We first went to Venice on a cold, rainy, windy day in February. It was such a dreadful day that not even the tourists ventured out to check out the town. We easily found parking in the Tronchetto parking garage (http://www.veniceparking.it/). While it may not be the most economical option to drive into Venice, I just like the freedom we have by driving rather than using the train or flying. Knowing that our vehicle is parked in a relatively safe area makes the relatively expensive parking fees okay to me. As far as I am concerned, Venice is worth it. Everytime we stayed in Venice, we used this parking garage, left our car there for a couple of days, and stayed in small hotels in Venice. We usually just left the garage and either hopped on a vaporetto (do not use any of the guys that tell you they have transportation to the hotels; they approach you in the garage, it is way to expensive, just use the public boats) or walked. To me, walking is the best way to discover Venice, but of course it may not be the best option with small kids in tow...

Venice

One of the hotels I remember is the Hotel Bartolomeo (http://www.hotelbartolomeo.com/english/), a nice and clean and pretty reasonable little hotel. It is very close to the Rialto Bridge in the heart of Venice, so you can get everywhere in Venice within just a few minutes. The other hotel I remember is the Hotel Ca D'Oro (http://www.venicehotelcadoro.com/); it is a little farther away in the Cannaregio district of Venice, but nothing really is too far of a walk in Venice. The city is so pretty at night, and this is the main reason why I would never stay on the mainland in a hotel, I want to be able to venture through the streets of Venice late in the evening when most day tourists have left the town, and even more so early in the morning just after daybreak. Don't get me wrong, Venice is beautiful and a must see even when you share it with thousands of people, but it is so different when it's calm and quiet before or after the "storm".

Well, but back to my first time in Venice. It was so miserable, cold, and windy, our umbrella was turned inside out. I was almost ready to just go back to the car and go home, but then we walked over the Ponte dell'Accademia, one of only a few bridges crossing the Canale Grande. From there, the view of the Canale Grande and the Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute was out of this world beautiful, even on this gloomy wet day.

Venice

I became hooked on Venice at this moment. We walked the little streets, had some coffee in a little bar, made it all the way out to the Piazza di San Marco and just explored.

We went back to Venice I think three or four times. The weather was better than the first time, we went on a Gondola, and walked the many little roads. We went into the Church of San Marco, we went up the Campanile, found a beautiful park in Venice, went on the bus boats, or vaporetti, to go out to the islands of Murano, Burano, and Torcello. The tickets for vaporetto only cost a few Euros, but you have so much flexibility as they run quite frequently. We haven't made it to the Lido, but you know us, it's another reason to go back to Venice.

Unlike the last time we drove, this was a super easy breezy 10 hour drive for us. We drove through Switzerland and the drive through the French Alps was especially pretty. We checked into the Hotel L'Amandiere (http://hotel-amandiere.com/accueil_gb.html ), which turned out to be a gem. St.-Remy, as we learned in the following days, is a not exactly budget friendly destination. The L'Amandiere is a really reasonable hotel there, the pool was very nice, the staff was very friendly, and it was just a short 10 to 15 minute walk to the town center. There, we ate some very overpriced food, got some ice cream and headed back to get some sleep.

Day 2: Lavender!

Lavender field day! We had to drive for about an hour and a half to make it to Valensole, but man, was it worth it. Lavender fields in full glory. We returned to Puimoisson, where we found gorgeous lavender fields. Not only are they fields pretty to look at, they scent of lavender lingered in the air. Of course, we also went back to beautiful and peaceful St. Jurs.

We also discovered these huge fields of light purple flowers, I don't know what they are (please, if you do, enlighten me) with St.-Jurs in the background.

Back in St.-Remy, we found a nice restaurant with some great customer service and some tasty food.

Day 3: St.-Remy-de-Provence, Avignon, Tarascon, Les Baux de Provence

We started the day in St Remy to visit the sanatorium where Vincent van Gogh stayed after he mutilated himself by chopping of his ear. It is a wide spread area with a beautiful lavender garden, an apple orchard, and even a small field of poppies. Very Van Gogh.

