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| Danny Tuason | profile | all galleries >> Places >> 2011 European Trip | tree view | thumbnails | slideshow |
From October 30 to November 20, 2011 my brother Joe and I spent our vacation in western Europe. The trip was divided into 4 parts...the first part was when we spent a few extra hours in San Francisco (images 001 to 002)...the second part was when we drove 3,300 kilometers around Europe...Frankfurt, Berlin, Amsterdam, Bruges, Brussels, Paris, Munich, Rothenburg (images 003 to 059)...the third part was when we spent a free day in Madrid (images 060 to 066)...the fourth part was when we joined a Cosmos Spain-Portugal tour group (images 067 to 185). Joe asked me to pack light...so I brought the 7D and 3 lenses...the EF-S 10-22mm F3.5-4.5 lens, the EF 35mm F1.4 L lens, and the EF 70-200mm F4 IS L lens. I also brought a point and shoot...my old faithful G10. For the night shots I brought a light travel tripod...the Gitzo GT1550T tripod with the RRS BH-40LR ballhead. I left the 1Ds Mark III and the other lenses at home.
In our Cosmos tour group, the tour director was Angel Diaz de Miguel. He was an awesome tour director...very friendly and very professional. He described the places we visited, the history surrounding them...and then he went the extra mile...he gave us tips on what to watch out for, what restaurants to eat in, plus more. Cosmos is very lucky to have a tour director such as Angel.
More...my brother Joe and I met a lot of excellent people in the tour group. It made our tour even more special. Thanks guys!
NOTE: This gallery has 185 images in chronological sequence.
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You are probably going to ask why a shot of the Golden Gate Bridge was included in this gallery. Well...when I planned this trip my brother Joe asked me if we could fly the Airbus A380, the largest passenger plane in the world. I said yes...but we had to take it from San Francisco. He told me that would be a good excuse to shoot the Golden Gate Bridge.
We were both very excited to see the A380 in person. Inside...in the economy section we were packed like sardines...but it was okay. The Lufthansa staff was very friendly, courteous, and very professional. Plus...I must have seen at least half a dozen beautiful stewardesses in this flight...the most beautiful one was assigned to our section. She is from Berlin...and I think she's Turkish, not German.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgSGdPq-R5M
We arrived in Frankfurt early Sunday. We were both very tired. I had less than an hour sleep. I think Joe had less than 2 hours sleep.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lhyrc09_gw0
We had to drive to Berlin...about 350 miles away. This was our very first time to drive in the Autobahn. As soon as we entered the Autobahn (A5) we hit some bumper to bumper traffic...major traffic incident involving a blue Porsche Cayman. There was a lane with an "X" and the word "UNFALL". We took that lane not knowing what "UNFALL" means. Well...now I know...it means "ACCIDENT" and that lane should not be taken...or else you can get arrested. Oops!
More...it was a mistake on my part to rent the car in Frankfurt as we were both very tired from our flight from San Francisco. I should have booked a connecting flight to Berlin and rented the car there instead.
We rented a Mercedes Benz A180 CDI from Europcar. It was very spacious inside plus it was fast enough. We drove it at 180 kph in the Autobahn.
More...it was very thrifty on diesel.
The first thing that came to mind when I thought about Berlin was the Brandenburg Gate...so early Monday morning we sneaked out of the hotel and I shot it.
NOTE: If you look closely...in between the 2 center columns...from a distance...our rental car was parked there.
I guess in some European cities the trick is just go to the main square or plaza and from there go on a hop on/hop off bus to see the city. For Berlin that plaza is the Alexanderplatz (Alexander Plaza).
I shot this image to show the beautiful colors of the autumn leaves.
The black car is called a Trabant...a car that was sold in Eastern Germany during the Cold War.
Please go to...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trabant
There was a small section of the Berlin Wall that was untouched...so I shot it. My mistake! I should have stepped off the bus and shot it using a different perspective.
We went on a Spree River boat cruise...after the hop on/hop off bus tour.
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| joseantonio | 22-Jan-2013 06:17 | |
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