November 2 - 285/365
11/4/10
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| Canon PowerShot SD600 |
Another work trip and overnight stay in a hotel. At least this hotel served Starbucks!
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
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September 4 - 247/365
9/11/10
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| 28-135mm lens @ 28mm, f/5, 1/8, ISO 800 |
August 5 - 217/365
8/28/10
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| 50mm lens, f/1.8, 1/100, ISO 200 |
July 6 - 187/365
8/16/10
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| 50mm lens, f/5, 1/640, ISO 400 |
May 25 - 145/365
6/18/10
Canon PowerShot SD600
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Another day of nothing but travel as we made our way from Frankfurt, Germany back to Baltimore, Maryland via Philadelphia. Pictured here is my passport and our ticket stubs for the trip from Germany to Philadelphia. We had a great time in Germany and Austria, but there is still nothing like home sweet home!
May 24 - 144/365
18-55mm lens @ 20mm, f/8, 1/160, ISO 200
Berlin - the capital of Germany and infamous for its struggle in the Cold War. The modern city was actually very nice - a pleasant surprise after all the stories we remembered hearing about Berlin when the wall was in existence. We stopped to tour the requisite sights, including the Brandenburg gate, the Parliament building, and even a great museum of German history. This museum was the best possible ending to our travels since it covered all of Germany's history which we had been learning in bits and pieces along the way. It helped put all of the historical events and stories we had learned into one big picture. Of course no visit to Germany would be complete without visiting one of the remnant pieces of the Berlin wall. At this particular part of the wall, which you can see decorated with Graffiti in the background, there was a guy dressed up as a military guard stamping cards with all of the stamps that you would have had to get to be able to cross the wall during the Cold War. It was touristy, but we thought it was a pretty cool souvenir from such a dramatic part of German history.
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May 23 - 143/365
18-55mm lens @ 20mm, f/11, 1/320, ISO 200
What an unusual sight, huh? I honestly have no idea where these ladies were going or why they were dressed the way they were, but we spotted them on our long walk through the gardens of Potsdam. Postdam is a small town just outside of Berlin and is most famous for its majestic palaces and lush gardens. We spent part of our afternoon wandering the gardens and stopping to visit the palaces, although unfortunately we were not able to tour either of the palaces because the wait was far too long to get into each of them. But the palaces and gardens were beautiful and these ladies added to the historic feel of the park. From here, it was on to our last destination in Germany - the city of Berlin.
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May 22 - 142/365
18-55mm lens @ 18mm, f/3.5, 1/15, ISO 800
Our second to last stop in the country of Germany was the city of Dresden. Close to the Czech Republic border, it was the most damaged city in all of Germany after World War II. As a result, most of the city has been completely rebuilt. We thought it was going to be pretty modern, and it was, but many of the buildings were rebuilt in with old-world style, still giving the city a historic feeling. This city was also the location of one of the best-known Lutheran churches in Germany, the Frauenkirche.
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May 21 - 141/365
18-55mm lens @ 40mm, f/10, 1/160, ISO 200
Another image of Rothenburg. This image better captures the old world feeling of the town. Like I said, one of my favorite towns in all of Germany. :-)
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May 20 - 140/365
18-55mm lens @ 39mm, f/5, 1/20, ISO 800
So I decided not to post any pictures from our one night/day in Nuremburg because our first night in the town of Rothenburg was much more memorable. Rothenburg was one of my favorite cities in all of Germany. It immediately transported you back to the middle ages with nothing but cobblestone streets, an old stone wall, and old buildings. But one of the most fun experiences we had was joining the midnight watchman's tour. The midnight watchman, pictured here, told funny stories about life in the middle ages and about the town of Rothenburg, with bits of humor mixed in. It was a very touristy experience, but so much fun that I didn't care. Highly recommended!
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May 19 - 139/365
18-55mm lens @ 18mm, f/9, 1/200, ISO 200
The city in this photo was just a stopping point on our long drive from Vienna to Nuremberg. The town, called Regensburg, was apparently one of the best preserved medieval towns in a country that was quite destroyed by World War II bombs. This town was largely untouched and a charming spot for us to enjoy a picnic lunch.
