Sketching Around Prague

Since school has started my classmates and I have gotten into a routine.

Up at 7 a.m.

Breakfast at 8.

Leave for school at 8:30

Run to catch metro so we don’t have to wait for another one 8:42.

Have 9 a.m. class.

Find something to eat.

Class again around 2pm.

Find something to eat.

Get back to dorm by metro and walking.

Shower.

Sleep.

Repeat from “up at 7 a.m.”

But one thing in my routine (not mentioned above) is done each day, but it captures something unique each time.

What is this thing?

SKETCHING.

One of my classmates, Abe, and I have been trying to make it a point to go out walking around Prague and find a place to sketch each day.

Sketching something new brings excitement into my somewhat mundane routine.

Sketching relaxes me.

Sketching makes me happy.

Sketching helps me remember what I see (sketching is better than taking a picture). 

Sketching allows me to explore, even if it’s just changing a color of colored pencil.

I could go on….

I never know what I will end up drawing or what I will discover along the way of finding the perfect thing to sketch.

I enjoy how spontaneous sketching can be. It differs each time. Tonight, for example, Abe and I went out sketching tonight at 7 pm. It’s much different than sketching when it’s sunny outside.

Below are just some sketches that I’ve done over the past 2 days.

I think the sketch should speak for itself.

I hope to do many more, especially since the weather is oh so lovely this week (mid 70s!)

The Zoo Is No Place for Wild Behavior

When “zoo” comes to mind, one automatically thinks of animals.

But, what about thinking of people? Architecture? Landscape architecture?

Today I visited Praha Zoo (Prague’s zoo) and it reinforced my belief that a zoo isn’t only a place for animals but it’s for people too!

When people visit a zoo, their inner child comes out no matter how old they are. 

Praha Zoo is incredibly large in size. My two classmates, Michelle and Taylor, went with me this morning and arrived at 9:50 a.m. We didn’t leave until 4:15 pm. We didn’t even cover everything there was to be seen!

When we entered the zoo, there was a huge map with this above it.

The number was lower than 20 when we arrived. It counted how many people entered the zoo as soon as they walked through the gate. Around lunch the number read 2600 and when we left around 4 the number was over 4500.

When I bought my ticket, I was not given a map. Typically back home, maps are handed out free of charge, but in Prague, you have to buy one. Even though I didn’t have a map in my hand, there were plenty around to see where you were or where you wanted to go.

How do tourists find their way through a Czech zoo? I didn’t know what any of the signs said, so I had to rely on the graphics.  If it weren’t for graphic designers, how could I have gotten around? The graphics were great:  easy to understand and even pleasant to look at.

Back to talking about people….

Landscape architects do a fantastic job in terms of designing a zoo. Even if the walks up/down inclines was rough, there was always something pleasant to see. The trees made the walking far more relaxing. The trees weren’t just planted, they were integrated into the design of each exhibit.

For example….

Not many people think of the architecture in a zoo. The architecture isn’t fancy, but the use of materials is always fascinating to me. Take these two examples:

Each of these spaces has tree branches as an integral material to the design, but look at how different they are. Something as simple as how far the tree branches are spaced, their angle (flat or tilted), and surrounding colors creates different moods. I prefer the one where the branches are spaced further apart because I like the green and brown colors together.

Off to the side, facing an animal’s exhibit, was this interesting ground surface.  I looked down, expecting cobblestone, but instead was this:

How awesome is that? What a creative way to use trees. I absolutely love it. I’d love this to be outside my house.

There was a chair lift, off in the distance, so the three of us decided to ride it up and then back down. Here is the view:

I was terrified to be on this. Even though the view was great, I was clutching the sides of the seat. I’m surprised with myself that I could let go to take that picture. 

Once we got to the top, picture time!

 

Lunch today was great too. It was a lovely view, surrounded by trees and quite a few birds! Here’s my view from where I sat:

Here are some of my favorite animal pictures of the day.

