Kaunas Day One:

Arriving late on the Tuesday evening, my first setback came when the receptionist at the hotel refused to accept my (or any) credit card. This meant I had to use my hardearned Euros, which in turn meant that I had to get to an ATM at the earliest opportunity.

The receptionist only spoke enough English to tell me I had to pay cash and to tell me that the 51 and 57 buses went into town. Not where they went from. There was a bus stop outside the hotel, but it didn’t say that either bus stopped there. I walked about half a kilometre to a crossroads, and saw what looked like a shopping mall away off into the distance along the left hand turning. Having bought a bottle of water inside, I came out to find that this was where the 51 and 57 buses turned round. 

Once in town I found an ATM fairly quickly, and this meant I could begin to explore properly, and to sketch.

Kaunas is big on great churches, but terrible for maps or signposts. This huge hunk of baroque and roll provided me with a very useful point at which to get my bearings. It’s the Archangel Michael Roman Catholic Church, and stands at the end of Laisves Aleja, a long and impressive pedestrianised thoroughfare through the centre of Kaunas, which is rather like a Parisian Boulevard. And it is utterly massive. Guess how many people stopped to compliment me on my sketch while I was making it? That's right, none. I have only got a day's experience to base this on, but the good people of Kaunas seem rather like East coast Scots to me - they're not the most demonstrative of people, but they are actually very kind, and I expect that once they're taken with you, then you've got a friend for life.

At the other end of the Laisves Aleja is Vilnius Street, and this leads down into the Old Town. I like the Old Town, although it doesn’t possess the narrow, crooked streets that the name ‘old town’ maybe conjures up. No, I walked through pleasant wide streets, lined with fine baroque buildings, until they opened up in the town hall square.

I've already posted my sketch of the Vytautas the Great Bridge, which is close to the Old Town, and a trolleybus, but I also made on more sketch on this first day. This is just behind the Town Hall, and is part of a seminary which forms one corner of the square.

Lithuania - Kaunas Sketchpedition 2018 Required Elements

Kaunas is the second city of Lithuania, and for a brief time it was actually the temporary capital city of the newly independent nation in the 1920 and 30s while Vilnius had been annexed by Poland. Its interwar Art Deco architecture has earned it world heritage status, and is very much a leading centre for Lithuanian cultural life. 

In my opinion, it is a developing, rather than developed tourist destination. A lot of necessary tourist infrastructure is there - loads of hotels to suit all budgets, and what seems to me to be an excellent public transport network of buses and trolleybuses. However, the centre of Kaunas is not at all well signposted - well it's not signposted at all. Once you've found the Old Town there is a tourist information Office in the Town Hall Square. It was never open during my visit, but did have a couple of very helpful maps n the wall outside, which I photographed on my kindle. English use is not very widespread at all.

As for the required elements, well:-

* Ride a tram. Ride the Metro

Kaunas has no trams. Nor does it have a Metro system - which is hardly surprising considering the country's troubled history through the late 19th and 20th centuries. It does however have trolleybuses : - 

Generally I found Kaunas public transport - trolleybuses, ordinary buses and minibuses to be exceptionally cheap and reliable. 

*  Seek out and sketch the city's signature bridge

There's only 4 bridges in Kaunas and none of them are exactly world beaters. However this was my favourite.

This it the Vytautas the Great Bridge, built in 1948, during the 5 decades of Soviet occupation. One thing I like about Kaunas is that although there are reminders of Lithuania's trouble history throughout the city, it doesn't rub your face in them, and for all of this there is a feeling of looking towards the future. 

* Take a Boat sightseeing trip along the river

It is possible to do this in Kaunas. Not in April, though, for the company running the boats only operates from May - September. 

* Get up high and have a look over the city - preferably by funicular if they have one

They do have a funicular railway, which runs from the end of the Vytautas Bridge. The only real problem was that once I got to the top, there really wasn't a great view across the river to the Old Town. There should have been, but the viewing platform was fenced off, and there were trees obscuring the view from all other points. 

Tuesday 10th April: Kaunas, Lithuania

Yes, I set off on my first European trip (expedition is probably too grand a title) of 2018 in a couple of hours. Hence my sketch here of my rucksack and one trainer, both of which are going to be putting some long hours in for me over the next few days.

This is my all purpose rucksack, and I have to say that it's done sterling work over the last couple of years. I've taken it on every European sketching trip since Ieper 2016, and in fact after taking it as a subsidiary bag along with a suitcase on trips to Ieper and Prague, I actually used it as my only bag on the trips to Berlin and Budapest, and it worked perfectly. It's also the bag I use whenever sketching at home.

I'll post sketches I make in Kaunas, but it all depends on what the wifi in my hotel in Kaunas is like - other wise it will have to wait until the weekend.

