I’m back from my 11 day bounce around Europe. Our last stop was Florence, Italy. From there we drove out into Tuscany to visit Pisa and then Sienna. It wasn’t the most logical route but the journey between the two was beautiful, as was the drive back from Sienna to Florence.
Pisa is famous for the leaning tower, but the inside of the cathedral may be more jaw dropping.
There’s a lot of detail here, so I’ve linked the photo to a larger version… just click it for a better look.
I’ve finally gotten my laptop sorted so can get back into processing photos, just in time for me to head off to Europe and take some more. I’m flying out on Wednesday and will be visiting Amsterdam, Barcelona, Florence and London.
For now though, here’s a picture of Mount Island I took earlier this year, complete with turquoise waters.
Here’s another shot of the beautiful fountains in Antigua, Guatemala. Antigua really is a beautiful city in range of some breathtaking areas outside town, like Lake Atitlan. Three days really wasn’t enough time to spend in the place, I’d love to go back there.
After the stifling heat of Flores and Tikal it was a relief to get to the cooler climate this area has to offer.
It’s been a while since I’ve made a post. It’s been a pretty hectic couple of weeks with cupmatch and a stag one weekend after the other. On top of that, my usual laptop decided to stop working on me so I’ve been using my old one, which I was shocked to find still works, kind of.
It may be debatable as to whether or not I can claim this photo. I really wanted to get a good shot of a yawning hippo. While on a booze cruise, I had the camera all set and had been trying to catch it on avail. My travel buddy, Harleigh, asked to look through the camera to get a closer look at what was a pretty inactive hippo. Just as she pointed the camera at him, this happened. Harleigh reacted and held down he shutter button, firing off about a dozen shots. This was the best of the bunch.
As I pushed the shutter button to take this photo I nearly got really lucky as two toucans flew through the frame. But, the two second timer I had on the camera let them fly out of shot.
Here’s another shot from my visit to Tikal, Guatemala. After winding our way through the royal palaces, we came to this absolutely stunning view of the temples just as the sun’s rays bathed the area in golden light.
I think this is my best shot from my evening on Police Beach last week. The sun dropped below clouds on the horizon and the ones you can see here turned dark grey shortly after taking this shot.
Tikal was hot, really really really hot. The room I stayed in didn’t have any air-conditioning, all I had was two little fans. So, I’d have a few beers and read a bit of George Orwell’s 1984 to get me to sleep. This worked to get me to sleep; nothing could keep me asleep. As the sun began to peak up over the jungle, the heat started to climb and I rose out of bed. One morning, with nothing else to do, I set out with my camera gear and got today’s photo of a small boat dock with canoes available for rent tied up to it.
On my last trip to Zambia, I got to walk with lions and cheetahs. Then, they showed us how they run the cheetahs. A bit of meat is tied at the end of a rope and a winch drags it round a circuit at high speed. The cat takes off after it at amazing speeds, culminating in a cloud of dirt as it comes to a sudden stop and receives its treat.
Even though I knew exactly where and when these cheetahs were going to be running past, it was still pretty difficult catching a photo of them. I like this one a lot, mainly because of the explosions of dirt flying up where the cheetah has pushed off.
After arriving at Lake Atitlan, having left Antigua very early in the morning (a recurring theme of this trip was getting up early), we were rushed quickly to a waiting launch and took off across the lake. As we skimmed across the calm waters of Lake Atitlan, I was looking at the volcanoes growing up from the lakes edge.
As you know, I’ve visited Lake Como in Italy before. That morning, as I took in Lake Atitlan, all I could think was that a quote I’d read that morning was spot on:
“Lake Como, it seems to me, touches on the limit of permissibly picturesque, but Atitlán is Como with additional embellishments of several immense volcanoes. It really is too much of a good thing.” – Aldous Huxley
After arriving at our first stop I immediately sought a photo of the small boat dock and looming volcano over the water. I wanted to catch the cloud that seemed to be snagged on top of the volcano before it disappeared.
