Tag Archives: Landscape

My Favorite Photos of France – Part 4

Goat cheese factory in Chissey-lès-Mâcon, in the Burgundy region.
Goat cheese factory in Chissey-lès-Mâcon, in the Burgundy region.

In my previous 3 posts, I have shown 48 photos from the first 7 days on the French Waterways vacation that we went on last July. This post will show 23 more photos that were taken over the next 2 ½ days. Because of the large number of photos in this post, I will keep my comments to a minimum.

The opening photo was taken at a goat cheese factory in Chissey-lès-Mâcon, in the Burgundy wine region in eastern France. This was the first day in nearly a week that we were blessed with a clear, blue sky, and everyone’s spirits seemed to lift because of that.

Goat cheese factory in Chissey-lès-Mâcon, in the Burgundy region.
Goat cheese factory in Chissey-lès-Mâcon, in the Burgundy region.

Reminder: You can always view any photo at a larger size by just clicking on it. You will then need to use your browser’s “Back Button” to return to my story.

The goats were very friendly, they loved being petted, and goat cheese was delicious!

Goat cheese factory in Chissey-lès-Mâcon, in the Burgundy region.
Goat cheese factory in Chissey-lès-Mâcon, in the Burgundy region.

After we left the goat farm, we stopped for a short while in the very small village of Chapaize.

Chapaize, in the Burgundy region.
Chapaize, in the Burgundy region.

The blue sky was very welcome to us!

Chapaize, in the Burgundy region.
Chapaize, in the Burgundy region.

After Chapaize, we headed to Cluny.

Cluny, in the Burgundy region.
Cluny, in the Burgundy region.

We spent several hours in Cluny, and we started off by going on a fascinating tour of the remains of the Cluny Abbey.

Cluny Abbey was built in 3 sections, from the 10th to the early 12th centuries
Cluny Abbey was built in 3 sections, from the 10th to the early 12th centuries

The Cluny Abbey was built in the Romanesque style of architecture, with three churches built in succession from the 10th (910 AD) to the early 12th centuries.

Cluny Abbey was built in 3 sections, from the 10th to the early 12th centuries
Cluny Abbey was built in 3 sections, from the 10th to the early 12th centuries

In 1790 during the French Revolution the abbey was sacked and mostly destroyed, with only a small part of the Abbey surviving till today.

We then had about an hour to stroll around the small, but very busy town of Cluny. Barb bought a very nice casual dress, and I entertained myself with all sorts of photographic opportunities.

Found these lovely tomatoes while walking along Rue Lamartine in Cluny
Found these lovely tomatoes while walking along Rue Lamartine in Cluny

After a 30 minute bus ride through the beautiful Burgundy region, we stopped for lunch at a wonderful event facility in Chérizet.

Lunch at Chérizet, in the Burgundy region
Lunch at Chérizet, in the Burgundy region

That evening after dinner, several of our travel group went up to the top deck of the boat while we were docked in Mâcon. This was the 2nd time that I used my travel tripod on this trip.

Sunset view from the top of the boat in Mâcon
Sunset view from the top of the boat in Mâcon

The next morning, I poked my head out of the open window to our cabin on the boat, and took this photo while we cruised north up the Saône River.

Early morning cruising, north of Mâcon in the Burgundy region.
Early morning cruising, north of Mâcon in the Burgundy region.

We docked our boat shortly before noon in the town of Chalon-sur-Saône.

Cruising on the Saone, into the town of Chalon-sur-Saône
Cruising on the Saone, into the town of Chalon-sur-Saône

That afternoon we visited a wine cellar in Beaune.

Visiting a wine cellar in Beaune.
Visiting a wine cellar in Beaune.

In Beaune, we toured the Hôtel-Dieu de Beaune, which was a hospital for the poor and was founded in 1443.

Tour of the Hotel-Dieu, which was a hospital for the poor in Beaune.
Tour of the Hotel-Dieu, which was a hospital for the poor in Beaune.

This building is one of the finest examples of French fifteenth-century architecture, and is very well known for its polychrome roof.

Tour of the Hotel-Dieu, which was a hospital for the poor in Beaune.
Tour of the Hotel-Dieu, which was a hospital for the poor in Beaune.

Within this fabulous building, I took this photo of one of the many stained glass windows.

Tour of the Hotel-Dieu, which was a hospital for the poor in Beaune.
Tour of the Hotel-Dieu, which was a hospital for the poor in Beaune.

Here is a photo that I took from our moving bus, while traveling through the beautiful Burgundy wine region.

