sketchbook! Brussels

I was roped into working a Saturday so I had to postpone my day-trip to Brussels to Sunday, and cancel my plans for Ghent. (technically I could have visited in the afternoon, but I'm not so interested in seeing the city after dark)

 

The weather forecast promised some sun, but I arrived in a drizzling and cold Brussels. There weren't many sketch reports on Brussels, but I did find a few more points of interests other than Grand-Place. The weather was wet, so I thought I'd save Grand-Place for later, in case the weather clears up. I instead "warmed up" under the canopy of a coffee shop's deserted outdoor area, drawing the stock exchange building that was mentioned in another sketcher's trip report. The soft mop was really pleasant to work with in the somewhat humid weather.

Then the sky cleared up (yay!) and I headed back to the Grand-Place. There was some graduation ceremony taking place so parts of the square were taken up. However there were plenty of space around the edges. I'm surprised the scene kind of worked out despite the 2 main buildings being super tall.

I then headed out of the main tourist area and found this cute castle like city gate Porte de Hal. The sun was nice and so I just sat down near a parked car on the pavement

I was originally planning to head home on the 5pm train, but the weather was so nice and I only had one more page to go on this sketchbook, so I decided to do one last one for Notre Dame au Sablon. It had some pretty complex structures, but I'm really happy with how it turned out and intense the sunlight felt. The train ride home was extremely crowded at 6pm, fully packed shoulder to shoulder from Brussels till Louvain. Thankfully after most of the passengers got off I got to at least sit down for the rest of journey to Liege. 

It was only after I bought a new Tintin hardcover book in full price that I realized I was in Brussels and could literally walk into any bookstore (and there were plenty) and pick up a used version for 1/4 of the price...ooops
 

Did I just fly across the Pond for...nothing? - London

 It was always my secret strategy to use London as a stopover between US west coast and Frankfurt, so I cut 1 hr of flight time and get a weekend of shopping/sketching in return. However, this time my plan kind of backfired that I was asked to extend my stay in Germany...after I have already bought my ticket to London. And so basically I drove 2 hrs to Frankfurt, flew over to London, only to then turn back and return to Germany 2 days later...but it is what it is, 1.5 days in London is still better than 0 days in London, despite the massive hassle. I also decided to spend Saturday night in Frankfurt...because hotel prices in London for Saturday night is prohibitively expensive. Not worth it if I'm literally flying in at 10PM.

Day 1 

 After getting some essential shopping done on Sunday afternoon, I strolled over to Tower Bridge just around sunset and did a family portrait of Tower Bridge + Tower of London (and the Shard??)

I really should have packed up at this point, but I thought one more wouldn't hurt. I can still see! But no, within 20 minutes I can't really see colours on my palette anymore. The lights on the bridge were great for walking but not really good for seeing my sketchbook. (side note, after this while searching for food on Bricklane, I kind of both lost my hope in London food scene after a super disappointing meal at a highly rated Chinese noodle place, and then 30 minutes later regained my hope again after finding some truly wholesome delights at a nearby Burmese family run restaurant-I returned the 2nd night too!) 

Day 2 

The next morning I headed straight to the main goal of my trip this time (other than shopping): seeing Rothko's paintings in person for the first time! Having literally had a print of Rothko's Yellow, Blue, and Orange on the wall of my flat for 3 years (not by my own choice of course, my landlords chose it to complement the colours of the furniture), I have grown to appreciate his work. Unfortunately the only work Tate Modern holds was the maroon series, which features much darker colour choices. I was half hoping that Tate Modern, given its vantage point on the Thames and its height, would have a superb viewing deck, but I got lost in its maze of stairs and lifts so I just gave up and decided to do the view from ground level on a bench in front of the building.

It was lunch hour and I was joined on the same bench first by one guy on his lunch break, and then later by 2 more professionally dressed guys also on their take-out-lunch-by-the-Thames break (yes it was a long bench). I first thought they must be employees of Tate Modern, but judging by their project talks it seemed that they were more finance than art. (Although at no point did they name drop any company) It seemed like I could only get these types of eavesdrop-on-a-local experience in London.