We also went into the room where Van Gogh stayed. It was kind of strange to be in there, outside it was so beautiful, sunny and warm, but inside it felt kind of claustrophic. The windows have bars, it is dark and the air is stale. I wonder how Van Gogh felt in there, and how the mental illnesses of the patients in the institution were treated adequately. From St.-Remy, we drove to Avignon and went back to the Papal Palace. This time, we went inside and took the audio guided tour, which Noah was a big fan of. I was so impressed with the little guy, he was so happy to push the numbers and listen to the explanations. We lost his teddy bear in there, but with the help of some very nice staff (whoever claims that the French are rude is totally wrong. We've been to Normandy, Paris, and Provence, and never have we encountered a rude French person. Quite on the contrary, they ranged from super friendly to indifferent, but NEVER ever rude!) we were able to find it. Huge sigh of relief! We bought Noah a knight's helmet and a sword. He rocked his little outfit, he walked through Avignon wearing his gear, and people just smiled when he passed them by.

Next stop on this busy day were the towns of Beaucaire on the Rhone river, which has a very pretty port, and the medieval town of Tarascon, which boasts the fantastic Chateau de Tarascon. The castle is huge and HIGH; we climbed all the way up there to the "roof terrace" , I was actually kind of scared up there, the wind at the height...they're not my style. Still, the view is great from up there, but I was a happy to go back down.

The final destination for today was the village of Les Baux de Provence, another fortified medieval town which sits on a tuff stone plateau.

Day 4: Back to the Lavender Fields

Oh shucks, there were so many places left that I wanted to see, but we had only this day left. We decided to go back to the lavender fields....found some more and that was our trip :)

I'm already kind of thinking of going back to Provence, I still would like to stay in the Ardeche region for a few days, and do maybe a week on the Cote d'Azur. Who knows what our future holds and where we'll live, but I'm sure we'll go back!

If you'd like to see more photos from our second Provence trip, check out this gallery: http://www.sabinereedphotography.com/p390425770

We are pretty thrifty travellers when it comes to accommodation, I like it clean, close to some some supermarkets and restaurants and bars, yet still quiet, and reasonable. I will always choose a smaller family run hotel over a bigger and more fancy place that might offer "more", e.g. kid's clubs or a huge pool. A pool was so not necessary for us when we traveled as a couple, but with Noah along, a small pool is a plus; he loves a pool, that's all he asks for when we go on vacation.

In Santorini, we stayed at Hotel Levante Beach right on Kamari Beach (http://www.levante.gr/).

Great location in the town of Kamri, not right in the center of the town, but just a short walk away from it, the beach is across the little street that is open to pedestrians and some smaller vehicles that deliver stuff to the hotels and stores. Since Santorini is a volcanic island, the beach is made of dark larger gravel rocks, so for a chicken like Bob, some aquasocks might come in handy. Noah and I are beasts, we just walked barefoot. The beach isn't exactly kidfriendly, the surf rolls in pretty rough at times and it gets deep quickly. Therefore, for plain old family fun, the small pool in the hotel came in super handy!

On another sidenote, when we fly to our vacation destination, I usually book a package that includes the flights and the hotel. Most of the times, this is the cheapest and - more importantly - most convenient way to get to our destination. In the case of Santorini, we could have flown into Athens and then use a ferry to get to our island, but we figured there is so much to see and do on Santorini, so we might as well get there as quickly as possible and save Athens for a weekend trip one day. For hotels, I usually book on the cheaper side, but I make sure we can easily walk to the beach or are right on the beach, and that we maybe have a pool for Noah, cause well, as you've learned, Noah loves a pool. I couldn't care less about it. A clean room, that's all I need...

Day 1: Getting there...

Day 1 was not too spectacular. We drove to Nuernberg, parked the car in the long-term parking garage, found our flight, were in the air for about two and a half hours, were picked up at the airport, and got delivered to our hotel. Not really to the front door, it took us about 15 minutes to find the place, since the driver dropped us off in some back alley. I was pleasantly surprised by the hotel. The staff was friendly, our room was pretty big and had a nice little terrace, and it was quiet. We kind of lucked out, because some of the rooms faced a big parking lot that was busy from early morning till late at night, but we didn't notice that at all. The hotel had a decent  sized pool with stairs (perfect for Noah, cause he could just hand out by the stairs and play in the water), an awesome breezy bar area from which you could see the beach and the Sea, and a wonderful upstairs terrace. There, we had breakfast every morning looking over Kamari and the Mediterranean Sea. We didn't do anything spectacular on that first day, just hung out at the beach and the pool and at the bar.

