June in France + bonus in Berlin

I probably undertook the longest (non-Christmas) vacation to date. Almost reaching 2 weeks! 

Starting with the fabulous Lake Annecy (while I hide under a tree's shade to avoid the mid-day sun.

I resisted a full 3 days not to draw the hotel's (hostel??) resident bull dog, but finally caved on the last day. Every morning she spreads herself on the small lobby floor, either dozing off or licking her paws, basking in the soft morning sun. Very nice

Then I dedicated a full day strolling and sketching in Marseille downtown, while friends were out at the Calanques. It was a blistering hot and humid day, so my strategy is to paint near the ocean or in the shade...and of course, spending copious amount of time eating lunch in a quiet and well air-conditioned restaurant. 

There was no way I could let a cute boat lifted in the workshop slip by. This one is called the Nini

I intentionally (or not?) returned to the same spot in La Panier. The road traffic was sparse so I had no trouble standing on the sidewalk (just by standing there I already took up the entire width of the sidewalk) Inexplicably, a group of adults turned up doing some sort of scavenger hunt?? which I guess kinda makes sense in the Panier?? Anyway I think with the sun out, this time I made the scenery much more coherent in colour.

The wind was blowing nicely from the harbour, so I decided to do a quick and clean panorama to close out the day!

+bonus, I kinda ended the France sketches on the second to last page, so I had to fit it some local scenes so I don't have to take a whole sketchbook on the road just to finish one page. So here is a random street of Berlin with some cars and nice trees

 

Maybe a little overrated? Vienna

I felt like I pushed myself a little too hard over a short trip in Vienna. The weather was as miserable as in Berlin, and the food not any better. The only highlight was an old lady first surprised that I could speak German, then whispered to me that she thinks Canada is much better than here. After this I exclusively spend my sketching vacations in truly Southern European countries.

 

Pandemic Home for Christmas - Porto

Because of the nature of travel restrictions for Christmas 2021 + New Years 2022, I opted to stay in Europe and not go home. That being said, it was way too depressing to endure 2 weeks of Swedish winter in solitude, so I ended up spending 2 work+holiday week in Porto. I didn't officially take any day off work, but since the 2 holidays all fell on Thursday and Friday that gave me enough time to explore the city and surroundings. 

I chose an apartment out of downtown core, but with parking space and a huge terrace. Granted it was not terrace weather so the airbnb host packed together all the outdoor furnitures to protect them from the rain, but whenever the sun came out, I was still able to drag a chair outside and sipped my tea under the winter sun. Despite the miserable weather forecast (basically all rain for 2 weeks), the rain actually never stayed for long and there were ample periods of sunny weather during each day. In total, a "rainy" day in Porto still had more sunlight than a "sunny" day in Stockholm.

This was also my first time renting a car in Europe. Since I had very limited experience driving another manual car that is not my own, I had some real difficulties even finding the biting point of the rental car's clutch. I looked so clueless the rental car lady thought I had no idea how to drive a manual car! Well, there is a first time for everything! (although after driving numerous rental cars in Europe now, I realized that my car was the outlier, not them...)

Ponte da Arrábida + Duoro River

Miradouro de Lomba (on Route N222) Overlooking Duoro River

View from Praias Fluoriais

(somewhere after crossing a bridge)

Along Av.Dom Afonso Henriques, Porto

along Douro River board walk

Luis I Bridge, Porto

From Porto Cathedral

Overlooking Jardim do Morro, sunet

 

13 years apart: in London

 It felt surreal to be in London again. The last I visited was in 2008 (confirmed after digging through my email correspondences) with mom. And because it was before the age of smartphones and googlemaps, I have almost no digital trace of that visit. No photos, no bookmarked locations. But again, everything seemed a little familiar, and deja vu's came back from time to time as I strolled around town. 

I do remember distinctively that we stayed in a hotel near St. James' Park, and that we ate fish and chips for dinner almost everyday. I honestly had no idea why we chose to stay there, the location this time in Piccadilly Circus was much more convenient. 

It was nearing Christmas, so the "christmas market" and the menorah was out in front of the National Gallery. And of course I had to include the lions! The winter morning light was spectacular.

Followed by a bit of a chaotic sketch of Piccadilly Circus itself. I think I was standing next to a Five Guys...

Golden Jubilee Bridge (view from South Bank). There was some space behind the elevator shaft that kept me out of pedestrian traffic.

I did the essential tourist stroll past London Eye and Westminster Bridge. The sunset was very intense and thankfully I was able to find myself a spot amongst the tourists jostling for photos

TfL Museum

Sunset at Tower Bridge

Stockholm after-work series: the Twilight Zone

 

Stockholm after-work series: still daylight

Because daylights hours were so long and my office was situated nicely in the city, I decided to use my time after work to paint around the city.

July

Molins fontän, Kungsträdgården

Gotlandsgatan

view from the ground of Sofia Kyrka

Strandvägen (a couple actually took picture of me sketching and airdropped them to me...that was a pleasant encounter)

Dramaten

August

Gustav Vasa Church, Odenplan

Östermalms Saluhall

Brunkekergstunneln

September

Stefanskyrkan

 

Swedish Midsummer...in the city!

Almost immediately after my arrival, the very special holiday of Swedish Midsummer was there! (also my only time, since I left Sweden before midsummer next year) To be honest, it felt super exotic, because I haven't really had a purely season based holiday before...and it felt like a Northern specialty!

Stockholm itself was very empty during the holiday because most city dwellers were out somewhere nicer. For me, Stockholm was plenty nice enough! (Although I do remember staying in doors during normal daylight hours because it was broiling hot outside, and watching Midsommar with a friend to catch up on some basic festival etiquette...)

Waldermarsudde (Midsummer Eve 2021)

Pålsundsparken