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!

f

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

Germany's river towns - Part One

I was fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to work for close to 2 months near the Mosel/Rhein river area. I was technically working in the nearby mountainous Eifel region, but the rivers are much more accessible than if I were in Berlin. Plus the need for AC-ed hotel room meant I had to make my daily commute to/from Trier, the quintessential Mosel river town anyways, so might as well make a tour. (I never get to appreciate the Spree much in Berlin)

The problem with visiting so many cities over every weekend is that I started forgetting what I did the previous week, just because there are new things to see every weekend! I wouldn't even call the record breaking 2 month trip away from home a hardship...honestly it is way more interesting than if I stayed home and I wouldn't mind staying longer even.

Cologne 

When I told my intern that my last time in Cologne was almost 15 years ago, she was a little taken aback. Cologne is technically the first German city I've visited, having crossed over by train from Belgium in the summer of 2011. I remember almost nothing except that I left mom waiting on the giant staircases in front of the cathedral as I climbed up (I remember nothing of the cathedral itself, except that it is gigantic) I also remember mom telling me afterwards that while I was gone some high schooler were hitting on her (??) Anyway, unfortunately the once free cathedral started charging entrance fee 4 days before I arrived, so I didn't bother going in. As I was drawing this in the still kind of peaceful square, a random dude started talking to me about some nonsense connection between place and people. I politely told him to please stop talking to me. There were quite some random people drifting around the square, but I stood very close to the taxi stand, so at least all the waiting taxi drivers could act as deterrent. Eventually a friendly taxi driver talked to me also and asked me where the spire went...ooops (in the beginning he was struggling to think of the English word for Spitze, but I told him I could speak German lol)

 

After some online research, I noticed that almost all shots/sketches of Cologne are from a particular angle from across the river, so I made my way there too! There were loads of sun loungers along the river bank and I got myself a comfortable seat there as well! This is definitely the money shot

 

 

Afterwards the weather was getting a little too hot to be standing in the sun, so I strolled around the old town area looking for a scenic spot (Cologne old town is actually not so big and very densely packed). I found a quiet lane with a nice breeze a block away from Fischmarkt. Afterwards I headed back to the air conditioned hotel for my much deserved siesta. 

 

 

Wuppertal

Technically I also stopped at Düsseldorf before heading to Wuppertal, but there was literally nothing worth looking twice there. So after having a very mediocre bowl of ramen and underwhelming gyoza in the supposed biggest Japan town in Germany, I headed to Wuppertal to check out the Schwebebahn that apparently all self-respecting transportation nerds need to visit, and as a bonus, also Frederick Engel's former home in nearby Barmen. And so I rode the surprisingly modern feeling Schwebebahn up the Wupper river to round up my communism founders' tour. After the visit, I was struggling to find a good vista and non sketchy place to draw the railway bridge and train. And so I walked round the Wuppertal main station at least twice before I settled on this foot bridge. It started drizzling literally minutes after I finished it. Phew! The only regret is that I could only check out the numerous adorable Schwuppi souvenirs from the shop window because the tourism office is closed on Sunday! I left downtrodden and swore revenge. Give. Me. My. Souvenirs!!!!

 

 

Frankfurt 

 

After dropping off my intern and car at the airport, I had a long siesta in the hotel and then headed out after dinner (finally some decent Chinese food!) for a stroll along the Main river. I have been in Frankfurt in 2017 for a vacation and some places did look familiar. But I also remember only doing some rushed sketches because we didn't have much time.

 

The old town center square was nicely lit during sunset! 

 

  

Koblenz

The next day I headed over to Koblenz (with a stop in Mainz to pick up some much needed sketchbooks!) The city itself is kind of...underwhelming? But the setting itself is impressive, being sandwiched between Mosel and Rhein. The vicinity to water is truly amazing, and people were definitely taking advantage of the long river banks to relax and chill. (in the shade/in the evening of course, the sun was absolutely lethal this weekend)

 

The famous Deutsches Eck was impossible to sketch from the front because of the burning sun. So I decided to sketch the statue from behind (and of course, in the shade). The park is super popular with families, and some children stopped to said hi. It was very sweet.

 

 

Bacharach

 

Using Koblenz as a jumping board, I headed to Bacharach the next morning (the drive was along the Rhein river, a very up and personal experience) I was hiding in the shade while doing my first sketch of the town entrance, while 2 older Chinese couple came over. They didn't speak to me, but the husband said to his wife, hey you must take a picture from her angle, the artist knows the best! And I was like (in my mind): sir I was just trying to stay in the shade! I actually liked this one a lot. I could feel the impending heat seeping through the page even now! 