Day 2: The Sea

Day two was pretty much reserved for checking out what Kamari had to offer. Kamari is a typical beach town. Most of it has been built specifically for tourism purposes, so on the pedestrian street parallel to the beach there are plenty of bars, restaurants, shops, and hotels. There's always something to do and you can people watch all day. Even though it is pretty touristy (which is cool, cause we are tourists and we have to hang out somewhere. I don't like this attitude of "I don't want to be a tourist". Nobody wants to be "a tourist", but that's what we are when we  go on a holiday), I think they did a great job of keeping it small. There is only a handful of buildings that is higher than two stories, so you don't feel overwhelmed and it doesn't feel crowded. This day was a perfect day for Noah, we went back and forth between the pool and the beach, tossed rocks in the water, Noah practiced his jump-of-big-rocks-into-the-surf skills, we had some beer and some Cocktails at the bar, and Noah devoured water melon slices. The staff at the hotel was great, as I have mentioned before, after the third serving, they'd just bring out water melon for Noah whenever we would sit down there with him. He loved it!

Day 3: A Volcano and a small Village

Well, on day three I was ready for some action. We had booked a boat tour that brought us to the lava island of Nea Kameni. Santorini is an island of volcanic origin. Remnants of the volcano can be found in the form of other islands. Nea Kameni is pretty much the still active volcano. We walked up to the volcano (it was HOT) from where we enjoyed some awesome views of Santorini. Back on the boat, we sailed on to Palea Kameni. I got to hop in the water there, there are hot springs in the water and some mud that makes you beautiful. The hot springs were great, it felt like swimming from cold Sea water into a nice comfy however sulphuric smelling hot tub. I covered myself in a little mud, but no difference, after washing it off, I still looked the same. From Nea Kameni, we went on to Thirsassia, which is Santorinis little sister island. It was such a nice change of pace; while Santorini 's larger towns are buys and full of locals and tourists, Thirassia only has one major village named Manolas and it is very quiet, peaceful, and simple. I left my boys in the port of Thirassia to climb the winding stairs up to Manolas. The village is as postcard Greek as you can imagine it, white buildings, a church with a blue dome shaped roof, and Sea views are ever present. Walking down the steps was a lot easier than going up in the midday heat. We hopped on board of our boat one last time to cruise along the Caldera, the crater cliffs, of Santorini. This is, where we caught our first glimpses of Oia, Imerovigli, and Fira.

The rest of the afternoon we did what we had done the days before, relaxed, got some drinks, and enjoyed the pool and the Sea.

Day 4: A Ghost Town, a Village build for tourists, and gorgeous Oia

This day was reserved for a half day bus tour through the northern part of Santorini that would end with watching the sunset at Oia, supposedly one of the most gorgeous sunsets ever. We started out in the early afternoon. Our first stop was the oldest church of the island, Panagia Episkopi. It sits on a little hill with beautiful views over the Eastern part of the island and is surrounded by a beautiful garden inviting you for a little stroll. Next, we visited the ghost village of Mesa Gonia. I have to say, from a photographers perspective, this village is a dream come true. If we'd go again, I'd make sure to go back there not in the middle of the day, but at sunset or very early in the morning, just to be able to catch the gloomy mood better. However, despite the fact that we walked through the narrow alleyways with a bunch of fellow tourists, it felt kind of strange to be in this deserted place where people used to live, but is now falling apart a little more every day. If I remember correctly, the people of Mesa Gonia left their village after an earthquake...Well, on we went to Pyrgos, a really pretty town sitting on a mountain which allows you to look over the whole island. Pyrgos boasts typical cycladic architecture, Byzantine churches, and a Venetian castle. In order to get to the castle, you have to navigate through the small alleys ; this is truly fantastic because there is something to discover behind every corner, interesting stairs, a door framed by some flowerpots, things like that. We made it up to the castle, and back down, got some drinks because it was hot and Noah was worn out from walking so much, and we went on to Imerovigli.

