The Heineken experience in Amsterdam is pretty cool. It’s located in the old Heineken Brewery. I visited it for the second time on my last trip. You learn about the history of Heineken, how they make it, and then they teach you how best to drink it. Then, you drink more of it.
These are the coppers, it’s where they heat various mixtures at the various stages of beer making.
After leaving Sienna, we plugged a few villages with “in-Chianti” in their names into the GPS so that we’d wind our way through the vineyards as the sun began to dip towards the horizon.
Before going to Tuscany I’d had a special request for those “round-bottomed pointy trees.” So, I was pretty glad when I found this row, lining the road we’d just driven down.
On my first day in Amsterdam, immediately after an overnight flight from Bermuda, there was a beautiful wispy cloud draped blue sky. I was tired but decided I’d better get out and take advantage of it. It was a good decision, because it was grey and rainy for the rest of our trip!
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.
This odd rock was actually the middle of a giant print of a horseshoe. I don’t remember the exact story, but the belief is that one of the gods was riding his giant horse and it stepped here, leaving a giant hoof-print. When I took this picture I had tall cliffs behind me, to my left and to my right. Then, this rock in the middle.
We looked around for ages for this giant hoof-print. It was only when we were leaving that we realised we were actually inside the hoof-print.
I’ve been rationing my few remaining Iceland photos for quite a while now. I really need to get back there. When I took this photo, my travel buddy was still recovering from becoming a quivering mess at the top of Detifoss and decided not to get this close. She claimed she was tired, but I’m pretty sure she was just scared.
When I got this close I started getting a little nervous. I’ve used a wide angle lens so it looks like I was further from the rushing water than I was. The water level here was level with the rock I was standing on. It definitely made me concentrate on where I was putting my feet and my camera.
Today’s photo was shot handheld from a ferry as we pulled out of this little town. I saw this lady on her phone and thought she would make a nice focal point in front of the busyness of the town and hills behind her.
Let me know what you think.
This is one of the last photos that I took with my old set of camera gear, before some bastardos stole it out of our car near Genoa. This is a pretty little town on top of a hill called Alice Bel Colle. They’ve built a mound in the middle of the town with a viewing platform on top providing panoramic views of the surrounding vineyards draped over the rolling hills. I liked the way the the haphazard placement of buildings and roofs matched the haphazard distribution of vineyards in the surrounding area.
This is another shot from my 12 hour layover in London on my way to South Africa. This was actually taken on New Years Eve. I wondered if they’d mark midnight in some way while on the plane. Sure enough, I woke up, parched, to be offered what I thought was water – it was still dark and most people remained asleep. As I took a sip, I was shocked to discover that it was actually champagne.
The Eastfjords in Iceland, much like most of the country, are truly magical. The road winds its way in and out of deep gouges in the coastline. Every corner reveals incredible views. When I saw this cloud in the distance, pouring from the mountains down to the ocean I knew I had to stop the car and try to capture it.
