Coming Full Circle ~ Amarante, Portugal

Before my first digital camera, I was one of those tourists lugging around a large camera bag with several lenses, lots of batteries, and many varieties of film. This trip to Portugal was one of the last trips with that camera bag. Perhaps that's one reason I love this photo.

My husband and I decided to spend our 5th anniversary in Portugal. We were only beginning to enjoy and study the world of wine and wanted to go somewhere slightly off the beaten path. We ended up touring the Douro River Valley in Portugal learning about port.

This little town, Amarante, was one of our first stops. There were no wineries here, in fact there was not much of anything in this town except the beautiful Relais & Chateaux hotel, Casa da Calcada, where we spent our anniversary. The town itself, however, was extremely beautiful and quiet. We spent the day wandering through the maze of narrow lanes, too narrow for cars, and observing the locals in their daily routine - the boys playing a game of keep away with the little girl's doll, putting the doll on a ledge of the church just out of her reach, the old lady mending her laundry on the balcony, and the produce shop keeper with her cages and cages of song birds. There were very few other travelers in the area giving Amarante a very authentic feel. You could see most of this town within a couple of hours, which for us was part of the charm. It allowed time to sit in the square enjoying an expresso and a few glasses of wine before our amazing dinner back at the hotel.

I love when everything falls into place and a shot just works.



While the photos below are very low quality, I wanted to include them to show a little more about this town and people who live there.

 

Chamonix - Mont Blanc, France

View of Mont Blanc from Chamonix

Three Brave Souls ~ Aiguille du Midi, France

The Alps have always intrigued me. I will never forget the first time I flew over the Alps as a teenager, mesmerized by their vastness and beauty. Having the opportunity to visit this area was an incredible experience.

Since we are not skiers, visiting in the fall was perfect. The colors were amazing, the crowds were small, and the weather could not have been better. Of course, one of the highlights of our time there was taking the cable car up the North Face of the Aiguille du Midi. This ride not only gives a great view of Chamonix and the surrounding valley, but also takes you as close as you can get to Mont Blanc without needing gear and a lot of training.



Many adventure seekers ride the cable car to the top and then begin their own excursion. These three appear to have done just that. Others, including my husband, choose to begin their journey at the halfway point, well below the snow line, where a challenging trail leads you back to town.

While this photo almost looks like a black and white photo, it is truly a color photo. Since we traveled to Aiguille du Midi in the morning, the sun was positioned perfectly to provide the contrast and shadows on the varying ridges and figures. The blue photo below was taken after the sun had a chance to move slightly higher in the sky. Zooming in a bit on the figures also allowed the camera to find more of the light to show the blue tint of the snow and ice and the detail of the ridge behind.

As we frequently say when traveling ~ we did not have enough time in the Alps.

But how fortunate we were to have this experience.






http://www.hotelgustavia.eu/en

http://www.chamonix.com/

http://www.chamonix.net/

A Day at the Beach ~ Nice, France



Snapping candids when I travel is a true passion of mine. While I know these photos are not the photos that people are looking to hang in their homes, I post them simply because I love them.

I call these photos "random people pics" and always look forward to finding someone, or even a group, that truly represent the feel of the place. My first academic love was anthropology, perhaps that explains the passion for my random people pics and for travel (or perhaps my love for travel fostered my love for anthropology). I feel that looking through my collection of candids will give the viewer a true sense of my experience in each place.

This couple could not have been a more perfect representation for my first trip to Nice. With another trip to this amazing city coming up in a few weeks, I have found myself reviewing photos from my previous trip and this couple keep coming to mind. My first trip to Nice was with a few of my middle school students. Some of these students had never spent much time away from their parents, few had ever flown, and only one had ever been out of the country. Having the ability to show them things they had never seen and give them an experience they will never forget was priceless. Another of my favorite photos from this trip happened just after this photo - my students were definitely intrigued by this couple, their clothing, their story, but then we stepped onto the beach. Unlike most of the beaches on the Cote d'Azur, Nice has a beach completely made of stones - no sand. My students were amazed and I so enjoyed watching them learn. I think this photo of my students captures the entire purpose of that trip - and of travel in general.  ~Enjoy