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I was a bit exhausted when I took this shot as earlier in the evening I had set off on foot to try to reach the the Tower Bridge from County Hall after finding out that the underground was closed at Tower Hill. I only made it to the London Bridge before nearly collapsing, and was more than a bit disappointed to learn that I had left my metro card back at the hotel, so I had to hoof it all the way back. For someone as out of shape as I am, I was on my last legs as I arrived gasping for air a couple hours later. Even though I was wiped out, I knew I had to try this shot during blue hour as I had seen several shots of it on flickr and it was right up the street from the hotel. Coming from California, it took me awhile to get used to having daylight left in the sky at 10:30 PM.

I'll be posting quite a few shots over the next couple of months from our two week mad dash through Europe during which we visited London, Windsor, Bath, Stonehenge, Cambridge, Oxford, Edinburgh, Inverness, Amsterdam, Zurich, Lichtenstein, Heiligenblut, Hallstatt, Salzburg, Paris, and finally the Disneyland Resort in Paris. It was a rather insane schedule, and my kids weren't thrilled about having to get up at 4 AM to catch our train from time to time, but we managed to hit almost all of the items on our list. We did, however, miss an afternoon in the Scottish highlands after I burned a clutch out while trying to deal with driving on the left side of the road with the steering wheel on the right while shifting with my left hand, but I'll leave that story until later. The good folks of the fire brigade were very kind. Good times...

At any rate, thanks for looking, and please feel free to check back as I'll be posting more shots of our trip over the coming weeks. :)

(Explored at #12 on 7/6/11. Thanks for the views, faves, and comments. :) )

Tags:   Westminster Palace London Blue Hour Big Ben Nikon D7000 Sigma 10-20

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Of all the shots I took at Neuschwanstein Castle (and believe me, I took plenty), I think this might be my favorite. The castle itself is amazing, but the view FROM the castle is unbelievable. Maybe it's just me, but it seems that Ludwig II had one of the most gorgeous balcony views in the history of the world. Surrounded by the Bavarian Alps, numerous lakes, and a green valley that stretched out to the horizon, I don't think I would have ever left the place. I have always wanted to see this castle since working on a Neuschwanstein jigsaw puzzle as a kid and wondering why it looked so similar to the castle at Disneyland. It was only later that I found that the imagineers had used this castle as inspiration for the Sleeping Beauty Castle.

More back story: So we were exhausted when we finally arrived at the castle after spending the morning sprinting around Salzburg trying to get several "Sound of Music" shots in for my daughter. We got STRANDED in a town just outside of Hohenschwangau as our GPS kept telling us to drive through a brick wall. After an hour, we found that the town had changed it's streets recently and the GPS had no idea what it was doing.

So we arrived about 3 hours late, and were VERY lucky to still get a tour that late in the day. I shot like a maniac on the way up, and on the way back, I just had to walk out to Mary's Bridge and further up the trail to try to get some final shots before heading back. When I got back, my kids were not smiling. When I went after those last few shots, we missed the last bus back to the village. We had to WALK all the way back down the mountain. DOH!

When we got back to the parking lot, everyone was gone and our rental car was trapped in the parking lot. It took another 30 minutes to try to figure out how to get our car out. Needless to say, it took quite a while for my kids to forgive me. But hey....it's NEUSCHWANSTEIN! Like I wasn't going get shots from the bridge!

Things went downhill from there (literally) as we made our way back to Zurich to return the car. We didn't arrive until after 1 AM, and we were up at 4 AM the next morning to catch the first TGV train to Paris. Still not sure if my kids have forgiven me yet....

Up next: Paris

(Shot taken with the Pro Optic 8mm Fisheye)
(Explored at #3 on 7/8/11. Thanks for the views, comments, and faves! :) )

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We ended our two week long mad dash through Europe at Disneyland Paris. We found this park to be head and shoulders over it's counterpart in Anaheim in terms of the overall aesthetic of the park, but we were a bit disappointed in that there are about 30 percent less rides. Add to that the fact that they were still refurbishing major areas of the park in July, and our own Disneyland comes out ahead overall. Major sections of Main Street, the castle, Adventureland and Fantasyland were behind refurb walls when we left on July 1. We were also hoping that Indiana Jones would be finished as it was originally scheduled to open on July 1, but the date was pushed back and we missed it. :(

However, any disappointment regarding rides was completely offset by the sheer beauty of this park. It's larger and far greener than the original, and on certain nights, the sky is simply phenomenal. I was lucky enough to have one of those nights when the above shot was taken a little over a week ago. I purposely dragged my feet and as a result, I was the last guest to leave Main Street at 10:30 pm. I took the above shot shortly after leaving the park for the night. The Disneyland Hotel at DLP is simply gorgeous, and I was thinking about possibly reserving a room here until I saw the price tag: $800 for one night! I know that includes park admission, but HELLO!!

(Explored at #7 on 7/11/11. Thanks for the views, comments, and faves! )

Shot with the Sigma 10-20.

Tags:   Disneyland Hotel Paris Disneyland Paris Blue Hour Nikon D7000 Sigma 10-20 Night Reflection

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Shooting the Tower Bridge at night was high on my list while I was in London, and I finally got my opportunity just before 11 PM on our last night in town. I was hoping to shoot it from the walkway in front of the Tower, but it looked like they had closed that section off by the time I arrived. Undeterred, I looked around for an alternative and found a private boat dock just up river from the bridge. Going with the idea that it's much easier to ask for forgiveness than permission, I walked all the way down to the end of the dock, set up the tripod, fired of a number of frames, and was gone before anyone could yell at me. : ) I still wish I had the angle from the Tower, but this seemed to be a decent alternative.

As for getting back to the hotel, I was the ONLY person in my section of the metro on the way back from Tower Hill. Me....my camera bag full of gear....and noooooobdy else.....after midnight. Probably not something I would want to do again. : /

(Explored at #4 on 7/12/11. Thanks for the views, comments, and faves! )

Tags:   Tower Bridge London Reflection Nikon D7000 Sigma 10-20

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Of all the castles to be found in Disney Parks, I think this one might be my favorite. After sifting through several shots, I settled on this one which was taken from the middle of Main Street after the park had closed. I have to admit that I had to do quite a bit of touching up on this particular shot as a good chunk of the right side of the frame was filled with a huge construction wall. Both sides of Main Street were still being worked on when we were there two weeks ago, as well as several other areas of the park. Again, coming from California, it felt strange to be taking sunset photos past 10 PM, and to have the park shut down at 9 PM while there was still plenty of daylight.

Taken with the Nikkor 18-200.

Tags:   Le Château de la Belle au Bois Dormant Sleeping Beauty Castle Disneyland Paris Sunset Silhouette Nikon D7000 Nikkor 18-200

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