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May 18 - 138/365
6/16/10
18-55mm lens @ 33mm, f/10, 1/200, ISO 200
Our second day in Vienna was spent touring three of its amazing palaces - the Hofbug, Schönbrunn, and Belvedere. The Hofburg was the regular home of the Hapsburg royalty, and the Schönbrunn just outside of the downtown area was their summer home (away from the stench of the city in the summer heat). This photo was taken at the last palace we visited, the Belvedere, which was the summer residence of Prince Eugene of Savoy. Eugene was initially rejected from the French court of Louis XIV because he was "short and ugly", so he instead offered his military service to the Austrian Hapsburgs where he went on to become one of the most successful military commanders in modern European history. This photo is of the view Prince Eugene enjoyed of the city of Vienna from the Belvedere... not bad, huh? :-)
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May 17 - 137/365
18-55mm lens @ 18mm, f/5, 1/25, ISO 800
After one night in "Sound of Music" country, we made the long drive from Obertraun to Austria's most famous location, Vienna. We had been anticipating the beauty of Vienna and were surprised at the enormous size of the city and the surprising modernity of it. There were indeed many elaborate baroque style buildings, and of course the famous Hofburg palace which we toured the following day, but still it was not the jolt back in history that we had suspected. Still, we enjoyed touring the elaborately decorated palaces of Emperor Franz Josef and his troubled wife, Sisi, and sipping coffee in Vienna's high ceiling plus cafes. Today's image is of one of the churches that we stopped in to see in Vienna, Augustiner Kirche, a great example of the amazing Gothic architecture that was so prevalent in both Germany and Austria. It was also the site for many royal weddings, including the wedding of Franz Josef and Sisi, and the French Emperor Napolean to the Austrian Princess Marie Lousie. I especially loved this church because of the beautiful golden chandeliers.
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May 16 - 136/365
18-55mm lens @ 32mm, f/5, 1/40, ISO 200
"The hills are alive....." Welcome to Salzkammergut, the Lake Region of Austria, also fondly called "Sound of Music" country since it is the region that best represents the beautiful countryside featured in the movie. Since my husband is NOT a big fan of musicals (in fact, he almost abhors them), we did not spend time touring the "Sound of Music" sights, but we did stay one night in the lake region. This image is of a town called Hallstatt, and the town we stayed the night in, Obertraun, was just 5 minutes away across the lake. Despite the gloomy weather that was continuing to plague us, we enjoyed the beautiful views of the alpine villages set on the lake with the majestic mountains jutting up in the background. These towns were also well known for serving fish freshly caught in the lake, so we welcomed the opportunity to take a break from our pork-focused diet. Hallstatt is also known for its large salt mines which has been a huge source of income for the town for thousands of years, but unfortunately we arrived in town too late to take a tour of the mines. Still, we enjoyed the serenity and beauty of the Salzkammergut.
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May 14 - 134/365
18-55mm lens @ 43mm, f/7.1, 1/80, ISO 200
Day 2 in Munich! What a fun city. We had some great experiences in our brief 2-days in this Bavarian city, famous for its massive beer halls and men wandering the streets in lederhosen [yes - we saw lots of them dressed this way!]. It is hard to find one picture to capture all the fun experiences we had here and the sights we saw, so instead I chose an image taken from the top of a tower looking out toward city hall in the Marienplatz.
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May 13 - 133/365
6/11/10
18-55mm lens @ 29mm, f/7.1, 1/80, ISO 200
Germany has so many amazing things to see and great experiences to be had. Castles. Beer. Sausages. Mountains. Wine. The list goes on and on. But it is hard for me to imagine stepping foot into Germany without spending some time visiting its dark side.... the era of Nazi control and World War II. On our way from Innsbruck, Austria to Munich, Germany, we stopped to visit the Dachau concentration camp just outside the city of Munich. While Dachau is not as infamous as the camps that participated in the mass extermination of Jews, such as Auschwitz in Poland, Dachau was the very first concentration camp and the only camp to be operational for the entire duration of WWII. My husband and I have both visited the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., but as moving as that experience was, it was nothing compared to the feeling of touring the isolation cells, walking through reconstructed barracks where the laborers wasted away, and seeing the crematoriums where the masses of people which were worked and starved to death were cremated. The museum was packed with history from the rise of the Nazi political regime to the liberation of the camp by the Allies, and it will definitely be an experience we will never forget.
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May 12 - 132/365
18-55mm lens @ 34mm, f/4.5, 1/30, ISO 500
Ooh la la.... oh wait, that's French, and now we are in Austria. But regardless, this image is of one of the most historic chocolate cakes. The Sacher torte was created by 16-year-old Franz Sacher in 1832 on a short-notice demand from Prince Clemens Lothar Wenzel Metternich of Austria. The young chef quickly whipped up the now infamous Sacher torte which quickly became a dessert commanded by Austrian royalty, including the Empress Maria Theresia of Austria. Needless to say, being the chocoholic that I am, I had to have my very own piece of this historic chocolate cake. While I can't say that it was the best piece of chocolate cake I have ever had, it was still fun to eat a little piece of Austrian history in the town of Innsbruck, Austria. :-)
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