Memories

     Being a photographer and going on vacation seem like a natural package deal, don't they?  Sometimes though, it seems they are also mutually exclusive!   My daughter and I saved for a long while to take a trip to Europe, the first for both of us.  Each of us, both into photography, had visions of taking wonderful photos everywhere we went.   But we were limited by what we could carry, and what we wanted to risk losing or having stolen.  So, with mixed feelings, we opted to take just our point-and-shoot cameras and leave the "good" cameras at home.  
    For me, it became increasingly clear that we made the right choice, at least for this trip.   This trip was about the memories.  Being in the moment, living each day to the fullest.  Sure we took bunches of photos, but many of them were on the fly, "Hail-Mary" shots with our arms sticking out of the double-decker bus, the cheesy tourist photos of ourselves, or taken in just plain bad conditions.   
      What do we have to show for it?  Memories!  Nothing can replace the time we spent together, or the memories we will have when we look at even the less-than-perfect shots we do have.  If we really needed perfection of a certain location, we got a postcard.   It was a fabulous and amazing trip, all the way around. 
     In this post are some of my favorites memories, even if they aren't perfect shots.

The rain, rain, rain in London

The first of what was to be millions of stairs we climbed everywhere we went, and everywhere we stayed!

Walking among the stones at Stonehenge - wow!

An old bench, just outside a tavern in the old English town of Lacock.

Our stellar accomodations at the hostel in Amsterdam!

We biked all over Amsterdam that day - a great way to see the city!

The absolute awe we felt when we got to Venice.

A magical surprise awaited us when we headed down to meet the water taxi to Lido.  A full moon we didn't know was going to be there.  What a beautiful night that was!

The scale of everything in Rome - huge!

The breathtaking (literally) climb to the top of St. Peter's Basillica, Rome.

Great fun, great food, and new friends from our cooking class in Rome.

Making our wishes at Trevi Fountain.

The market places were fabulous!

SO much history in Rome.

Yet another suitcase bites the dust.  Thank goodness for street vendors!

Boy, did we wish for a wide-angle lens here.  The surreal and magnificent interior of Sagrada Familia church in Barcelona.

Surveying Barcelona from the top of Mount Monjuic

There's nothing like the Eiffel Tower on a summer night.

OMG!  The Lourve from the top of the ferris wheel next door.  Yes, the entire complex is the Lourve!

My favorite memory from the entire trip.  What you don't see is us on our bikes, riding on a gorgeous Sunday afternoon, all around Paris.  We stopped at the tower for lunch. And what you don't hear, is the French music coming from the man with accordian.  It was a quintessentially French moment in time.

The adventure of ordering off a French menu, not knowing exactly what you might get, and finding it to be one of the BEST meals we had in all Europe!

Miles and miles of subway tunnels and stairs.

The London Eye at night.  What a view we got from the top!

Whoopee!

Here's to our last day of a memorable, special time.