After swinging by Clerkenwell to pick up some more brushes and another cheap sketchbook, I gave my new brush its inaugural run at St Pancras. It picked up way more water and was softer than I expected. Last time I did St Pancras I didn't get to draw its main facade, but still it is challenge for a wide, not tall sketchbook. 

Then I did the family portrait of both stations!

For a final sketch before sunset, I got off the tube at Bank (it was suffocating in the trains near afternoon rush hour). I was eyeing a spot near the tube entrance with a perch for the water jar but it was occupied by some bible promotion people. Just I was grumbling to myself while resigning to the fact I would have to bend down to reach my water jar, these people packed up their stuff and disappeared in a flash (guess 5pm was also their cue to get off "work"??) And so I happily took their spot. 

It was a pretty mind blowing experience to be standing at Bank Junction during rush hour. It was like watching the whole world's economy go by. All sorts of people in professional attire and cyclists crisscrossed and English in all accents were spoken. There were no crowds per se, but there was a constant steady stream of people coming out from all roads leading into the junction, and everyone was walking (or rushing) with purpose!

Relive the Trauma on the Mosel: Trier and Bernkastel

 And so a bit over a month over my last mishap over the Mosel, I'm back to where I started. Since I don't need air conditioning anymore in this weather, I'm saving myself valuable commuting time and only staying in Trier over the weekend. It was a miracle that both days of the weekend had clear weather (although I could only use 1 day because I was sick with period pain the first day) - at least I had the wonderful Porta Nigra always right in front of my hotel room window the whole time.

 It was a privilege to be able to see the gate in the very early morning light. (in the summer it was impossible because sun rises way earlier than I can wake up) And you get the see the city slowly wakes up to tourists and activities.

I then gingerly drove over to Burg Landshut, the trauma of having my car die on me while in the parking lot still very much alive. On the other hand, I did get an almost new Volvo SUV as a rental this time that had a uncanny feeling of stability and luxury. It took me a bit of detour and getting lost to get to the proper parking lot up a winding road on top of the hill (on hindsight, I guess I could have parked in the main town square and hiked up, but hey, parking is only free high up on the hill so...) I was expecting it to be a small-ish town with a not so well known castle ruin, but boy the non-stop traffic rolling into town at around 10AM really surprised me. Luckily the castle itself wasn't too busy and I could find plenty of spots to stand (or sit on the warm ground) to sketch around. It was great to be able to come back to the Mosel after summer and seeing the patches of coloured leaves pop up. 

Warming myself now in the sun after standing in the shadow for too long. I usually shy away from huge patches of just green, but I was up for a challenge this time! The air was humid enough to allow for some work-ability. I'm really happy with how this run turned out. I really had the feeling of time just flash past when drawing out the scenes. It was really therapeutic!

I debated going down to the city centre. But seeing that it was just a 15 mins walk on GoogleMaps I decided to get some exercise. The trek was definitely challenging, and I saw plenty of people struggle, especially in the hot afternoon sun. In the end I didn't make it all the way downhill, because I found a perfect perch on the walls of a vineyard (which also forms the path of the path downhill). Okay, I was originally going to do a scene with the vineyard in the foreground, but just as I was contemplating the scene, 4 old dudes showed up and announced that they needed to relieve themselves in the vineyard (?) so I just awkwardly left. But the new place I found was perfect, I was basically sitting above the heads of all the passerby and had a commanding view of the river, bridge, and surrounding hills. 

I still had some strength after recovering in the hotel room for a little bit, so I headed out to finally sketch the Trier cathedral near sunset. As I passed Porta Nigra I noticed a strange man with camera eyeing me sometimes. Since I was walking super quickly (and with purpose) he didn't really talk to me. As I reached the cathedral and started evaluating my angles, the guy spoke to me and told me he works for the local newspaper. He asked if I was a tourist and was quite surprised when I told him I'm not and that I live in Berlin. He said he was doing a feature theme of what people look forward to in Trier and asked if he could take a photo of me. To which I gave my best smile and said, absolutely not. I feel like I might have given him more patience if he actually spoke to me *while* I was painting. Now it just seemed he picked me because I was non-white and only for that reason.

