• Bonjourno Italia – Tuscany – Chianti Hills

    Day 1 Tuscany – Ok.  Umm.. wow!  There is a line in the movie Forrest Gump where he was describing his run across America and a beautiful sunrise he saw, “I couldn’t tell where the Earth stopped and Heaven began.”  Well, I think I have found it.  I am based at the small town of Gaiole, Tuscany.  The word “bellissimo” just doesn’t do it justice here.  The colour intensity of the flowers are so bright it hurts your eyes to look at them.  There are roses and flowers in every colour, long fields of olive groves, sunflowers, birds singing, vineyards and hills with old villa farm houses or castles on top of them.  Photographic fodder.  This afternoon we had a light shower of rain and I ventured out to grab some shots after it had stopped.  The water droplets on the flowers were just perfect.

     

    Funny thing on the way here my taxi driver was driving one handed whilst talking on his mobile phone, changing gears and steering with the one hand.  He was speaking in Italian and spoke angrily to the person on the other end of the phone.  He hung up in disgust (I think).  Then the phone rang again.  His ring tone on his Nokia was the Beach Boys – “Surfin USA” original song.  Then he started yelling again.  I just couldn’t help but laugh at the whole thing.

     

    Tomorrow I grab a vespa scooter and hit the road.  Time to explore with the camera.

  • Day 5 Paris

    Day 5 Paris started off early to see the Palace of Versailles.  As I walked down the corridor from my room the concierge was delivering the morning paper to guest doors.  “Bonjour Monsieur”.  I don’t think I could ever tire of hearing that.  Taking on board a friends advice to go early to the Versailles paid off as I could walk around the acres of garden grounds with hardly anyone else in sight.  I was able to take wide and high shots showing the large well sculptured and manicured areas without people in them.

    For those of you who don’t know the Versailles you can find info here about it.  In short the Versailles is basically opulence on steroids.  What an amazing display of 17th and 18th century french art and architecture.  I found myself entering into different sections/rooms and continually saying to myself, “you gotta to be kidding!”  Only by seeing it in reality can you take in all the spleandour of when Louis XIV in 1661 decided to turn a chateau into something a tad larger.

  • Day 4 Paris

    Day 4 Paris –  Spring has definitely sprung in Paris and it showed today in a big way.  Near perfect weather as I made my way along the river past Notre Dame.  I passed work commuters, joggers and grabbed this great snap of a man walking his dog along the old coble stoned pathway.  Walking along the lower level of the river gave me a different perspective of things.  I was able to study the underneath of bridges closely and see how they were made.  Some of the decorative designs on the bridge beams (some carved from wood) must have taken very long to create so many years ago.  I eventually made my way to Jardin Des Plantes where I discovered long rows of colourful flowers that lead up to the Grand Galerie de l’Evolution.  It doesn’t matter where you turn here (even when you’re lost) there’s always something magic to see and capture photographic wise.

  • Day 2 Paris

    Day 2 Paris started at 5am and I ventured to the Louvre and Notre Dame to get some sunrise shots.  On my way I stopped at the fountains of de la Concorde.  Being so early on a Monday there was no one else around so I felt I had all of Paris to myself to play in.  The morning light is beautiful here giving a subtle glow to everything.  Was very happy with some of the images I captured.

     

    During the day I visited the Grand Palace.  Currently it is holding the Daniel Buren Monumenta 2012.  It is huge inside and the 10mm lens came into play beautifully.

     

    Tonight I ventured to the Eiffel Tower and the Arc De Triomphe for some night shots. Just magic everywhere!  Extremely happy with the shots.

     

    Photography aside, I have a new found love in the food department.  Fresh made chocolat crepes!

  • Bonjour Paris

    Today was my first day in Paris and I can well and truly understand why this place is  photographed so much.  The people, its architectural brilliance and the history.  Straight from the plane and even before being allocated my room I saw an old man feeding small birds in his hand at a rather packed Louvre grounds on a glorious Sunday afternoon.  An artist enjoying painting purple Irises as they bloom.  On top of all this it was the Joan of Arc festival, to celebrate 600 years since her birth.  So was able to capture some nice images of a young woman dressed in armour aboard a white horse along with other knights walking down the centre of Rue de la Concorde.