I just lost someone very dear to me, so will be continuing the Tallinn photos next week. Thank you for understanding.
{carole}
Tallinn’s Old Town, Part I
I knew absolutely nothing about Tallinn, Estonia, before I went there. I’d seen one photo of the old town on Flickr that make me think it might be interesting, but that’s all. What a lovely surprise this city was.
Tallinn is the capital and oldest city in Estonia. In 1285 the city, then known as “Reval,” became the northernmost member of the Hanseatic League. The city was walled with sixty-six towers.
We started our walking tour just outside Old Town, near this school:
I liked the way the tower was reflected in the windows of this building near the school.
Very quickly we made our way towards Old Town. Oh, I need to point out something: it was pretty challenging keeping up with our tour guide, listening to the history and taking photos. I was actually walking and taking photos at the same time, something I never do. It was frustrating at times to not have a minute to take shots I really wanted, but that’s the down side of a cruise. I knew this going in, but it was still a killer sometimes.
We had perfect weather. My good-weather karma continues, fortunately.
I loved the architecture and the pastel colors:
This is a cafe called Maiasmokk (“Sweet Tooth”), the oldest operational cafe in Tallinn. It has operated at the same location since 1864. Would have loved to try their pastries and coffee.
How beautiful are these doors?
The side streets looked pretty interesting too.
I never dreamed there would be block after block of buildings like these.
Talk about aging gracefully.
Soon we were in the Town Hall Square:
This may look like a church, but it’s actually the town hall. The last surviving Gothic Town Hall in Northern Europe. In 1364, it was called a playhouse (teatrum) and in 1372 a town hall (rathus). The tower looks wonky because I took this with my iPhone.
There was an outdoor market going on with all kinds of stuff for sale. People everywhere, but very polite.
More on Friday. 🙂
{carole}
Strøget
Strøget (“Stroh-yay”) is a collection of streets in Copenhagen, and at 1.1 kilometers, the longest pedestrian shopping area in Europe. We ventured out early in the morning, so had to deal with delivery trucks and an occasional bicycle, but loved what we saw. The photos below don’t really need explanations, so I’ll just keep quiet and let you enjoy the walk.
Bikes were everywhere in Copenhagen. You really had to watch out for cyclists because they come roaring out of nowhere. Copenhagen is known as the European Green Capital and its goal is to have 50% of people cycling to their place of work or education in 2015.
Next up: Tallinn, Estonia.
Great weekend, everyone!
{carole}
A Glimpse of Copenhagen and Tivoli
We arrived in Copenhagen in the afternoon and checked into the hotel Holland America picked for us, the Palace Hotel. It was in a great location, right across from City Hall and very close to Tivoli Gardens and Strøget, a major shopping area.
The hotel is very old (1910) but the room was modern and very nice. I didn’t think to take a photo of our room, but I did shoot the view out the window:
We did our best to do some sightseeing, but soon realized we’d been awake for more than 24 hours, so had to crash for a while. At one point I had to tell myself to just put one foot in front of the other. I now wish we’d arrived one day earlier, because Copenhagen kind of got short shrift and it’s a lovely city.
Somewhat refreshed, we walked over to Tivoli Gardens, or just Tivoli.
I loved the detail in the entrance.
Tivoli opened in 1843 and is the second oldest amusement park in the world. Walt Disney was inspired to create Disneyland after visiting here. Tivoli is much smaller, but lovely. The wooden roller coaster is one of the oldest in the world. We were too beat to do any rides, but had dinner and walked around.
Chinese Pantomime Theatre
Really nice lighting on this place that looked like something from the Arabian Nights.
Definitely a pretty place at night.
On the way back to the hotel I snapped this shot of City Hall with its clock tower:
I had taken this closeup of City Hall earlier in the day, but the light was terrible, so I thought I’d get a full-length shot later. Was surprised to find that I hadn’t. My excuse? Major jet lag. The gold statue is Absalon.
By the way, everyone we encountered spoke English. Excellent English. What a difference from when I traveled in Prague and Berlin back in 2000.
Hope your week’s going well so far. . . .
{carole}
A Shaky Start and Some iShots
Hi, everyone! I made it back from the Baltic. The trip was fantastic, even better than I’d hoped. I’m dealing with some major jet lag (it is three a.m. as I write this) but will have some trip photos on Tuesday. I took a lot, so there’s a bit of work ahead for me.
