Pablo's Railroad in Argentina

Today, in our virtual tour of the world, we visit the Ferrocarril Piedra Baya. This grand scale railroad is owned by our friend Pablo Jäckel (who is turning the engine on the turn table) and makes its home the geographical center of Argentina at the foothills of the Comechingones Sierra. Pablo originally told the story of his railroad in the pages of the Grand Scales Quarterly magazine.

Pablo tells us how his railroad came about: The sadness of having to dismantle a large HO model railroad, gave way to “domestic” approval to try something bigger on our property —both as hobby and to carry passengers in the not so distant future (for we run a small tourist business). We llived 7 miles from the nearest town (Merle - pop. 5,000), which could be reached only by an unpaved country road. All the materials needed to build a RR had to come from other cities, like Buenos Aires, some 500 miles away. . .
If you would like to read Pablo's complete article, click here.

Sketch based on a photo by Pablo Jäckel.

On a beach in Antigua

After walking through the war torn remnants of Angola in my virtual travels, I needed a vacation! So I virtually hopped on a plane and flew to Antigua in the Caribbean. The country is actually known as Antigua and Barbuda but I only “visited” Antigua on this journey. I needed some serious beach time. I don’t remember the name of the beach but the water was such a gorgeous blue! And the palm trees were gorgeous, some even leaning out over the water.

Fortunately for me, most of the people speak English here. Many also speak a dialect that can be made up of English, various African languages and even some European languages. While English is more formal, the dialect is more colorful. For instance, if you hear someone say, “Wah eye no see heart no grieve”, it means, “What you don’t know won’t hurt you”.

The people can be very friendly and relaxed. And they use a phrase here that I learned in Jamaica many years ago: Soon Come. Life will take care of itself. Time is viewed casually. And people are more important then rigid schedules. Not a bad idea really.

Sketch above was done with pencil, watercolor pencils, and Pitt artist pen in my travel sketchbook. If I can get myself away from this beach I will head to another country . . . or just stay here awhile soaking up the sun.

Andorra

While visiting Andorra during my virtual tour, I came across this lovely bridge. Andorra, which is located between Spain and France, is a rugged land with deep valleys and towering mountains. Andorra was isolated for many years but is well-known now for its sports, including snow skiing, mountain hiking, and mountain biking. It is also known for its chapels, Romanesque churches, bridges

Tourism plays an important part in Andorra's economy but many people only visit on day trips from Spain and France. Apparently many take advantage of the duty-free shopping available here.

The country is very beautiful and there is much to see, both in nature and in history. They have several museums that look to be of interest, including the National Automobile Museum, the Miniature Museum, the Romanic Andorra Historical Center, the Farga Rossell Iron Interpretation Center, and the Sant Antoni De La Grella Bridge, which I sketched above.
I wanted to experiment with this sketch and used more color then the scene called for. It was sketched with pencil and watercolor pencils in my travel sketchbook.
If you would like to learn more about Andorra, MSN Encarta has an interesting article available.

Albania, Part II

I enjoyed the photos of Albania so much that I thought I would do another sketch before moving on to the next country. After all, travel should be relaxing, allowing you time to explore and learn about each place you visit, before feeling rushed to move on. So our next stop in Albania is the National Museum.

The National museum GJ. K. Scanderbeg was inaugurated in 1982. It is built in the Kruja castle on the left side of its entrance. It was built in Kruja because it was the center of the Albanian epopee in the fifteenth century during the war with the Ottoman empire. It's name is known all over Europe. Three sieges failed in 1450, 1466 and 1467 but the Ottomans were able to take the castle in 1478. The building serves as a memorial of sorts. To learn more about the museum, visit

http://www.muzeukombetarskenderbeukruje.com

This is the original sketch, done with pencil in my handy sketchbook. I decided to add color to it, which can be seen in the larger image above. Color was added with Derwent Watercolor Pencils. I decided that I liked the effect so didn't add water to the pencils.

This sketch is based on a photo by Besnik Saliu and is used with permission. Thank you Bednik!