Bus ride through the Burgundy wine region.
Bus ride through the Burgundy wine region.

The next morning, we said goodbye to our boat, rode on a bus to Dijon, where we had only a little over one hour to walk around the historic part of this old city before we got back onto our bus and head toward the train station.

Walking tour in historic part of downtown Dijon.
Walking tour in historic part of downtown Dijon.

Dijon has a very long history, which includes the Romans. The part of town that we walked through was built in the late middle ages and into the 18th century.

Walking tour in historic part of downtown Dijon.
Walking tour in historic part of downtown Dijon.

We eventually came into a large open area with fountains.

Walking tour in historic part of downtown Dijon.
Walking tour in historic part of downtown Dijon.

We were also directly across the street from the Dijon City Hall.

Walking tour in historic part of downtown Dijon.
Walking tour in historic part of downtown Dijon.

It took us nearly 30 minutes to get to the high speed train station; the Train à Grande Vitesse (TGV), which would take us to Paris. At times we were moving at close to 200 mph. Somewhere in the middle of farmland, another train appeared outside of the very thick window, and I was very lucky to get this photo of it while both trains were moving at a very high rate of speed.

Riding the Train à Grande Vitesse (TGV) from Dijon to Paris.
Riding the Train à Grande Vitesse (TGV) from Dijon to Paris.

It took us less than 90 minutes to get from Dijon to Paris a distance of 196 miles!

Thank you for visiting my blog.

My Favorite Photos of France – Part 3

Les Halles de Lyon Paul Bocuse food market in Lyon, France.
Les Halles de Lyon Paul Bocuse food market in Lyon, France.

In my previous 2 posts, I have shown 34 photos from the first 5 days on the French Waterways vacation that we went on last July. This post will show 14 more photos that were taken over the next 2 days.

The opening photo was taken at Les Halles de Lyon Paul Bocuse food market in Lyon.

Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière in Lyon
Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière in Lyon

The previous photo and the next photo were both taken hand-held inside of the Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière in Lyon.

Reminder: You can always view any photo at a larger size by just clicking on it. You will then need to use your browser’s “Back Button” to return to my story.

Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière in Lyon
Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière in Lyon

Lyon was a beautiful metropolitan area with more than 2 million people. We spent the night with our boat docked on the Rhône River in Lyon. The next day, we were supposed to go out on our excursions and return to the boat just before supper, we would then begin cruising up The Saône River also flows into Lyon.

Recent heavy rains upstream changed our plans, though. The Saône was rising fast, and our boat would very soon not have enough clearance to make it under some of the bridges over that river in Lyon. Instead, when we left the boat to head out onto our day-long excursions, our boat would immediately leave and try to make it past those low bridges on the Saône, and we would meet our boat somewhere north of Lyon.

In the morning, we went on a tour of the Hameau Duboeuf Winery. Yes, we drank wine before lunch…

Tour of the Hameau Duboeuf Winery
Tour of the Hameau Duboeuf Winery

In the afternoon, we visited the Medieval town of Pérouges.

Tour of the Medieval town of Pérouges.
Tour of the Medieval town of Pérouges.

I don’t think the hanging ears of corn are anything more than mere decorations.

Tour of the Medieval town of Pérouges.
Tour of the Medieval town of Pérouges.

This ivy didn’t seem to crawl up the wall, it seemed to be rooted in the wall.

Friendly server of gallette in Pérouges.
Friendly server of gallette in Pérouges.

That’s not a pizza, it’s a gallette. I *think* that lady understood my request to take her picture. (I asked her in English, and she nodded and posed…)

View from the bus on the ride to meet our boat on The Saone River.
View from the bus on the ride to meet our boat on The Saone River.

After leaving the Medieval town of Pérouges, we jumped onto our busses and headed west to see if we could find our boat on the Saône River.

View from the bus on the ride to meet our boat on The Saone River.
View from the bus on the ride to meet our boat on The Saone River.

These 3 photos were taken out of a bus window. The bus was moving a highway speeds. I jacked up the ISO, opened the aperture all the way, used a very fast shutter, and took LOTS of photos of the beautiful French farmland. I must have taken 90 – 100 photos during that hour long bus ride. I kept about 10 of them.

View from the bus on the ride to meet our boat on The Saone River.
View from the bus on the ride to meet our boat on The Saone River.

Just as our bus arrived in Trévoux, our fabulous boat came cruising up the Saône! We got off of the bus, and had a few minutes to spend while the crew docked our boat.

Bridge over the The Saone River.
Bridge over the The Saone River.