The trip had only one snafu: my flight out of San Diego. I got a call from Delta the night before saying we’d leave an hour later. When I got to the airport, the flight was delayed two hours. I asked why and was told the pilot’s seat was broken and needed to be replaced. She also said it would be a “quick fix.” This was a new one for me.
We boarded the plane at eleven a.m. and were just about to take off when the guy a row ahead of me started pushing his call button. The flight attendant asked whoever was doing it to stop and the guy continued. So weird! Finally she came back and confronted him and he refused to give his name. That’s in violation of the law, so we had to return to the gate! The next thing I knew, these guys were in the aisle:
They escorted the unruly passenger off the plane and we were finally on our way.
Here are some iPhone shots I took from the air:
Point Loma and Coronado Island.
I don’t know where this is, but it was cool to see snow in July.
Somewhere between San Diego and Minneapolis.
Great weekend, everyone!
{carole}
Posted in photography
14 Comments
Travel Scan: Arles, Roman Cemetery
Alyscamps is one of the most famous necropolises of the ancient world (founded in the fourth century or earlier). It was referred to by Dante in The Inferno and was Arles’ main burial ground for nearly 1,500 years. According to Wiki, Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin chose the Alyscamps as the first site for their expeditions where they painted side by side in 1888.
I’m not a huge fan of cemeteries, but I thought this one was amazing. This photo really takes me back to sun-filled days in Provence, one of my favorite places in the world. The person in the photo is our friend E., and yes, those are sarcophagi on either side of the walkway.
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Next week I’ll be preparing for my trip to the Baltic, so I won’t be blogging for about three weeks. I’m very excited about seeing Copenhagen, Tallinn, St. Petersburg, Helsinki, Stockholm and Lubeck for the first time. Have already started packing and hope I don’t forget anything. It kind of blew my mind to see that St. Petersburg is eleven hours later than San Diego. That is far. Hoping to share some good photos with you when I get back.
Great weekend, everyone!
{carole}
Posted in photography
Tagged Alyscamps, Arles, France, Provence, Roman cemetery, sarcophagi
12 Comments
Victorian Pastels
I photographed this Victorian home in Cape May three years ago, then added some light and softness to it before uploading to Flickr. It’s still getting quite a few views, so I thought I’d post it here for you, along with another softened view . . . .
The owners did a great job picking the colors, didn’t they? I miss the East Coast when I look at photos like this.
Hope your week’s going well so far. Happy Summer!
{carole}
Travel Scan: St. Nicholas Cathedral, Prague
The Church of Saint Nicholas, or Saint Nicholas Cathedral, is a beautiful Baroque church in the Malá Strana part of Prague. It was built between 1704-1755 and is considered one of the most impressive examples of Prague Baroque. Our hotel was within walking distance of this church and I never got tired of looking at it.
What’s really cool is that Mozart played on the church organ which has 4,000 pipes. Mozart’s Mass in C was first performed here shortly after his visit.
If you ever get the chance, visit Prague. It is stunning.
Great weekend, everyone!
{carole}
Posted in photography, Travel
Tagged Church of St. Nicholas, Czech Republic, Prague, travel
10 Comments
Underside
One of my red roses from a different angle.
Right now I’m having some back problems, so can’t sit at the computer very long. Will have to do one photo until this clears up. Some good news, though: the people at Waterlogue retweeted and favorited my “vintage pickup” post and I just sold a large print of my carousel shot. 🙂
Hope your week’s going well so far….
{carole}
P.S. Welcome, new subscribers!
Vintage Pickup in Waterlogue
I photographed this pickup near Taos, New Mexico, with my iPhone4. (You can see another view here.)
Thought it might be fun to run it through the Waterlogue app on my phone. . . .
You can’t really see it here, but there’s a white border that was added by Waterlogue. This was cropped square for Instagram.
Then I tried the same app on my iPad, which has more options:
There’s a lot more detail and it’s not quite so rough, but I think I like both. Which one do you prefer?
Great weekend, everyone!
{carole}
Posted in photography
Tagged digital watercolor, rusted pickup, Taos New Mexico, Waterlogue
8 Comments
Pearls & Prose 