It has been built mainly for tourists along the Caldera. The views are indescribable; everything you expect from Santorini and more. Some of the most serene and expensive hotels of Santorini are located in this quiet town, but also a wonderful church with the typical blue dome roof and a bell tower. The final destination of the day was beautiful Oia, the town on the northern tip of Santorini from where you can see the Caldera cliff on one side of the town and the open Sea on the other side. The iconic image of the church roof looking over the Caldera, Oia, and Thirassia in the distance has its origin here. Walking Oia - again - is a dream come true for a photographer, heck, for anybody who wants to feel like he/she is walking on a picture perfect postcard. The place filled up as the sun began to set, and we kind of missed the sunset because we didn't quite know where the best location for sunset watching was, but also because it was hard to find our way through the crows. We had decided before that we would get a rental car after having gotten an idea on how large the island was by using a bus at firt, and this - along with Imerovigli - was my top choice for a return trip. Driving back to the hotel in the dark in the bus was something else. I always rely on the fact that bus drivers know what they are doing, that they have driving these roads for years, and that - just like me - don't want to die...;)

Day 5 The Beach & The Sunset from a Boat

In the morning, we relaxed a little from the strenuous walking we did the day before (oh, please, it wasn't that bad, but Noah acted like he ran a marathon). We spent some time on the beach, Noah ate watermelons, everybody was happy. In the evening, we went on a little sunset boat trip along the Caldera all the way up to Oia from where we watched the sunset from our boat.

Day 6 Take a Break

Today was just another beach day. I worked so hard on my tan. Exhausting.

Day 7 Amoudi...enough said!

Time for action! We finally rented a car. We first went to Fira, the little capital city of Santorini and took the funicular down to the port. We watched the cruise guests being brought to the port in small motor boats from the big cruise shops. I don't know what my deal is, a cruise just doesn't seem intriguing to me at all. The people were all hauled in, followed their tour guide like lemmings (where is my tolerance for tourists now, right?), and they would only see a tiny little bit of Santorini. I felt so bad for them ;). We did the so not touristy thing (NOT) of riding donkeys up the winding trail back into Fira. Noah and I shared a ride, it was so uncomfortable, I scraped my legs on the walls along the trail, cause the donkey doesn't care how close it gets to the rock wall as long as it doesn't affect it; the donkey does not worry about the passenger AT ALL. Noah wasn't too hooked on it either. Bob was a sight, I think his donkey had a panic attack when it realized that this big ole dude was all his. Well, our donkeys delivered us safely to Fira, so we walked a little bit around town. We then went on to Imerovigli, this time we had the town pretty much to ourselves. From there, we made it back to Oia. We decided to walk down to the port of Amoudi. What a perfect place this is. Fisher boats, rustic restaurants with a lot of flair, not too crowded, crystal clean water...We found a great little restaurant. We ate the best Saganaki we've ever had, man, Feta cheese is so out of this world tasty, and these guys prepared it so well. From the port, we walked a little further to a tiny little beach. We went up the hill back to Oia with the infamous donkeys. The LAST time ever in my lifetime. Uncomfortable, bumpy, and man, the poor donkeys, this walk is no joke! Bob found a fantastic pastry bakery and their baklava really was phenomenal! Bob and Noah hung out in the village while I secured a spot on the old fort of Oia which apparently is one of the best places to be when the sun sets. Saw the sunset, pretty cool, and drove back home. I felt a little more safe with Bob driving than in the bus ;)

Day 8 Ancient Thira and back to Oia and Amoudi

It was time for some culture. We drove up to ancient Thira with our little rental car. We've been on some scary roads in our lifetime, but holy cow, this thing made me clench my teeth, hold on tight to the car door, and close my eyes. Hmm, then again, I'm a big chicken, maybe it really wasn't that bad...Anyhow, ancient Thira sits on this humongous monolith, the view from there is great, and while strategically, it is genius to put a town up there as you can spot intruders easily, building it must have been a tremendous logistical challenge.  Even though ancient Thira is pretty much in ruins, the site is well managed and gives you an idea on how small town life used to be like in ancient Greek times. Afterwards, we went back to Oia, and more specifically to Amoudi Bay, because yes, it is that beautiful. I could spend a whole vacation there and not ever venture out, and that says a lot about how special this place really is.

