Back in Versailles after Fall Sketch Trip.

Back in Versailles

I’ve written this in a word document before posting… in a span of three/four days. So it’s about as fresh as County Market lettuce, but still good.

 

Well I’m back in Versailles after spending about a week and a half traveling with Max and Charlie on a study/sketch break. You may be asking yourselves what that is. Basically we have to sketch what we see, ranging from bridge, to buildings, to monuments, to light posts, and go in depth and analyze two items and do a structural diagram and study of a third thing. Needless to say, it’s a little perturbing to stop and sketch something when you’re only in a major city for a couple of days, but at the same time, it truly makes you understand it a whole lot better.

 

So, to refrain from rambling, I’ll write a quick anecdote from each city – something I didn’t write about in my travel journal… Hmmm.

Brussels. Well, apart from the great beer and chocolate, we saw a lot of great paintings in the National Art Gallery. A lot of Brugel. And other Dutch artists. We did Brussels like we did every other city on the trip: we got there, acquired maps, and began walking everywhere we wanted to see. There are pros and cons to this method of “sightseeing” Pro: while walking you see all sorts of other things you wouldn’t see on a metro or bus, like the large amounts of cool public art and graffiti, and all the kebab places. Con: you end up walking upwards of six miles a day and pretty much fall asleep at 10pm. We stayed in Brussels for two nights and the following morning when to Amsterdam.

 

Amsterdam. I think my favorite city on this trip. We got there and had a lunch outside of the overwhelming Red Light district where our hostel was located at the most comfortable place I’ve ever eaten – a 40 year old woman owns this little restaurant overlooking one of the canals and Konigsplatz (I think) and cooks/serves everything herself. It made us feel strangely at home. We then met Colleen and went about looking around the Red Light district and some of the old architecture there. We saw a neat old church on a map in the middle of the District and made our way there, wanting to check out the inside. As we walked down the canal street on our way there, we were a little surprised to find the entire Church surrounded by red windows with prostitutes in them. Hahaha, we REALLY inspecting the Church (i.e. kept our eyes GLUED to it as we walked around it, trying not to use our peripheral vision too much). It was much more awkward for Max and Charlie, pronouncing they’ve never been so turned off in their entire lives. We went to the Van Gogh museum, passing down different tree-lined canals and rustic stone bridges and spent a good two or so hours in there. After dinner that night, Charlie took us to the sweetest hookah bar, where we drank tea and talked about our travels so far and the problems/solutions to living like hippies and why it never really worked out. We met up with some other friends who were in Amsterdam and they joined in as well. The following morning we parted from Colleen and went to Cologne, where I was able to get on the internet and update.

 

Cologne. This was an interesting city, apart from being a giant mall (no joke, everywhere we went in the urban fabric, there were ridiculous amounts of stores). The last day we were in Cologne, on Halloween, we went to the Chocolate museum and learned about the different methods (and tastes) of chocolate craftsmanship. Very educational. I’m a better well-rounded person after seeing it. (hahaha, pun intended – wow). The hours that followed, however, were a little confusing, because we tried to make our way to the Cologne Zoo/Sculpture garden and ended up taking a tram waaay too far north of it. We hit up a fast-food schnitzel place for lunch that turned out to be extremely good and filling, so all was not lost. We made our confusing way back to somewhere back on our maps and walking across a beautiful bridge on the way back to the Dom (Cologne Cathedral) in the sunset, just being quiet for once and enjoying each others company in that way. Max and I climbed the 500 something stairs to the top of the Cathedral (Charlie is afraid of heights so he only made it up halfway before shakily going back down) and looking at Cologne in the sunset. Truly spectacular. I can’t describe it. There were stones on the spire that had the year they were constructed on them: 1879. The Cathedral that was begun in the 15^th century was finished until then. Insane. Later that night we met up with another group of friends for dinner and walked around with them until late. We got back to our hostel and talked to two of the toughest girls I’ve ever met from Manchester England.

 

Hamburg is a city of punks. We had to switch hostels because they were booked awkwardly and they had the only available rooms, which was a little harder than expected, as we got lost finding our other hotel, but it pretty much rocked in the end because it was an apartment – kitchen, bathroom, only three beds… a great night of sleep. In Hamburg we were able to take it easy – like getting stuck in a Lutheran church service accidentally. It was pretty cool, but something we didn’t plan, and couldn’t escape because they put a red velvet rope across the door. Pretty much indestructible.

 

Berlin was our last stop before coming back to Paris on an overnight train. I will continue later, as I have a lot of sketching to catch up on. I’m sure many of you reading this will receive a postcard from it. I feel a little guilty about not being able to write everything!

 

I love you all, adjusting to life here again is hard but it’s nice to be in the same place for awhile. You’re in my prayers.

 

Liz