While I was snapping some photos today near one of the lakes downtown, I took a photo of one of the seagulls, who immediately started squawking at me. I don’t think he was camera-shy, though. I think what he was saying was “hey, lady — see that building behind you? What you do think that building on the left is again?” Continue reading
One of the highest church steeples in the world is in Hamburg, at the original site of the Church of St. Nicholas. It was heavily damaged during the bombing during WWII, and after the war, the citizens decided to leave the ruins of the church as a monument to victims of the war in all countries.
Chris and I spent much of today on the train — well, on 2 trains, actually — traveling from Tübingen to Hamburg in the northern part of Germany. Chris has been invited to give a talk at a workshop here in Hamburg, and I’ve tagged along to see the sights. It took about 8 hours to complete the journey. I’d like to note that going to Hamburg from Tübingen is a longer trip than going to Paris from Tübingen; the latter trip takes less than 5 hours. I don’t know why, but it always strikes me as odd that one can go from where we live in Germany to somewhere in France in less time than it takes to get to somewhere else in Germany. Continue reading
In my blog posts about Verona, more often than not I have a photo or two (or four) of L’Arena and Piazza Bra. Continue reading
They — i.e. the people who write the guidebooks — say that part of the charm of Venice is getting lost on the back streets. That way, you’ll be sure to see the “hidden” Venice. By “hidden Venice”, they mean the non-touristy part of Venice. Continue reading
When I hear the phrase “the colors of autumn”, I think of the vibrant yellows, oranges, and reds that leaves can sometimes turn into in the fall. But once the leaves have started to fall from the trees, there’s another muted set of colors that also uniquely says “autumn” to me. Continue reading
The L’Arena amphitheatre in Verona is not in Piazza Bra, it’s next to it. And while I always take a few photos of L’Arena when we’re in Verona, I rarely show Piazza Bra itself. Which is surprising when you consider that there’s a fountain in the middle of the park that’s in the middle of Piazza Bra. I mean, I love taking photos of fountains, right? Continue reading
Yesterday the morning dawned sunny and cold, with clear blue skies after a period of rain overnight. In my first foray outside, I saw many enticing puddles with leaves and was inspired to go back to the apartment to get my “big” camera to try take some photos.
However, the nice weather apparently was what the street and sidewalk cleaning crews in Tübingen were also waiting for. So, in the time it took me to get back with my camera, the sweepers had been by the spots with their big machines on the sidewalks, taking away all the leaves and thereby disturbing all my glorious puddles. Ah well. There will be more puddles, I’m sure. Continue reading
When Chris and I go to Verona, we often will walk along the Adige River. While I usually take photos as we walk, I never seem to get around to doing anything with them, since I don’t know what all the buildings are that you can see from the walk and I never find the time to look it up. Continue reading
The challenge with taking outdoor photos at night is, of course, the fact that it’s dark outside at nighttime. For photos of people, you can use a flash, but if you want to take a photo of something as large as the Roman amphitheatre, L’Arena, in Verona, a flash just isn’t going to cut it. And while you can use an ISO setting with a high number to make the photo seem lighter, there’s only so much you can do even with those settings. The best solution is to use a tripod and take a really long (multi-second) exposure. But carrying a heavy tripod on vacation has never been something I’ve wanted to do. Continue reading