I wandered over to watch the crew dock our boat and prepare the gangplank.

Boarding our boat on The Saone River.
Boarding our boat on The Saone River.

After dinner, a little after 9:00 PM, I went up to the top of the boat to have my first look at the Saône River.

Cruising north of Lyon on The Saone River at twilight.
Cruising north of Lyon on The Saone River at twilight.

The water was smooth, the boat is nearly silent, and the sky was starting to look like something other than the milky white overcast sky that was all that we had seen during the past 5 days now…

Cruising north of Lyon on The Saone River at twilight.
Cruising north of Lyon on The Saone River at twilight.

Thank you for visiting my (infrequent) blog.

My Favorite Photos of France – Part 1

Boats on the Rhone River in Avignon, France
Boats on the Rhone River in Avignon, France

Last July Barb, her close friend Jana, and I joined 13 others on a French Waterways vacation. Barb and I also added on the optional 3-day extension to see the city of Paris.

I don’t want to tell any long, detailed stories about this fantastic vacation, but I do want to share some of my favorite photos that I took. I would say that I have 500 “favorites”. I obviously cannot, and do not want to post 500 photos into a web site formatted for blog posting! I have about 90 that I intend to post here over the next few weeks.

The photo above was taken from the opened window of our cabin on our first morning of the river cruise. We were on the Rhône River, on the western edge of Avignon, France.

The City Wall of Avignon
The City Wall of Avignon

The city wall around Avignon was built during the Medieval Ages.

Reminder: You can always view any photo at a larger size by just clicking on it. You will then need to use your browser’s “Back Button” to return to my story.

Before going through the entrance to that city wall, I turned around to take this photo of the giant Ferris Wheel.

Avignon Ferris Wheel
Avignon Ferris Wheel

Inside the city wall, the church on the left is Notre Dame des Doms, while the building on the right is the Palais des Papes (the Pope’s Palace).

Notre Dame des Doms behind the Pope's Palace in Avignon, France
Notre Dame des Doms behind the Pope’s Palace in Avignon, France

After our official guided tour of Avignon, Barb, Jana, and I went out again on our own to explore some of the other sites in Avignon.

We walked north from our boat upstream of the Rhône about ½ mile to see what is left of the Pont Saint-Bénézet (aka Pont d’Avignon).

Pont Saint-Bénézet (aka Pont d'Avignon)
Pont Saint-Bénézet (aka Pont d’Avignon)

We also went on a self-guided tour within the Pope’s Palace.

Inside the Pope's Palace in Avignon, France
Inside the Pope’s Palace in Avignon, France

The next day, we left the city of Avignon by bus, in order to visit a few other tourist attractions in the area. In the morning, we went to the Pont du Gard.

Pont du Gard aquaduct built by The Romans
Pont du Gard aquaduct built by The Romans

The Pont du Gard (literally: Gard Bridge) is an ancient Roman aqueduct bridge, built in the 1st century, that crosses the Gardon River, from which it takes its name.

Pont du Gard aquaduct built by The Romans
Pont du Gard aquaduct built by The Romans

In the afternoon we drove to the Medieval town of Les Baux-de-Provence, which sits high upon a very rocky hill.

View from Les Baux-de-Provence Medieval City
View from Les Baux-de-Provence Medieval City

In this ancient town, I found it visually ironic to find this guy engaged in a thoroughly modern activity….

Modern smartphone user in the Medieval town of Les Baux-de-Provence
Modern smartphone user in the Medieval town of Les Baux-de-Provence

On our third morning of our cruise, our boat left its dock in Avignon.

View of Avignon from the Rhone River
View of Avignon from the Rhone River

The boat, the ms River Discovery II, slowly passed the Pont Saint-Bénézet (aka Pont d’Avignon).

View of Pont Saint-Bénézet (aka Pont d'Avignon)
View of Pont Saint-Bénézet (aka Pont d’Avignon)

The boat then turned around and headed back towards Avignon, so that we could take the deeper fork of the Rhone River to the west.

View of Pont Saint-Bénézet (aka Pont d'Avignon)
View of Pont Saint-Bénézet (aka Pont d’Avignon)

Cruising relatively long distances on a river usually includes going through a system of locks. We came our first one, the Ecluse d’Avignon, just a few miles north of Avignon.

Rising with the water in the Ecluse d'Avignon lock on the Rhone River.
Rising with the water in the Ecluse d’Avignon lock on the Rhone River.

We were headed to the Châteauneuf-du-Pape wine region.

Grapes in the Châteauneuf-du-Pape wine region.
Grapes in the Châteauneuf-du-Pape wine region.

