Sep 25 2007

What I Did For My Summer Vacation by Joe M

Published by Joe at 9:27 am under Travel

This is not THE post, it’s A post about our recent trip to Europe. I shot over 1800 photos, all RAW. I’ve never shot RAW before so I have to find my way through processing and converting to a usable file type such as jpeg. Anyway, we spent two weeks in Europe: 3 nights in London, 2 nights in Utrecht (outside Amsterdam), 1 night in Manheim (Rhine Valley, Germany), 2 nights Lucerne Switzerland and 6 nights in Paris. We were blessed with near perfect weather the entire trip so most of the photos turned out nice with perky blue skies and zippity doo dah rays of sunshine.

Highlights include a [near] sunset “flight” on the London Eye. I say near sunset because when we asked what time the sun would set that evening so we could book our flight accordingly, the hotel staffer apparently provided us with the sunrise. I can’t complain though as this is London and there’s the language barrier to contend with and what not.

In Germany we stopped in the Black Forest. I was very taken by the beauty of the region and I intend to visit again. There in a little shop I bought a ridiculously huge limited edition stein which I may or may not ever see as I had it shipped. We also stopped at the Rhine Falls. I’ve never been to Niagra but Diana has and she says the Rhine Falls are much more picturesque albeit not as grand. I’ll provide photographic evidence of this soon.

In Paris we took a ride on ferris wheel which is set up only during the summer months. If you’ve been before, it’s situated roadside beside the Obelisk at Place de la Concorde at the foot of the Tuileries Gardens. I managed some pretty decent shots from our basket but they need a bit of work. I couldn’t keep the basket from swinging and spinning as I shifted about jockeying for the best position to shoot. Not such a highlight was our had-to-do-it visit to Paris Disneyland. I say had to do it because if I didn’t I’d be kicking myself wondering what I’d missed which was pretty much nothing. We did manage to steal a 15th Anniversary limited edition wine bottle which we’d bought while dining at their version of the Blue Bayou. We asked the waiter if the specially engraved bottle was a keepsake and he said absolutely not which we found strange so yeah, we smuggled it out of there.

I must say, I do enjoy museums. In London we visited the British Museum. There you can partake in these little free, short tours of specific areas. The tours are quite informative and bring a lot of meaning to some of the artifacts which can quite frankly all start to look the same after a while. You can only wonder at so many hieroglyphics before they all start to look like something an 8-year old put together. So we did that and another one in a library room which focused on the Age of Enlightenment. I’m all fascinated by that era and shit now. In Paris we visited the d’Orsay where you find paintings and art you’re likely to recognize. I get all into it when I visit the d’Orsay. I really need to brush up on my complete lack of art knowledge and stuff.

7 Responses to “What I Did For My Summer Vacation by Joe M”

  1. Daveon 25 Sep 2007 at 6:42 pm

    Hey! Welcome back to our side of the ocean!

    Dammit, you two have to stop going on awesome vacations without us.

  2. jackieon 26 Sep 2007 at 5:55 pm

    And US!

    I spit coffee on my monitor when I read about the English language barrier. Good night, I mean good morning.

    Did you have cake at the Black Forest?

    Diana did you hurl as he was jockeying around the basket causing it to swing and sway?

    Paris? Two words - Rose Garden. I’m hoping you got some flower shots for ole Jackie here.

    Heck yeah you deserved that wine bottle! Hoping you didn’t get any shards in your ass in the process.

    What are the best places to go for poop?

  3. Mernoon 26 Sep 2007 at 6:51 pm

    Just pointing out that you started a sentence in there with “I must say…” Apparently that language barrier was lower than you thought, guvnah.

    Did you totally lose your head when you saw Place de la Concorde for the first time?

    Paris Disneyland? Any crepes shaped like Mickey’s head? Yeah? Cool. Gotta be better than Disneyland Tokyo, because………….wait for it……………….no one there is tall enough to get on any of the rides. Hi-ooo!!!!!

    I was in Paris in 1990, right when everyone was pissed off about the pyramids being built as the new Louvre entrance. “What ees next, Cleveland?” they all said. Got some good pics of artwork inside that day; I ended up following a TV camera crew there, since they were lighting up everything nicely. Always knew the Mona Lisa was small, but oh my God.

    I was going to ask if you had time to visit the steamroller plant while in Manheim, but never mind.

    Jim

  4. Daveon 28 Sep 2007 at 4:55 am

    Jackie and Jim, yous comments is very entertaining, but…Paris = Rose Garden?

    A city that’s more than 2,000 years old, loaded with history, art, monuments, architecture, culture…

    That’d be like me going to Paris and asking where I can find the Apple Store. :D

  5. jackieon 28 Sep 2007 at 6:43 pm

    Hey Dave!
    Believe it or not Paris is as famous for it’s roses as many of the other things you mentioned. Josephine had one of the most famous rose gardens in history which is still there!
    Wine, linens, lavendar = Paris baby!!

  6. Joeon 01 Oct 2007 at 11:26 am

    I wasn’t aware Paris was famous for it’s roses but we did visit the Luxembourg Garden which was one of the highlights of the trip I failed to mention. There was a great deal of beautiful flowers. Some of them may have been roses. I took pictures. I post some and you can tell me what’s what.

  7. jackieon 01 Oct 2007 at 4:32 pm

    Cool Joe! I’m looking forward to seeing them
    :)

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