Two Turtle Doves Take on Europe
Photographic selections from an unforgettable Christmas vacation.
For Christmas, I went on a European tour with my buddy Luke. Without much planning beyond travel and accommodation, we booked a weeklong trip stopping in Paris, Geneva and Munich. Over the course of this time, we both fought and defeated a three-day cold, met plenty of new strangers, tried lots of foods and saw the exterior of many tourist attractions (more advance planning could have secured us tickets during such a busy time of year). We passed hours upon hours in various cafés, trains and parks, and completed a good number of crossword puzzles along the way. At the very least, it was a welcome change of scenery and of pace when the routine of Spanish life was beginning to lose its luster. One of the ways I enjoyed myself on this trip was to continue practicing photography.
I'm glad that I was able to capture the flags of the nations we visited (also the free state of Bavaria). On top of this, I threw in a shot that I liked from each place that didn't fit thematically in any other gallery.
The lens I had installed on my camera sacrifices field-of-view for higher magnification, and thus many of the standard wide angle "this is a photo of a significant building" tourist shots were not available to me (I don't have a good one of the Eiffel tower, sorry!). With this unintended restriction, I made it my mission to use the tools I did have to capture textures and finer details that stood out to me. Here are some of the most successful photos I got with this method:
Some fun textures (mostly food) that I was able to see through my lens. America would be a better place if it was more typical to display foods and other delights in the open air outdoors.
On our first day in Geneva, Luke and I split and enjoyed the city solo so we could reunite and share our findings later. I probably spent 90 minutes exploiting the free public transit system, which includes buses, trains, trams and boats! I discovered this small museum which was essentially one guy's artifact collection, and that was alright. Later I stumbled across a really cool vintage shop and spoke with the owner for a good while about her experience and decision to open her own store.
A bunch of art I encountered in Geneva.
The following day we made a trip to the town of Chamonix in the French Alps. Although we didn't ski, the views from atop the peaks were breathtaking and worth the trek on their own. It was remarkable to be among the bustle of the town in what must have been one of its busiest days of the year. Vin chaud!
Various scenes from Chamonix. See if you can spot the skiers going down the hill!
As usual, I am going to finish with a small gallery of wildlife shots:
That dog in the red vest was unbothered. off leash. in his lane. serving.
ok bye bye...
