How'd my boat get there?

Fabrizio Bianco, our guide throughout the tour, had a few jokes that were repeated often. When we drove around Nice he mentioned that one of the boats in the harbor was his, and that he was surprised to see it moored there. We all laughed. When we passed another harbor, he said "How did my boat get here?" We went to Monaco and Monte Carlo (this was a shot from Monaco of the Monte Carlo harbor) and he asked again, and we all laughed again.

How crazy we would have all gone had we not had Fabrizio around to make us laugh? I wonder if there's ever been a study that looked at the similarities between tour groups and hostages. It seems to me that we all developed Stockholm syndrome while on this trip.

Side note: I cropped this to take out the massive sky; hence the wide angle look. Also, adjusted curves a bit to add a little needed contrast.

Pentax K200D
DA 18-55mm lens (@18mm)
f4
ISO 100
1/750 sec.

The takeover

This is the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina. It was changed into the church of San Lorenzo in Miranda. The most interesting aspect of this church/temple is not the fact the putting a cross on top of a pagan temple made it Christian, but that the door (barely showing to the left of the second-front pillar) was once at ground level. This temple stood in the Forum Romanum, and as Rome progressed through the centuries, new politicians and builders laid in new ground until a new Rome was layered right over top of the old Rome. In fact, the Rome of Julius Caesar was considerably lower than the streets that I walked.

Pentax K200D
DA 18-55mm lens (@18mm)
f6.7
ISO 100
1/125 sec.

A doorway to...

The bus was about to leave, and everyone was ahead of me, but I couldn't help but stop and take this picture. I don't know what the doorway leads to, but given how enthralled I was with Siena, I am going to assume it was someplace magical. Possibly a land where everyone eats fritelle (cinnamon and sugar coated deep-fried pastries) all day long, and no one works, and every morning all the people find money in their shoes...it could happen...I'm not tired...

Pentax K200D
DA 18-55mm lens (@31mm)
f9.5
ISO 200
1/6 sec. exposure
No Flash

Matador

This matador (or whatever the French call a matador - this was shot in Nimes, France) stands outside the Amphitheatre in Nimes. The amphitheatre in the background is still used today for bullfights and concerts, despite being almost two thousand years old. Its construction was completed about thirty years after the Colosseum in Rome, so about 100 A.D.

A few of my students admitted to feeling up the matador's backside, as it is well sculpted and firm, but I think that's owing to the bronze and not exercise.

BTW, hit your f11 button at the top of your keyboard to see more of this photo at once.

Pentax K200D
DA 18-55mm lens (@ 24mm)
f11
ISO 200
1/125 sec.

Siena at Sunset

The highlight of the trip (besides falling into the Mediterranean in Barcelona) has to be Siena, Italy. Siena is an ancient city on a hill, and its Roman origins date back to the time of Augustus. My affection for this stop on our nightmarish schedule is due to the surprising nature of this city. I walked down implausibly narrow streets, only to turn a corner and be met with a thousand year old hospital or the Siena Duomo or the Piazza del Campo (the city square).

The tree in the foreground is a Mediterranean Pine. They are everywhere in and around Mediterranean Italy, and I want one in my yard. They look like big bonsai trees.

Also, there is nothing like standing in a square where James Bond has chased a bad guy (see the beginning of Quantum of Solace).

Pentax K200D
DA 18-55mm lens (@24mm)
f4
ISO 200
1/750 sec.

Cellini on the Ponte Vecchio

Benvenuto Cellini's statue stands on the Ponte Vecchio. It is an interesting memorial of a man responsible for many sculptures around the city of Florence.

What is weird is that the railing that surrounds the statue is covered with padlocks. The locks are left there by lovers who pledge their eternal love to each other by closing the lock and tossing the key into the Arno River. Eternal love...that lasts until the city officials cut the locks off once a month. So much for eternity...

Pentax K200D
DA 18-55mm lens (@21mm)
f4.0
ISO 100
1/125 sec.

St. Peter's (again)

Okay, so if you go back a week(ish) you'll find almost the identical photo, but if you look closely you'll notice this is a different angle. Also, the bottom left of this photo has the top of Bernini's work St. Peter's baldacchino in it.

The awe I felt was all-encompassing, and I couldn't help but look up every couple of minutes just to remind myself that I really was there in St. Peter's.

Side note: I adjusted the contrast a bit (in curves), and cropped off a small chunk on the left.

Pentax K200D
DA 18-55mm lens (@18mm)
f3.5
ISO 800
1/15 sec.
No Flash

Cemetery in Nice

During the hour (or so) that we had as free time in Nice, France, a small group elected to climb up the hill above the old city to a lookout. When I got to the top I heard someone say, "This is it..." and, without thinking, I assumed we were at the top. There was an additional climb that offered an even better view of the city. Oh well.

I took a tour through the "Cimetiere Israelite", a Jewish cemetery with a Holocaust memorial. The cemetery is crowded, as you can see from the photo above, and most "graves" are family burial vaults.

