Visiting Venice

Ahh, Venice!!

Venice was everything I thought it would be and more. The city is so full of life.

The best advice we got was to put the map away and get lost. And we did. There's a unique aspect to Venice that you actually see more if you allow yourselves to wander than if you plan your every step.

The Future Mrs. & I spent the whole day in Venice and were exhausted by day's end. But we did a lot including, go up the bell tower (San Marco's Campanile), watch Murano glass making, learn about Venitian lace, visit a few churches, shop for souvenirs, take a Gondola ride & eat dinner with live music. Oh, and along the way we took a few photos too =)

I could have spent 3 weeks in Venice shooting the city. I had so many photo ideas that I felt sad that I didn't have more time to capture the essence of the city. But I guess that also will get filed under the "Things to Do Next Time" list.

I have 19 photos from Venice in my gallery here:
http://www.pbase.com/alinla/gallery/venice

Its so hard to pick only a few sample photos, so I encourage you to visit my gallery where there are more images. As always, I appreciate your comments either here or on Pbase itself.

Visiting Amsterdam

The Netherlands, what a wonderful little part of the world. I visited for about 24 hrs and that really can't do anywhere justice but I was there long enough to know I'd like to visit again.

Arrived in the evening and we had time for a canal cruise to see the city from the water. Unfortunately it rained nearly the whole cruise and there were no good photo ops. But we did see a lot of the city that way.

We had the next morning to ourselves as were leaving around noon. I decided it was a great morning for a bicycle ride. I found Mac-Bikes which rents bicycles and off I went. 12 million bicycles in The Netherlands for 16 million people and today I was one of them. The crisp morning air was great as was the views & people. Several friendly folks waved & smiled at me. I was Dutch for the morning. Ring, ring... ring, ring (bicycle chime).

As luck would have it about 2 hrs later and several miles away, the rain made another appearance. I decided to pull into a little sidewalk cafe with an awning to wait out the rain. Unfortunately, I was pressed for time as I had to return the bike & catch my coach. Reading a map while riding a bicycle in the rain is best left to someone with 3 arms & 4 eyes. Eventually I made it but I was quite soaked. Walking to our meeting spot the rain stopped and I had enough time to buy some souvenirs.

Only 6 images in my Amsterdam page. Next time I hope it rains less.
http://www.pbase.com/alinla/amsterdam

Visiting London

The Future Mrs & I really like London. We had fun riding the Tube to & fro, meeting new people and discovering how little our puny American Dollars would buy. Weather was hot & humid but still much cooler than where we came from.

We had about 2 days to explore London. We saw a lot in that time although my photos don't really reflect this. We had fun and would like to visit again as long as the security issue is taken care of. Unfortunately we flew back home thru Heathrow and the mess was quite surreal. If there was a hint of that again, I'll probably chose to visit elsewhere.

Nonetheless I'll fondly remember London. Thanks to the Brits for a nice visit. I'll always remember to "Mind the Gap". There are 12 images & commentary from London here:

http://www.pbase.com/alinla/london