In addition to Budapest, I also had the chance to travel to Rome.

I haven't been back to Rome since I was 21 years old, which was...a long time ago. I had forgotten a lot more about the experience than I thought possible, but the feeling I had upon seeing the city was the same.

Rome is just mindbogglingly stupendous. For an artist, this is really it; the beginning of Western art, Berninis and Michelangelos are just scattered throughout the city, like "hey, no big deal, priceless work of art/pigeon rest".

I wrote a bit more about the general experience here.

I don't recall managing to make much time for sketching back then either, which is a real shame, because almost every corner in Rome is eminently sketch-able. But there is really so much to do and see, so tough decisions must be made. In the end, I relied a lot more on my camera than sketchbook.

But I did manage to squeeze out a few drawings, mostly while my feet were recovering from all the walking.