Germany's River Towns - Part Two

St. Goar 

 

Kind of a short wrap from Part One. This is actually immediately after my stop in Bacharach. I discovered that there is this "William Turner Route" along the Rhein river, with spots marked from which he likely had sketched or drew reference. Anyway, Rheinfels castle was definitely on the map and I inexplicably ditched my car on the river bank and hiked up the 30 mins trek in brutal heat. (I at least only had a tote bag, the 2 poor ladies in front of me were dragging suitcases up the steep curve. Oh dear)

 

Anyways, once up there, the breeze was refreshing and the views spectacular. I actually paid the entrance to the castle ruin and sketched this view from inside the castle walls. As always, I'm still rubbish with ruins even though I always thought I could manage. 

I was about to head down, when I remembered there was another "Turner spot" a little bit down the hill. There was an older gentleman sitting on one of the benches there reading, so I left my stuff on the other bench and sat down somewhere with a clearer view (I really can't stand anymore) The gentlemen probably thought I couldn't speak German and so he struggled a little to chat in English. I tried to call upon Turner in my rendering...my alas I think I fell short by many miles. 

Making Fachwerk look good - River Ill, River Lauch

I always considered Fachwerk overrated and not worth my time. That is, until I saw Strasbourg with the beautiful river Ill framing the tradition houses. Everything is just made the quainter with a flowing body of water!

 

Strasbourg

I totally underestimated the drive into Strasbourg from work. 3+ hours! while I thought it was only 2. And it was not only just highway. For some reason I had to drive all local traffic through Saarbrücken and then twist onto some country roads into France, and then finally onto the French A4 highway. Last but not least, the hotel in Strasbourg didn't have any onsite parking free or paid, so I had to park at a parking structure 10 minutes walk away. I was exhausted by the time I crashed onto the hotel bed finally after 10pm without dinner. (The traffic entering Strasbourg was also surprisingly busy after 9pm, I was not picturing 4 lane highways when I saw the quaint pictures of Strasbourg old town) 

The weather was brutally hot and humid. (I remember my feet burning under the sun as I sat down with my shoes off for this river side piece) 

River Ill (the most confusingly named river if printed san serif) was a delight. I chose not to draw the densely packed city centre but camped near a lock where the water roared. 

 

This view of the Ponts Couverts was actually done the next day after my day trip to Colmar. The setting sun was gorgeous and the terrace offered the perfect viewing deck!

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Colmar

Colmar definitely felt like a smaller scaled and denser version of Strasbourg. There is also a river, but much quieter.

I drew the first one while sitting down in front of a closed store (the river being partially covered at this section) 

Then I strolled to the main attraction Little Venice and settled on a somewhat busy river. My strategy has always been to stand on the side of the attraction that offers no view, as in there is no instagram worthy view behind where I'm standing, so I'm technically not blocking anybody's photo op. That being said, the people snapping photos and walking by in front me are of no concern since I don't need a perfectly clear view at any instant and can just pick and draw whatever I want. 

At the end of the 2 days, I definitely felt a little Fachwerk-fatigue. There is indeed such thing as too much quaintness. But indeed, Fachwerk + river = perfect setting 

 

An Emotionally Loaded Sketch - first encounter with ADAC

There are few sketches that come as emotionally loaded as this one. Little did I know as I enjoyed the breeze on top of the viewing deck while sketching the spectacular view of the Mosel's many bends, that one heck of a weekend was waiting for me in the parking lot. 

 

 

After a quick stop at the Roman Villa in Mehring, I decided to visit some more obscure sites near the Mosel before heading up to Koblenz for the night. This is the first weekend that I didn't check out of my week hotel on Friday but instead stayed until Saturday morning. Rolling out of bed while slowly packing up my things felt strange even. And so I had my sight set on the "Fünf-Seen-Blick" Aussichtsturm. The arrival and ascent were uneventful. I was back in my car trying to search up a castle to visit on my way to Koblenz before I noticed that the car is beeping at me. What followed was a 2-day adventure with Hertz's somewhat helpful roadside assistance help line, and ADAC's somewhat helpful service. I waited up to 5 hours with no progress Saturday afternoon, during which Hertz tried unsuccessfully to call on Renault and didn't realize they have zero manpower to come out to such a remote location (technically not nearly as remote, being only 30 minutes from Trier. But alas, it is European remote) and so after 3 hours wait for nothing, they finally called up ADAC, the actual 24/7 roadside help line. I remember when Hertz first picked up my call, the lady was even trying to get AI to somehow troubleshoot my problems, therefore wasting another 20 minutes of my time. By the time ADAC got back to me it was more than 4 hours after the initial call, and the guy basically said he needs at least 2 hours to get to me because it is super not important and I'd better not waste his time because there are another 2 cars stranded on the highway that are waiting for his help. The sun was setting at this point and there was no one left in the parking lot. So I said, fine I don't need your help today I'm going home without the car. The ADAC guy couldn't care less and hung up. And so I made a final angry call to Hertz telling them I'm leaving the car and demanding that an appointment be made for tomorrow morning, while I pulled up Uber to try and arrange a ride back to Trier. 