 I love how colorful those birds are ^^^. If I could be a bird, I'd be a colorful one like this!

 Be a giraffe - - show off your long neck!

 My favorite animal is the otter. I watched the feeding today, but the woman feeding the otter only spoke in Czech. She also fed mice to the otter! Ahh! Ew. I tried drawing the otter today. It was great!

I encourage everyone to go to a zoo. Most definitely. And when you’re there, pay attention to ground surfaces, the landscape architecture, the simple architecture, along with the animals. I would love to go back to the Prague Zoo before I leave in December!

The Buzz of Prague

Are you afraid of bees? If so, don’t read this blog post.

I’m taking a course here at the Prague Institute called Bees and Beekeeping.  My professor is a professional beekeeper that works with honeybees. He works on his own land and has over 1,000 bee colonies. Today, some of my classmates and I went to the Bee Institute.

It was my first bee experience, but also my first train-ride in Europe.  The train was extremely quiet as it traveled through the scenic countryside of Prague.  Once we got off our train, we walked over to the edge of the river. Ahead of us was a boat and on that boat was my professor!  As soon as we got to the site, he took us to where the bees were in their wooden boxes.




The bee with the yellow and black colored “59” is the queen bee (see below). My professor said they label the queens so they’re easier to find. The queens have a different shaped body than the others because she has all of the bee babies! (see her in the photo? she's in the center and she has a yellow dot on her)


I got to pet the bees! I ran the back of my hand across the bees. It was ticklish and furry. I couldn’t keep my hand there for long, but it amazes me that the bees didn’t seem to mind.
Somehow one of the bees got on my shoe. It stayed there for so long, then crawled up the outside of my jeans.

Here’s beeswax:

We went into this room to taste different types of honey.
Some of them were surprising because of their texture and color. Some were grainy, some were dark, some had a floral taste, and some were tart.



Overall, I had a great time today! I bought some honey and even a chocolate bar (that has honey in it!). The chocolate is a lot softer and oh so delicious.
I am looking forward to the rest of my semester in Bees and Beekeeping!

Singing Loud and Clear

When you’re in Prague there are things you must experience.  The Opera is one of those experiences. I had never been to the Opera before last night.

Last night my classmates, the Prague Institute director, and I went to the National Theater to see the Rusalka Opera. The Prague Institute director said “It’s the Little Mermaid with an Opera ending.” My initial thought was 'I love the Little Mermaid! (thinking about the Disney film of the same name) This should be great.'

Some Czech people get completely decked out in their attire for the Opera. I was fortunate enough to bring heels with me, but unfortunate to be walking on cobblestone. But, I didn’t get my heel stuck in any cobblestone cracks, yay!

Once we began up the staircase, we were spiraling up in a very tight radius. Many of us reacted by saying things like “I’m getting dizzy”…"when is this going to end?" The staircase wrapped around so many times I had lost count.

The lobbies on each floor were beautiful. The craft of constructing buildings like this amaze me. The ornamentation definitely said “opera" because it was elegant.

When we finally reached the floor we were supposed to be on, we stepped into the theater.

Oh. My. Goodness.

Breathtaking. I was amazed at how much could fit into a small space. The ceiling is a circle, yet the stage isn't curved.

We had balcony seats and my seat was one seat off from center.

Beautiful for an architect or any citizen of Prague, right?

My expectations of the opera did not match what really occurred during my experience.

Preconception #1: There weren’t going to be subtitles. It would move me emotionally just by their singing and by their tone I could tell what was happening.

WRONG: Turns out I needed those subtitles to understand what was happening. There were sub-titles in Czech and English. The singing was fantastic and oh so beautiful. I would glance up at the screen and it read “My sea has plenty of goldfish.” I couldn’t believe it. How could something so beautiful sounding be about goldfish? The subtitles partially ruined the experience because the English almost "dumb-ed" down the perfection of the music.

Preconception #2: I would cry my eyes out because it would be incredibly emotional.