 

 

Then I made my reluctant ascent up the town to see if I could find a decent view. There was almost no cover heading up, but thankfully there was a tower in the middle that offered a view and shade. So I just sat down right there and made camp. Technically there is still better view if one hikes higher, but I said no to the brutal sun. I used to scoff at the notion of "Romantic Rhein"...but now I can see why

The Mosel(le) Towns - Cochem and Metz

Was so glad to escape my tiny village on the Belgian border. The previous "Vatertag" celebration nearly finished me off. It was dead silence 20km all around me, but the only party is happening right next to my hotel room window, with booming stereo and loud people...all the way until 2am. And the hotel staff were acting as if they didn't know this is about to happen. According to my inquiries afterwards, it happens year after year on this specific day and somehow still no warning is given to hotel guests. They were sympathetic, but not apologetic. Guess that is what a small town feels like. Anyway, I showed up sleep deprived in Trier and checked into my (comparatively) big city hotel. The hotel was also fully booked but I had the most peaceful rest ever (nobody waking me up at 6am anymore thank god) I'm seriously contemplating sacrificing rest time and commute everyday from Trier, just so I could wake up whenever I wanted and not be forced to follow somebody else's schedule.  

Anyway I digress. After getting some focaccia (?) for breakfast and enough caffeinated, and also doing some much needed Saturday shopping, I started driving towards Burg Eltz after noon, thinking most of the efficient German tourists must have concluded their tours already. Indeed when I arrived, there were more cars leaving the lot than entering. Still, there were way more people than I anticipated. From what Rick Steves shot some years ago, it should be a hidden gem. I feel like the car lot must have been expanded twice already. Anyhow I parked my car and followed a muddy trail to the castle (turns out this was non-scenic longer path that they wanted us to take for some reason, the other shuttle car path was way easier and shorter) The only benches were used by some rowdy teenagers so I decided to just stand this time. I think one of the teenagers wanted to take a look, but I took a step away from him and I think he understood the hint and left me alone. When I was almost done, a man asked me to help take a photo. As I took the phone I realized it is a huge family of close to 20 people. And mostly importantly I have no idea how to take photos for people in German?? Anyway, then I realized that they're in fact Dutch and can, of course, speak perfect English. Crisis resolved.

When I was drawing I could hear the loudspeaker repeating that the wait for castle entry/guided tour is 1 hour. And it seems that you have to actually stand in queue to wait for your turn. Waiting in queue is not my cup of tea, so I just bounced after finishing my painting.  

I followed some comments on googlemaps and found myself the supposedly dirt cheap parking lot at Cochem train station that is 3 EUR for the whole day. I was not in a hurry (plus the day is long) so decided to get a bite at the train station restaurant. Man it was hard work trying to impress the grumpy old lady running the restaurant, but I think I managed it with my passable German and nice attitude. In the end, she even (slightly) smiled at me!! But seriously, why is it on the customer to make the effort. A restaurant would be the wrong business if you hate interacting with people!

Anyway, after getting fed, I strolled through the town center. It was pretty crowded, but not suffocating and I found some cute old buildings! (Also the sun came out!) This time a little girl (from an Indian family I think?) also took notice of me, but she came onto me so suddenly that I thought she wanted to sit where I was sitting. So I apologized and quickly moved a few inches away from her. This time the parents didn't try to stop her from bothering me and indeed she was standing a little too close for comfort (and also licking an ice cream??). Anyway, I was glad when the family left...

I was just strolling around and saw a sign up a small hill that says "Auf Eigene Gefahr". It immediately got me interested. After hiking up the small hill I came across this gem of a view. I didn't do it justice, being rubbish at doing overview scenes. It was super peaceful up here and I could sit on a bench and put my feet up! It was heaven! (okay, minus when a little boy rushed by and demanded to be photograph by his mom when he shoots imaginary cannons at the town below) 

The next day I left my car parked and headed to the train station to take that rickety old SNCF train I saw during my last trip. Everyone on the platform was waiting for another train to Mannheim and there were at most 3 of us who were taking the slow train to Metz. Anyway, I saw the train driver finish the last of his cigarettes and started our diesel train. The ride to Metzville was a solid 1.5hr, and there were almost no one until when we got to Thionville. It was pretty cool to roll by Perl/Schengen and see the triangle border between Germany, France, and Luxembourg. Okay, technically we just rolled by patches of wild grass and abandoned warehouses, but geographically speaking it is very interesting!

The inside of Metz station was a little underwhelming. Yes it has the honour of being voted France's best looking train station 3 years in a row, but it is also a working station so there wasn't much fanfare, just a lot of people coming and going. You do notice the Roman arches and detailed work on the columns, but only outside were there people taking pictures of it. There were some random young men just loitering/sitting on the benches, so I crossed another street so I could sketch away from viewing eyes.  