5 minutes later and the app was stuck in "finding driver"...and that was when panic set in. I kind of assumed that as long as there is a price estimate, there is a driver available. Turns out that is not the case... The last couple who left the parking lot actually checked on me and asked if I needed a ride into town...I was too optimistic and said I'll just get uber as last resort... Thankfully as I was searching for taxi service in googlemaps, a private taxi business the next town over popped up. I dialed them up and they knew the location as soon as I told them the attraction's name (it was super difficult to describe the location to Hertz because there was no street address and it is just a gravel parking lot off a road) Finally, after a grueling 10 minutes wait, a man with a van showed up and I finally felt that maybe everything might be okay. Initially I had told them that I wanted to go to Trier (thinking maybe I will get another hotel for the night), but I legit could not find a free room online and I'm totally exhausted. And so I told the driver that I would like to go to Koblenz if it is alright with him. He looked up the price and said it would cost 310 Euro for the trip, probably thinking I'd be crazy to agree. But I said, if you don't mind the long trip, let's go for it. And so off we went. Since he didn't have a card machine with him, and of course I didn't have 300+ cash with me, I was half expecting to stop at an ATM in Koblenz, but we somehow got the instant bank transfer via app working (first time seeing things happen so fast digitally in Germany??)

 

The next morning I prepared for the worst, ordered 2 large sandwiches from the bakery and brought 2 large bottles of water and then stepped on the train towards Trier. While I was half dozing off in the train, Hertz actually called me (the only helpful and sympathetic lady throughout my whole interaction with them) and asked if she should call up ADAC now so that when I get there I don't need to wait. I was beyond grateful that I got at least one German who could think outside the box and bend the rules slightly. And so I decided to kill some time at a cafe first and then meet ADAC when they're on their way to the location (so that at least I have access to a comfortable seat, bathroom, and food) Surprisingly, as soon as I ordered my food, ADAC rang and said they'll be there in 5 minutes. A little taken aback, I had to settle my bills and pack up the food in a hurry, before calling up the same taxi service again to take me up to the parking lot. 

 

The taxi and ADAC car ended up arriving almost at the same time, although unfortunately the technician said he could not fix the problem (probably to do with the high voltage system, instead of a dead LV battery) and said he will call a tow truck. I sadly watched him leave and resigned myself to a possible multi-hour wait. Perhaps road traffic on Sunday was light, I got a call back within an hour, informing me that the driver will be there in 30 mins or so. (I didn't want to wait in the sun-exposed parking lot, so was basically pacing the 10 minute stretch between the viewing platform at the parking area)

 

When the tow truck showed up, it basically captured the attention of everyone in the parking lot. (Granted it also blocked anyone from entering and exiting) The driver was surprised that I was alone with the car, and then frowned at the electronic brake. I told him wait wait, the HV is faulty, but I can still release the brake and put into Neutral! (to show him it is indeed in Neutral, we almost had the car slide into the ditch in front of it) At that he was super relieved and called up 2 senior citizens spectators and said, lads, help me push the car. He then had the 2 older gentlemen position themselves on either side of him pushing the front of the car and had me sit in the car and move the steering wheel. At one point he yelled take the brake take the brake! I was like: waaait, is that release the brake or on the brake???? Anyway, through some confusion, we succeeded in pushing the car out of its parked spot with its front facing the back of the tow truck. (by now I finally understood what he was trying to get at) As the tow truck driver started working his winch to get the car onto the ramp, one of the senior citizens handed me a bottle of water from his car and said "good job. everything will be better". I was like, wait didn't YOU just pushed my car out? What good job did I do?? 