We rode along on very modern, air conditioned buses through some very rocky terrain for vineyards.

Tour of the Châteauneuf-du-Pape wine region.
Tour of the Châteauneuf-du-Pape wine region.

From very near the remnants of The Pope’s New Castle (Châteauneuf-du-Pape), we were presented with this very nice scenic overlook above the town also named Châteauneuf-du-Pape.

View over Châteauneuf-du-Pape, looking back down the Rhone River towards Avignon
View over Châteauneuf-du-Pape, looking back down the Rhone River towards Avignon

We walked down into the small, medieval town and spent about an hour investigating this charming little village.

Downtown Châteauneuf-du-Pape
Downtown Châteauneuf-du-Pape

The last photo that I want to show you from that 3rd day of our cruise was taken hand-held from our moving boat while our group was partying and drinking.

Sunset from the Rhone River north of Bollène.
Sunset from the Rhone River north of Bollène.

Besides just being another sunset photo, it does show 4 sources of electricity that we saw the French use: nuclear, wind, solar, and hydro.

I think that photo is a very fitting one to end part 1 of what I expect will be 5 part series to show my favorite 90 or so photos from this year’s vacation to France.

Thank you for visiting my (infrequent) blog.

Austin Shutterbug Club Picnic at Emma Long Park

20130713_ASC_Picnic_002

Last Saturday, July 13, 2013, the Austin Shutterbug Club had a picnic at the Emma Long Park in west Austin.

You get to the Emma Long Park by going west on RM 2222, for about a 1/2 of a mile west of Loop 360, and then turning south on City Park Road. Stay on this windy, scenic road for about 7 miles to get to the park, which is on the north shores of Lake Austin. Now Lake Austin isn’t really a lake, it’s really the Colorado River immediately downstream of Mansfield Dam (which creates Lake Travis) and the Tom Miller Dam in west Austin (West Lake Hills) near the Hula Hut restaurant.

This was not an actual club “photography outing”, but rather an actual, old-fashioned picnic, as seen in the opening photo. (Only half of the members even brought a camera with them.)

I got there right at 9:00 AM, and after spending about 45 minutes socializing with the other club members who had also arrived, I grabbed my Olympus OM-D E-M5 camera, with my “usual” Olympus 12-50mm f/3.5-6.3 lens, headed across the street and over to the water.

20130713_ASC_Picnic_008

Reminder: You can always view any photo at a larger size by just clicking on it. You will then need to use your browser’s “Back Button” to return to my story.

The photo above is the root of a bald cypress tree. They grow right along the shores of the rivers here in central Texas, and extend their roots right into the water at the shore. Here’s a photo of the leaves and branch structure of this tree.

20130713_ASC_Picnic_017

Here’s a photo looking across Lake Austin to the south shore.

20130713_ASC_Picnic_019

With drought-stricken Lake Travis so low, there are no longer any public boat ramps still open (they don’t go down low enough to get to the current water level), many weekend boat owners have taken to using Lake Austin instead.

20130713_ASC_Picnic_020

As this is a dammed-up river, there really aren’t any waves, except for the ones created by the ski boats!

20130713_ASC_Picnic_022

While standing around talking to a few other club members who had brought their cameras and had come down to join me at the water, this tree seemed to catch my attention.

20130713_ASC_Picnic_027

A couple of the ladies in had even waded into the water, looking for interesting and different photographic opportunities.

20130713_ASC_Picnic_030

Linda, the lady on the left, had a Canon 5D Mark II, with the EF 70 – 200mm f/2.8 L II lens on it. She was not happy with the focusing of her camera, even after Canon had examined it.

After less than 10 minutes at the water’s edge, I decided to head back up to the rest of the group under the large oak shade tree. On the way, I passed this unused cooking grill.

20130713_ASC_Picnic_034

It will remain unused for the time being; due to the severe drought, there is a burn ban, even in the parks.

Even at 10:00 AM, in mid-July, the cloudless Texas sky is very hard and contrasty. There isn’t much you can do about it, other than just not take any photos for about 10 hours of the day….

20130713_ASC_Picnic_040

Or you can just try to make the best of it.

20130713_ASC_Picnic_043

Here’s a photo taken from the position of that rusty grill, looking back toward the water, and the other club members under the tree on the left.

20130713_ASC_Picnic_046

Looking for pretty much anything interesting to take a picture of, I spent a minute playing around with the colorful balloons that Brian had tied to the light stand that he had set up to let the arriving members that this was our spot.