It's kind of hard to comprehend this is the same river that i saw yesterday, only this time in France. When driving it is always through different road networks. So the fact that these 3 cities are actually connected via a single waterway is kind of mind blowing. 

French cuisine definitely lived up to its reputation though. I didn't even try to pick a restaurant. It was kind of late already, so there were only a handful of restaurants that are still open at 2:30pm. I just picked the closest one (that is not even a proper restaurant, just a cocktail bar that serves some food) and had hands down the best meal of my trip. I feel like the best of the German restaurants have at most met my expectation and the food was tasty. But this tiny French restaurant had me sat there wondering what the heck did my tongue just taste. (it was a beet salad with a savory underlayer with green onion, and topped with whipped cream and sliced pear) 

Am I... in London, again??

So through some genius planning skills, I somehow ended up exactly where I left off last time...which is London. Unfortunately I only had 4 pages left on my previous sketchbook and it would be space inefficient if I bring 2 on the road, so I just started a new one, feeling rather guilty. (I honestly have no idea how I'm gonna fill the last 4 pages...given there is nothing of value to sketch around where I live)

 

-British Museum- 

I didn't expect much from British Museum's Great Court, since I'm usually an exterior-only sketcher. But I dunno, this place kind of blurred the line between inside and outside. I read that the Museum forbids wet media inside the galleries, so I just found myself a spot on the spiral staircase (I think I would have done the Benin bronzes otherwise) Loads of people were sitting on the ground, on the stairs, basically everywhere, so nobody really paid any attention to me. A lady with a hard shelled briefcase stopped to chat, so I thought she probably works in the museum. And then she asked me how one could get into the galleries...ooops

-King's College, Cambridge-

Not exactly in London, but I kind of squeezed in a quick sketch while we were waiting for lunch. It felt like it is going to rain, so I was really rushed. The restaurant staff was even nice enough to come out to tell me that food is ready (while I totally underestimated how fast they prepared the food) We attended the evening chapel service to check out the famous chapel without paying (we did end of standing 70% of the time though) and the sun came out in the end! It was pretty great except visitors are not allowed to linger during exam time...so a missed opportunity

-London Sketching Day 1-

 

I think this must the best of my St Paul's attempt so far! The shape of the dome is finally somewhat making sense! When I was there a French tour group stopped dead in front of me, and a little French girl promptly latched onto me, despite pleading from parents to not disturb me. I ignored her throughout (an artist must concentrate!), but we did say bye to each other when the group left. 

I took a break later at St. Bart the Great and almost crashed a wedding (??) Anyway so I was just sitting there minding my own business, and then I heard some exaggerated small talk in posh English. Whatever, I filter these out automatically and concentrate on counting my arches. But the small talk continued and somewhat multiplied (?) Finally I was curious enough to see who exactly were talking...they were very nicely dressed people like suits, nice dresses, definitely not how people would randomly dress. Then it finally clicked and I realized either a wedding or a wedding reception is about to begin in this church. (throughout this time the choir was also rehearsing) I looked around and there were no other tourists in sight. So I quickly packed up my things, ducked my head and bolted out of the church (on my way out, I saw another finely dressed couple walking in, the lady wearing the most outrageous hat that I've only seen on the news)

A couple more London classics. Found a few construction workers in full relaxation mode. I was pretty shocked when I saw that the mayor's office is getting dismantled, apparently they are moving to another location with lower rent and the current building is getting a redesign.

 

The view is technically better on the Tower of London side (where the sun hits the bridge), but it was way quieter here. I guess I have done this view a few times already, but this is definitely the first time with the bridge opened! (a boat with huge sails was passing through)

-London Sketching Day 2-

 

On the 2nd day I attempted 2 places I haven't done yet, sort of. I have sketched Westminster across the river before, and also in silhouette. The crowd in front of the Big Ben was huge, but luckily I found a traffic island in the middle of the road where tourists don't usually linger. I could lean against the fence on one side because there was no view of importance behind me, and tourists can still take pictures in front of me. (I reassured 2 couples they're not blocking me at all. They were taking some time in front of me, getting balloons ready for a milestone birthday I think) I didn't quiiiite capture the shape of the clock tower, but happy with the overall result, in a super chaotic environment.

Technically I have done Piccadilly Circus before, but never the iconic view of the fountain and the billboards behind it. I drew the figure way too big so had to scale down the fountain itself many folds to fit in the entire scene. Probably the most chaotic place I've ever done a sketch in, right up there with Rialto Bridge. Luckily I found a little place to sit at the underground exit, so I wasn't in the way of other people (except when they needed to read the map next to me) After this I already felt both my social and artistic battery drained