Thursday, September 22, 2011

Paris at Night

I don’t know how I forgot to post these night shots from our trip to Paris, Brandon actually had to remind me to do it.  I guess I got too excited about our next trip to Berlin or maybe, as usual, life and chaos just got in the way.  Anyway, here are a couple of night shots at the Louvre from our last trip to Paris.  The Louvre is amazing during the day, but it is even more beautiful at night when most of the tourists have abandoned it. 

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Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Experimenting with HDR

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I took this photo from the second tier of the Eiffel Tower looking down at one of the legs of the base.  Instead of fighting the long lines to ride the elevator up, Brandon and I took the stairs up (don’t worry, we didn’t go all the way to the very top) and I think we both realized how out of shape we are.  With our burning lungs, the only thing that made us feel better was the fact that no one passed us.  The climb was definitely worth the gorgeous view of the city.  I also loved being able to see the tower from a different vantage point; it really is an amazing structure.

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This is my favorite photo of this week from our trip to Berlin.  This was taken at the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin at sunset.  These concrete blocks vary in height and in the center are around 12-15 feet (?).  Looking from the outside the memorial doesn’t look like anything really spectacular, but as we walked through I was really taken by the enormous size of these blocks.  Walking through the 2,711 concrete blocks was pretty powerful.

Sweet Shot DayFavorite Fridays at Skinned Knees  

Monday, September 5, 2011

Amazing Berlin!

Brandon and I headed to Berlin for Labor Day and were greeted by amazing weather, a wonderful city and some truly memorable sites.  Due to the history of East and West Berlin, the city is fairly spread out, but we just put on our comfy shoes and had a great time walking all over the city to the various Platz’s (city squares), sites and monuments. 

Berlin-44-1No trip to Berlin is complete without a trip to see the wall.  This portion of the wall is still standing near the Topography of Terror, which is a place I would highly recommend visiting.  The photos and displays were incredibly interesting and very eye-opening.

Berlin-194-1I love the contrast in the architecture of the Reichstag Building which holds the German Parliament.  The dome was damaged by fire and was rebuilt in a more modern style.  Unfortunately we weren’t able to tour the inside because you have to schedule a tour in advance due to security, but it was still really remarkable from the outside.

Berlin-216-1I guess this is the Berliner version of hanging out at the beach.

Berlin-209-1The inside of the Sony Center.

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