We finished up the week in Helsinki. BTW, it is good to be theTravelsketcher in action again.

On Saturday we flew FinnAir to Prague, took the light-rail into town and walked the cobblestone streets to our hotel, which was just off the Old Town Plaza – home to their famous Astronomical Clock, and a lot of tourists. I did multiple sketches while in Prague of the clock and the people waiting to see its hourly chime.

Of course Prague is much more than its clock, we found it to be a jewel so we logged many steps on our iPhone Pedometer.

One of the most interesting, albeit sobering, spots was the old Jewish Quater, which included the old cemetery.

In one of the buildings, the names of those who were rounded-up and shipped to camps are listed on the walls. And another display is of the meeting point where they were forced onto trains – a vivid reminder of the horrors that happen when groups of innocent people are violently abducted and sent away.

One of the most interesting places we went was to the Pilsner Urquell Experience, an interesting museum about the history of pilsner and how it is made. Bavarian brewers had discovered that by brewing in cold caves the yeast sank to the bottom, instead of on the surface as was more common, which is how ales are made. The city of Pilsen used that technique to produce a light, crisp, golden beer – they made the style famous. 70% of the beer drank today is lager or pilsner.

We did take a lot of breaks, one of our favorite spots was Bar & Books. Which was a good place for a sketch.

Yesterday we flew from Prague to Podgorica in Montenegro. Then took a 90 minute taxi ride to Kotor. The driver took narrow, frightenly so, roads to give us great views – it was like a tour.

We found our apartment in the heart of the walled city of Kotor, newly remodeled, in fact we are its first tenants. We dropped off our bags and headed out for some lunch, and of course a sketch.

While I was sketching this a man stopped by, probably a bit older than I am, looked over my shoulder, then told me I was sketching a building that was his father’s. There were flags in abundance since yesterday was Montenegro’s independence day.

We will be here for over a week so there is a lot more to come. Tricia just posted a bunch of photos from the last week in Prague and a couple from Kotor, check them out.

Our journey is off to a good start, thank you for joining us. As always I love your thoughts. I do hope you are getting your sketching gear out and capturing your moments.