Pentax K200D
DA 18-55mm lens (@35mm)
f4.5
ISO 100
1/350 sec.

Roma moon

We spent most of the first full day in Rome on our own. A wonderful guide named Carla took us through the Colosseum and the Roman Forum, and then we were set free for six hours. We started out at the Piazza Colonna and ended up back there. I came back to the Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emanuele II six hours after I saw it for the first time and the sunset was playing off the windows of very expensive condos.

BTW, hit F11 and you'll see this without your browser window getting in the way.

Pentax K200D
Chinon 50mm lens
f1.4
ISO 100
1/6 sec.

Nice in the a.m.

Okay, so this is what you call faking out your camera. I ramped up the aperture to 32 in order to let less light in, which in turn required me to slow down my shutter speed. The objective was to catch the wave as it broke and blur it, while keeping everything else in focus, all the way back to the city of Nice in the background.

Oh yeah, this is Nice on the Cote d'Azur, btw. I think it works. What do you think?

Pentax K200D
DA 18-55mm lens (@40mm)
f32
ISO 100
1/10 sec.

Amphitheater

In Nimes (pronounced Neem), France, there is this working amphitheater built around the same time period as the Colosseum in Rome. It's about 1900 years old, and the city of Nimes still uses it for bullfights and other entertainment. The best part is they've never installed guardrails around the top, so when you amble up the ancient seating you are rewarded with an unobstructed and completely unsafe view of the city.

Pentax K200D
DA 18-55mm lens (@38mm)
f16
ISO 100
1/20 sec.

Geometry

I think that my favorite part of the trip to Italy was seeing the geometry of these massive buildings. I like how the multiple curves of the Colosseum all work together and yet seem at odds with each other. When you stood above it all it made sense, but from down below there were all of these surprises.

Pentax K200D
DA 18-55mm lens (@30mm)
f6.7
ISO 100
1/500 sec.

Spices in Nice (France)

While visiting Nice, France we were given not near enough time to peruse the market, or climb the hill overlooking the Mediterranean coast. I tried to do both. I made it through the market and bought my lunch from a bread vendor; I bought fougasse au fromage, and then climbed the hill while eating (never made it to the top, but I did walk through Nice's Jewish cemetery).

On a related note, this spice market smelled so earthy, so good, that I had to photograph it.

Pentax K200D
DA 18-55mm lens (@23mm)
f11
ISO 100
1/6 sec.
No Flash

Florence

I climbed the 463 stairs of the Duomo (of the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore) to get this picture. Actually, I climbed the stairs because the view of Florence was amazing and I paid 10 Euros to do it. I think that if you don't die climbing those stairs, the spiral stairs of death, they should at least give you back 5 Euros.

Anyway, this is a window to one of the many candelabra that adorn the exterior of the Duomo, and a window to the South part of Florence. The tower in the distance is the Palazzo Vecchio.

Pentax K200D
DA 18-55mm lens (@18mm)
f6.7
1/125 sec.
ISO 100
No Flash

I'm back.

So, my trip to Europe (Italy, France and Spain) was amazing, and for the next few weeks I'll try to post some pics from my trip.

This is the dome in St. Peter's Basilica. The latin letters around the base are all 2 meters tall and the whole thing is decorated in mosaic (despite that it looks like painting). Also, it's the only thing that wasn't worked on by Michelangelo (he destroyed his own plans before he died so that no one could take credit for his work - I know, nice guy).

Pentax K200D
DA 18-55mm lens
ISO 800
f3.5
1/20 sec.

Ben

It's Ben's birthday today. He's five, and I couldn't be more proud of my son. I love him more than I ever thought I could love anyone.

Happy birthday, Ben. I'm looking forward to watching you grow into a man. You'll be awesome.

Pentax K200D
Chinon 50mm lens
f1.4
ISO 800
1/15 sec. (hence, the slight blur)
No Flash

Food I don't eat...

Doesn't this food look great? The best thing about this picture is that there's only one thing in there I would eat, because I'm picky like that. BTW, it's the red pepper I would eat. The rest makes me uncomfortable...seriously.

Pentax K200D
50mm Chinon lens
f1.4
ISO 400
1/30 sec.
No flash

Gift of Sunset

I got home late, and in an attempt to take my mind off the upcoming assembly at school, the floor hockey tournament, the information meeting tomorrow at lunch, and the trip to Europe that I don't feel ready for, I asked my family to take a walk after dinner. The walk was wonderful, and the universe presented me with this beautiful scene right outside my door.

I feel better now.

Pentax K200D
50mm Chinon lens
f1.4
ISO 100
1/2000 sec.

Her eyes

The girl with the pearl earring, sans earring, and Dutch headwear, and painting ability. BTW, the only thing I did in PS was desaturate the picture; all the graininess comes from shooting at 1600 ISO in low light.

Pentax K200D
50mm Chinon lens
f1.4
ISO 1600
1/20 sec.
No Flash