Back to my old home town

You know, it's a shame for me to admit it, but I don't think that I've ever previously sketched - as opposed to doodled - Tower Bridge. I say that it's a shame for me to admit it, because I am a born Londoner, although it's more than 3 decades since I moved away. It's doubly so, because I love bridges, and Tower Bridge is one of the world's most iconic bridges.

Here's a line and wash sketch I made last weekend.

I deliberately left the interior of the restaurant as plain line drawings. It's an effect I saw another sketcher use recently, and I really liked the way it turned out.

I searched through some old files, but I've made very few sketches of London. Last summer, while waiting to play in my Brain of Mensa semi final around the corner, I sketched the Tate Britain: -

and maybe 18 months ago I sketched Maida Vale tube station - don't ask.

Even Closer to Home - Swansea

Swansea is the nearest city to my home. It's a city with an industrial heritage which goes right back to the industrial revolution, and a maritime heritage which goes back further, although it only received the Royal Charter granting it city status during my own life time, in 1969, to commemorate Prince Charles' investiture as the Prince of Wales.
Here's a selection of my Swansea sketches: -

The full figure just above is Captain Cat, a character from Dylan Thomas' play for voices, "Under Milk Wood". That play is set in the fictional Llarregub, which is supposedly based on the sleepy seaside village of Laugharne, further west along the coast of the Bristol Channel. However Dylan himself was born in Swansea, and as one of the most important poets of the 20th Century Swansea is justly proud of him, and actually takes its role as a cultural centre for the area very seriously. This statue, and the statue of the seated Dylan Thomas himself also picture above, are in Swansea Marina, and literally yards away from the Dylan Thomas Theatre and centre for the arts. 

The Marina itself was constructed from the Swansea South Dock, which was closed at the end of the 1960s. It took over a decade for plans to be approved and for construction to be carried out, but the Marina now is possibly the most vibrant and interesting area close to the centre of the city. If you look at the sketch on the immediate left, you can see the Pump House restaurant which was built inside the shell of the Victorian former pumping house of the docks.  Fairly close by are two of the country's collection of Historic Ships which are moored outside the Waterfront Museum, which is the more modern and interactive of the two museums close by, and which pays special attention to the city's Maritime and Industrial History.

As I've already mentioned, the Marina is one of the more vibrant areas of Swansea. This next sketch shows the luxury flats which have been built on the old docks, and also gives a hint of the wide variety of boats moored there. Funnily enough, despite me saying it's a vibrant area, which it is, I do find it a calming and peaceful experience to take a sketchbook to the Marina in the middle of the day, and just sketch anything that takes my fancy.

One historical fact that most people who don't live in or near Swansea don't tend to know, is that Swansea was the home of the world's first ever passenger railway. It opened in 1807, but it was horse drawn rather than steam powered for several decades. In the 20th century it was really a tramway, although the decision was made to close it in 1960, scrap the trams, and rip up the tracks. Sadly only one front end of one tram remains, and this is on display in the tramshed adjacent to the Waterfront Museum, which you can see in the sketch alongside. 

The Waterfront Museum houses a replica of Richard Trevithick's first ever steam locomotive. This actually first ran in relatively nearby Merthyr Tydfil, which problems with the cast iron rails cast doubt on its potential. Trevithick was one of those inventors who sadly never received much wealth from his invention, and had to watch credit go to later work by the Stephensons, amongst others. 

Close to Home - Cardiff

Just a couple from another capital city - Cardiff - capital of Wales. We have the Cardiff Central Railway Station: -

and also a statue in the National Museum of Wales called "The Drummer Boy"

- And the lucky winners are: -

Yes, now that Christmas has been I can reveal my next two destinations. For once, only one of them is actually a capital city.

The Easter winner is . . .

Kaunas, Lithuania

Yay. I'm much looking forward to this. I've been telling people how much I enjoyed my visits in 2017 to East Europe, but being honest, although those of us raised during the Cold War might well think of Czech Republic, Eastern German and Hungary as being part of Eastern Europe, they aren't really. They're Central Europe - which I love. But there's o argument that Lithuania is East Europe.

Been doing my bit of research on Kaunas, and there's plenty for the urban sketcher to get his or her teeth into, albeit that it doesn't seem to have trams or a metro system!

Then we have the Summer winner - which is . . .

Madrid, Spain

Yes, Madrid. Now, okay, I admit that I've visited Spain many times - in fact it's a toss up whether I've spent most time in Spain or France among mainland European countries. Bit, the fact is that almost all of the time I've spent in Spain has been on or near to the Med. I've never visited Madrid before - in fact the sum total of my big city experience in Spain amounts to one day in Barcelona - a great city in it's own right, I hasten to add.

Another capital city to cross off the list - can't wait.