John Hobbie

Jet lag is fading. Fixed a nice breakfast of fresh bread and ham with coffee. Wandered over to St. Michael’s Cathedral and drew the pulpit. There were maybe 2 other people around. It was quiet.

Being so jetlagged yesterday I didn’t see the second football match between Uruguay and Portugal. I made it about 6 minutes into the match and was out cold.

Good news was I was awake really early and decided to catch a train to Antwerp. Glad I got there early. What a beautiful city and I had the streets to myself. I wandered around for about 4 hours in a cool breezy morning drinking coffee and eating pastries.

Now it’s 2pm and I’m going back to Brussels to see the Comics Museum. It’s housed in a gorgeous art deco warehouse. I can’t read the French comics, but I love to sit in the lobby and stare at the ironwork.

There are too many world heritage sites in Budapest to count. Budapest is the city Prague wants to be. I got up early to avoid the heat and had coffee while painting in the shade of the ferry ticket office. I painted quickly because the sun was rising fast, and once I couldn’t squeeze into the remaining shade I quit.

After a great lunch at a local cafe I decided to stay out of the sun and went into the market hall. I paid my dues of a cappuccino to sit along the balcony rail, put on my headphones to drown out the crowd noise, and sketched this picture in about an hour.

For the last day and a half I haven’t been able to look inside any of the local churches. The doors have been locked accept when Mass is going on. But I was out walking by 7am and came across this church with unlocked doors. I took a few minutes to sketch the interior, paid my respects to God, and went off to get coffee.

This afternoon I caught a public bus out of town traveling 10k up the Danube to the Hrad Devon, the remains of an old castle. It has been incredibly hot these few days with temperatures reaching 37-38 degrees Celsius. Best I could do was to find shade and hide from the sub while I painted this picture.

After getting back to town in the evening I drew a quick sketch of the crowds while waiting for my dinner to be served.

I was eating the hotel breakfast before 7am, but already there was a crowd of people and I had to wait to get a self serve cappuccino. I ate quickly and hit the streets.that was all for the good. I was finishing my sketch of St. Michael’s Gate just as the first tour groups began to gather in front of me. So I went to the river and sat by the Danube and drew this bridge.

In Bratislava is a strange blue church. Very beautiful and rich in mosaic detail. It also has an Illuminati eye at the top. Well worth the trip to this side of town.

I woke up and sought coffee in the early morning quiet. I found a nice cafe and ordered a cappuccino and a slice of honey cake. After debating on a second round of both I chose to seek another cafe and see if I could expand my cake variety. But after a brief walk I ended up drawing this picture instead. I can always get cake, but I may never be back this way again.

Next stop is Bratislava. The train was packed and I didn’t have a reservation. I was able to secure a fold down seat in the baggage area at the end of the car, riding with stowed bicycles and backpackers. I played a game for the four hour journey: shut my eyes and then look quickly out the window and draw whatever I happen to see. This sketch is the result.

See you in Bratislava.