WRONG: By the end of it, I was so tired. I stopped reading the subtitles and just listened. It wasn’t as moving, emotionally, as I had planned.

Preconception #3:  It would be purely singing.

WRONG: There was dancing, a stage, people in the background, props, and even water on the floor. People even moved extremely slowly across the stage, making it difficult to take in the music with the words and actions. It took quite a few minutes for some to get halfway across the stage. People moved so slowly that you didn’t notice they were moving. One moment the main character is standing and moving extremely slowly down to the ground, so you look at something else, then look back at her and she’s laying on the ground. How long was I looking away?

One of the girls fell while she was crossing the waterbed on stage (I'm not sure how it worked, but there was a small cut out in the floor across the width of the stage, about halfway back, lined with a thin layer of water). She hit the ground hard. As a dancer with 15 years of experience, I felt so bad for her and sympathized with her.

Overall, it was a good experience. Some classmates left halfway through the Opera, but I’m glad I watched the whole thing. I can see how couples tend to go to the Opera together because the music, singing and atmosphere of the theater is romantic. 

The singing is remarkable. The orchestra was fantastic too. Only by comparison will i be able to know if this was a great performance or sub par. I am looking forward to another opera visit. Would I ever go to one in Charlotte? Maybe. I don't recall ever hearing of Operas being in Charlotte. Do we even have an opera there?

If your town ever has an Opera, you should definitely attend!

Looking Down

As I walk around Prague, which direction should I be looking? Up? Down? Behind me? Directly in front? Far away? Close up? I wish I had enough eyes to look at each of those. Today I spent a lot of time looking down, but in a variety of ways.

Let’s take a small scale of looking down:  one’s own feet.

Ever since my trip to Italy, I’ve been noticing ground surfaces. I’ve seen a wide variety of materials, textures, and patterns. But Prague is known for its cobblestone streets, yes? I imagined it being the same cobblestone pattern/color across all of Prague, but to my surprise, there is such a variety of cobblestone treatments.

Not many people consider the ground surface to be important. Who looks down to notice it? Maybe people don’t look down because there’s nothing special to notice?

I’ve noticed in Prague that the ground treatment changes a lot. Who thought cobblestones could be so interesting and versatile? A major difference I have noticed is that larger pieces of cobblestone are used for streets while smaller pieces are for sidewalks.

Why does the cobblestone pattern change? Is it marking an entry to a place? Why does it only last one block and then stop? What purpose does the patterning have?

I don’t know the answers to these questions, but I hope to study it more and find out. Here are quite a few examples of the cobblestone my feet have been on.

Next scale of looking down:  at highest point in city.

Some of my classmates wanted to go to the beer garden on the top of the hill. It sounded cool, so I walked there with them. Once we got to the top, it was breathtaking. I forgot about the beer and immersed myself in the view overlooking the city.

Like my post about framing views in Italy, where do you look first when the view is this large? I felt like a giant overlooking the city of Prague. Looking down at Prague, I felt the city’s true beauty. There aren’t air conditioning units/HVAC on top of buildings and no ugly roofs. You can see the city’s history, you see the red roofs that look so well together, and there aren’t many skyscrapers. Back in Charlotte, I appreciate our skyline. But seeing Prague with very few tall buildings was just as impressive as Charlotte’s skyline.

I never thought about people seeing architecture from above. In a city like Prague, where an overview of the city is easy to get to, it is important to care about the building’s ground level appearance as well as its top appearance.

Instead of drawing the view of Prague, I drew the view from where I sat. The beer garden was quite exquisite in terms of being an open park overlooking the city. Who wouldn’t want to spend their whole day here? 

As we walked, classmates went their separate ways, but Abe and I kept going. He suggested a spot to sketch, so I chose the view that had a courtyard below me along with a view of the Prague castle up in the distance.

I loved today. I enjoyed walking around but also experiencing the different scales of looking down. Maybe tomorrow I’ll spend my whole day looking up? Oh the possibilities!

And for you, what floor surface did you like walking on today?