20130713_ASC_Picnic_053

Not wanting to immediately sit down, I wandered around the picnic site for a few minutes, while listening in on the various conversations taking place around me. While doing that, I noticed this unusual axe head (someone had brought it to drive the stakes into the ground for the horseshoe game).

20130713_ASC_Picnic_056

And now to the point of being silly, here is the webbing on the back of the lawn chair that I had brought. 🙂

20130713_ASC_Picnic_061

About 10:15 AM, I headed off to the restroom, which was a clean, but steaming hot outhouse. The temperature was certainly close to 90 degrees (32 C) by now. On the way back, I noticed this tiny little flower, so even though it was in direct, mid-day Texas summer sun, I put my lens into macro mode, flipped out my rear LCD panel, held my camera about a foot (30 cm) off the ground, and snapped this photo.

20130713_ASC_Picnic_068

Since we weren’t going to eat until about noon, I still had plenty of time to wander around and take some more photos before it really got hot.

I headed back down to the water’s edge and just waited for some “interesting” waves to roll in.

20130713_ASC_Picnic_072

Even in the summer sun, you can still slow down the shutter to 1/80th of a second (f/7.1 and ISO 200) to get some motion blur to make these tiny waves appear to be much more active than they really are….

20130713_ASC_Picnic_075

Even though my “kit lens” only zooms out to 100mm equivalent (on a full frame camera), it still had enough of a reach to get a few photos of the passing boats. This next photo was cropped to show about 2/3 of the original image’s length and height.

20130713_ASC_Picnic_085

It was now close to 10:30 AM, and the temperature was certainly above 90 degrees, so I decided to head back to the picnic area (again) and put away my little camera and be more social than I had been.

And I’ll let this photo be my closing photo (as the boat goes away into the distance).

20130713_ASC_Picnic_090

We had a very, very nice picnic lunch, and I enjoyed the conversations that flowed around the group. There was a gentle breeze blowing under our large shade tree, which made it surprisingly pleasant – as long as you didn’t move around too much. When we packed up the cars to leave at 1:00 PM, the temperature had already risen to 104 degrees (40 C).

Thank you for stopping by and visiting my blog today.

Austin Shutterbug Club at Zilker Botanical Garden

20130615_Zilker_Gardens_001

A couple of weeks ago, on Saturday, June 15, 2013, the Austin Shutterbug Club had an outing where we met at 8:30 AM at the entrance to the Zilker Botanical Garden here in Austin. This outing was organized by myself.

I brought my Olympus OM-D E-M5 camera, the Olympus 12-50mm f/3.5-6.3 lens, and the Olympus 60mm f/2.8 Macro lens. Even though I had three other great prime lenses in my camera bag I never used them. I also brought my Olympus FL-600R flash and my little Gitzo GT1542T tripod.

After my last post where I seemed to have more “screen area” occupied by text, rather than photos, I thought I would try something new in how to present my photos – and keep the words to a minimum.

 

Helpful Hint: If you click on any of the photos in one of these “mini galleries”, you can then see all of the photos in that mini gallery at a much larger size. When you are finished looking at the larger photos, and wish to return to my blog post, click on the little “X” in the upper left corner of the mini gallery.

 

All of the photos above were taken in the parking lot or in the Rose Garden area.

20130615_Zilker_Gardens_126

About 9:45 AM, I decided to head on over towards the Oriental Garden section.

20130615_Zilker_Gardens_129

 

 

After spending quite some time in the Oriental Garden area, I got off of the main trail and walked westward, parallel to Barton Springs Road, back toward the main entrance. Since it was still only 10:35 AM, and we were not supposed to leave for lunch until about 11:15, I had some time to kill. While enjoying the shade, and since it was one of the rare times that I had my tripod with the little Olympus camera, I played around and took a few “self photos”.

20130615_Zilker_Gardens_191

Near the entrance, but still off of the main path, I discovered a very nice little cactus garden.

20130615_Zilker_Gardens_193

20130615_Zilker_Gardens_199

It was now 11:00 AM, so I headed back toward the entrance, where I found several of the Austin Shutterbug Club resting in the shade of some grand old trees. After 10 minutes or so of socializing, 15 of us went over to Schlotzsky’s near Zach Theater for lunch – where it was air conditioned!

20130615_Zilker_Gardens_201

Although I had a fun time walking around with my camera and mingling with fellow photographers, this set of photos didn’t cry out to me that I really wanted to share them. They are pleasing enough, I suppose, but something is lacking. I’m not sure….

Thank you for stopping by and visiting my blog today.