Tuscany Bike

This photo was taken on a random side street while in Florence. The wife and I decided to take the long way around the city so we could get a feel for the touristy spots as well as the “normal”/residential areas. If you are ever in Italy, Florence is a must. Easy to navigate and a great walking city.

This is an interesting photo for me. When I originally took the shot, I was focused on the bike as I was taking pictures of things that reminded me of the city…sort of photographic souvenirs. But after I uploaded the photo and saw it on my computer screen, I was really drawn to the door. I love the wood grain, colors and textures of the door. Look at the way the light is hitting the door and the stone below the door. I’m digging that. In hindsight, I wish I had focused more on the door instead of the bike…oh well 🙂

British Dog in France?

One thing I noticed when I first arrived in Europe was the dogs…the are everywhere! Most of us in the U.S. are accustomed to seeing dogs on leaches or in fenced in yards but that’s not how the Europeans roll. In Europe, dogs seem like they are free to roam as they please. The funny thing is, most of them are extremely well behaved. They didn’t bark or chase anyone. They didn’t even beg for food…it was very strange.

While walking through Villefranche, I came across this dog that looked like he wasn’t enjoying life at the moment. I’m not sure if his owners had him in France on vacation, but it looks like his allegiance may be to another country.

Barcelona Street Art

One morning while in Barcelona, my wife (still feels weird to say that) and I decided to take a walk through the city. On our travels we went past some beautiful areas but we also ventured down some pretty shady streets…every city has it’s “bad” spots. On the way back to the hotel we walked past this utility box which someone decided to “decorate”. The funny thing is, the “graffiti” actually spruced up the area. I guess not all graffiti is bad 🙂

Florence Love Locks

While on our honeymoon, instead of collecting souvenirs I decided to take one photograph in each place that represented something unique about that area. This is actually really fun and it makes you really look and think about what catches your eye about the areas you are visiting. I’ll be posting more if these “souvenir” shots from the various cities we stopped at while on the cruise.

I’m not sure what the significance is but in Florence, Italy (around the Ponte Vecchio) there are hundreds of locks attached to chains, hooks, fences and pretty much anything you could get your hands on. Seeing public spaces that have been vandalized usually gets me all fired up but this was actually quite charming. I’m going to do some digging to see if I can figure out exactly why people are placing locks in this area…I’ll update the post if I even find anything. Please leave a comment if you know why people are doing this in Florence.

**Update**

Apparently, these are called “love locks”. The following is from Wikipedia:

“Love padlocks are a custom by which sweethearts affix padlocks to a fence or similar public fixture to symbolise their love, beginning in the 1980s, in the centre of the southern Hungarian city of Pécs.”

“In Florence, Italy, love padlocks have been affixed to the railing around and near the statue of Benvenuto Cellini located at the centre of the Ponte Vecchio.”

Back from the Honeymoon

Hello readers!

Well, I’ve been home for about a week now after two weeks in Europe. Sadly, two weeks was not enough time to see everything…I think you would need 2 years! All in all, we had a great time. The weather was perfect, the seas where calm and we saw some amazing places. Over the two weeks I took about 900 pictures using only the GF-1 with the 20mm f/1.7. I’ll be sharing some of the pictures and thoughts about the GF-1 over the upcoming weeks. Overall, I was very pleased with this camera and I think it is great for travel & use when the 5D is just too much camera.

Below is one of the first shots I took with the GF-1. The first stop on the cruise was a town called Villefranche in the south of France and it was absolutely beautiful. It’s a quaint little town without the touristy feel of other cities (e.g. Nice) which is exactly what I was looking for. The narrow streets are lined with cafes, shops and small local businesses. I love the rustic feel that these historic coastal cities have…everything is so different than what we see here in the states.