OK. I’ve been back home for about a week now, and the jetlag’s finally gone. I’m not waking up at 4 am any more. However, I am pretty much tied to the drawing table those hours I am awake, so it really doesn’t make much difference anyway.
I got outside once yesterday, at about 9 pm, to sit on the front steps for a while. Also to scare a raccoon, although that was unintentional.
Vienna and Prague seem like a million miles away right now. I’ll try to have a summary of Vienna Fantasy Gaming Con 2004 up sometime soon. As I said, it was truly a spectacular time.
What was an added bonus, though, was the warmth and friendship The Lovely and Talented Judith and I were shown by our hosts. We stayed with a family in Vienna’s sixth district (I seem to remember), a short walk away from the main historic and shopping centers. Julia and Clemens (our hosts) made us feel completely at home, and on top of everything, fed us like you couldn’t believe. Apart from being just great, great people, Julia is also a fantastic cook.
They have a fantastic apartment, very modern and cool, and our room had a terrific view of the rooftops of the old city. We spent a day traipsing around the downtown, visiting various Hapsburg palaces, drinking great coffee and amazing beers.
Well, the day we were to take the train to Vienna, Julia approached me with a question, and a couple of pairs of giant Magic Markers.
“Would you draw on our walls?”
DRAW on your WALLS? Those gorgeous, giant white walls? You’re kidding, right?
Well, she wasn’t kidding.
In fact, I was happy to do it…but petrified, at the same time. Especially when I realized the scope of the project. I just didn’t want to ruin their beautiful apartment. So I started sketching Igor, Carson and Gilly in a small corner, out of sight of everything. Just, y’know, in case I screwed up….
“No, no, no,” Julia laughed. “We want you to draw THERE!”
She was pointing to the very center of the room, on the stairway wall leading upstairs.
I panicked.
But how can you say no to such cool people? People who, apparently, had no idea that a single mis-step with a pen would send their property values plummeting?
So I made sure I did a LOT of pencil work first. But you know what? It didn’t turn out too badly, if I do say so myself. I think the gods of cartooning knew that these were great people who did NOT deserve to have their walls ruined. Grin.
So anyhoo, here is the World’s Largest Dork Tower, located in Vienna, courtesy of Julia and Clemens…two of the coolest people Judith and I have ever met!
