Alison: How I spent my summer vacation.

I have always preferred The Brothers Grimm to Hans Christian Andersen.

And I have to admit, I love elves and fairies. In the sense that they live in the little holes made where the roots of a tree are exposed in a forest. Germany has elves.

I sit in a church and feel the layers upon layers of lives and history, and the energy of spirits of people who have lived so many hundreds of years before me.

I had time to myself for a while, and I'm keeping a journal. A soft black leather one with a long strap I tie around the journal. So in the quiet I sketched. And made notes. I love it here. It fits my personality. I love the depth that time has here and I love the art that comes from all that time.

Here is where I stayed, in Leipzig.

Isn't it beautiful? Romantic cobblestone roads, a bakery right across the road, 15 minutes by tram to the center of the city, great food right around the corner, a fruit stand on one side, a flower shop on the other and a bohemian type commune on the bottom floor of this building. I feel like Audrey Hepburn in Funny Face except this is not Paris. But it is Europe.


Leipzig is (well was, really) the home of J.S. Bach. He knocked around on the organ in Tomaskirche:
(That's a side door and a remote corner of the church.)


These are a few of my inspirations. Colors in Dresden (which is mostly a grey city, really),


A beautiful costume in a crowded festival in Dresden,

Lyrical fairy tale statues, also in Dresden,



The play of morning light on a building in Leipzig,

Funny little characters on signs advertising children's books,


I love the light in this church in Dresden. Most of the walls are new, as this church was badly damaged in WWII. It is called the church of the cross because a splinter of Jesus' cross was given to the church in 1200. I like the play of the hanging light against the windows.


We spent a day in Berlin, where I had an amazing currywurst mit brochen, weisswurst und pommes in Leipzig, and the brochen is always good. It will be hard to leave this all behind.

But my flight leaves tomorrow. And I am looking forward to working on my dolls again. This trip has been really good.