 

Everyone in the lot was watching the towing action with rapturous attention. Even got a little kid being narrated the whole thing from his dad lol. After he got the car successfully loaded on top of the truck, and driver came to me and asked, now there is only one more problem...what do I do with you? ...And so I ended up getting a free ride into Trier, on a tow truck! When I got on the tall bright yellow truck and left I did feel like we're the circus leaving town. 

 

We ended up having a decent conversation all the way into town. Talked about the rise of Chinese cars (driver refused to comment on the quality of other cars), record low water level on the Rhein river, being in a small river town vs Berlin (he said he couldn't stand more than 1 weekend in Berlin) and finally he expressed his admiration of the Three Gorges Dam project, having seen it in a documentary. Couldn't ask for a more scenic drive as we rolled through the Mosel valley into Trier. He checked and made sure to drop me off within walking distance of the correct train station (he is on his way to the Renault dealer in town) and told me to get something nice to eat as parting word. At this point I still had 1.5 sandwich, 1 whole bottle of water, and a half eaten yogurt bowl left. 

 

Baltic Neighbours: Helsinki and Tallinn

I was finally able to make my much awaited trip to Finland. Not sure why I never found the time to visit while I actually lived in Northern Europe, but it was definitely a much needed cool-cation this time around. I only needed 3 days off and was able to have a very relaxed holiday around the 2 cities. There were tons of flights to choose from Frankfurt. I guess it is one of the advantages of living close to Germany's best connected airport. 

 

Helsinki

I had no idea Helsinki had a 1 hr time difference from Germany. So I thought our flight arrived way ahead of schedule, but it was slightly delayed. By the time I pulled up to the airbnb, it was well after 11pm. Thankfully the instructions were super clear and everything was in order. 

 

I did know ahead of time that Helsinki doesn't really have a historic city centre, being a relatively new city. So I focused my effort on just relaxing, cooking (finally some home made meals!), doing laundry, and of course, shopping! The weather was not so nice throughout my stay, but it didn't bother me that much since I'm already trained to function/sketch under overcast weather in London. Since I don't really have luggage space for even extra cups, I gave up on Iittala and Marimekko, and somehow ended up picking up 2 pairs of Fiskars scissors at the danger of getting confiscated at the airport. I also picked up some random small Moomin merchandise from the supermarkets (reflectors, tea bags, small towel, etc) Basically anything I could squeeze into my one bag. 

 

The crowd was tiny at both the main Lutheran cathedral and the orthodox cathedral, so I could just pick whichever place to sketch. (Could actually see the Lutheran cathedral from Uspenski)

 

This one was actually done after I came back from Tallinn. I noticed that a lot of official tourism photos of the main Cathedral and Senator Square are from this angle, so...I wanted this angle!

 

 

Tallinn 

 

Tallinn is definitely the more picturesque of the 2 neighbours. I had a somewhat grueling 2 hr ferry ride because there weren't many actual sofa seats. Most were just chairs...which is not what I was used to. The ferry itself was also very crowded given the summer tourism season.  

 

I particularly liked this overview of Tallinn. I tried to keep it as simple as possible, and emphasized the red roofs. There were actually multiple "balconies" where you could look down at the lower city from the upper Toompea. 

After a sleepless night in the city centre hotel (there was some karaoke bar that opened until 2am, and people were still talking loudly outside until 4am) I gave up my original plan of going to the art gallery and taking an afternoon ferry. Instead, I sketched the cute city gates with faces and hopped on an earlier ferry with a cabin reservation. It was definitely the best 40 euros I've ever spent. I've never had such a relaxing ferry riding experience. I basically boarded the ferry, went straight to my cabin, used my phone to unlock and just lounged around until the ferry docked in Helsinki. I thought I only booked a bunk, but the reservation was for an entire room w/ 4 beds (2 lower beds could be converted to sofas) No chaos, no people, just some nice sea view and a comfy bed (and bathroom!) I definitely felt much better after getting off in Helsinki