Day 9 The South

We had returned the car the day before, so today we went on a bus tour to discover some more of Santorini. We went on the highest mountain of Santorini, the Prophet Elias. There is also a military instillation up there as well as a monestary. Next, we went to the village of Megalochori, another one of these typical cycladic villages with narrow alleys and white houses. One of the curches there has a really interesting bell tower that spans across the tiny main street. The pace is very different than that of Oia or Fira or Kamari, it is quiet and calm and there are just a few kind of classy (not necessarily expensive) stores selling hand crafted items. The next town we went to was called Emborio. From there, we went to the beach in Perissa. Perissa and Kamari are the two main towns for the thriftier tourists, but, maybe it is because I'm biased, I think I prefer Kamari to Perissa. After lunch we went on to the Santos Winery for some wine tasting. Who liked it? I liked it! It was a pretty busy day, but in the end, we were happy to be back in our little hotel.

Day 10 Relax a little

Day 10 we spent on the beach. And we decided that we needed to rent a car one more time. We just had to go back to Amoudi and see some more of the island.

Day 11 Back to Amoudi

So, our last day we spend going back to Amoudi, to the little restaurant in the port, and walked through OIa one more time. In the evening, we went to the Caldera, but this time south of Fira, found a nice restaurant and watched the sun set there.

Day 12 Home

So, this was the day for us to go home. Noah got to swim in the pool for one last time, then it was time to check out of the hotel and take the bus back to the airport. What can I say, Noah and I both cried big old tears cause we didn't want to go home. I'm so happy that I have a vacation baby, Noah loves going on vacation, he is up to anything even when we tell him that we'll just look at old houses. And like his Mom, he never wants to go home and wishes he could stay just another day. Or two. Or a week....

Santorini really was one of the best vacations we ever went on. I know, I say this about pretty much every trip we have ever taken, but Santorini honestly was a whole different level of awesomeness. There was something for all of us, beautiful views and motives for my camera, great food for Bob, the pool and the beach and friendly people that would cater to his every need for Noah.

If you ever find yourself thinking about going to Santorini, just go for it, don't worry about the money too much, you won't remember the money you spend later, but you'll have great memories that will last forever.

I've always wanted to see the lavender fields in Provence in full bloom. When Bob decided that he wanted to have lasik surgery done on his eyes in Landstuhl, I had a lightbulb moment: It's end of July, we are close to the French border, we should go to Provence. It's right there, just a ten hour drive from Landstuhl. That is nothing to the Reed family; to us, this means it's right around the corner! The first year we went, we unfortunately were about a week or two too late to see lavender fields in bloom. Most of the fields had been harvested already. Nevertheless, it was a wonderful trip; we saw so much in less than a week, beautiful landscapes, picturesque villages, impressive medieval towns, and even the Sea.

Day 1:The drive and our wonderful little hotel

The first day of our little trip began with a doctor's appointment to check Bob's freshly operated on eyes. He was fine, so off we went on our little adventure. We made the drive in about 12 hours because we hit some traffic jams along the way, but it was nothing too crazy. The tolls kind of surprised us at first, but then again, we are spoiled in Germany with neither having to pay tolls on our autobahn nor having to buy a vignette. When we arrived, it was already dark. We stayed in the Hotel Mas de la Senancole (http://www.mas-de-la-senancole.com/uk/index.php) close to the picturesque hillside town of Gordes. I loved our little hotel, the staff was very friendly, and the area was quiet and peaceful. Our little room was wonderful, large enough for all of us (oh, did I mention, we had Jack with us. He was a five months old puppy at the time..), and a door that opened into the garden.

Day 2: Abbey de Senanque, Sault, and the quest to find at least one last blooming lavender field

After a wonderful breakfast in the garden by the the pool of our little hotel, we drove through Gordes and arrived still early at the Abbey de Senanque. The abbey is a major tourist spot, so we made sure we'd get there before the crowds made it there. It is situated in a tranquil area and surrounded by a large lavender field. It really was the only one that was still kind of blooming. Well, it was pretty dried out already, but at least we got the idea of what a lavender field looks like. We just walked around the grounds of the abbey, I took some photos, we enjoyed the peace and quiet, and when we noticed more and more people arriving, we drove on.

The rest of the day we spent driving around the Luberon in hope of finding more lavender fields. We really didn't have any luck with the exception of one field that didn't seem to be worked on anymore, but despite of that, the area is very pretty. We made it to Sault, checked out some stores and got something to eat in a little Bistro.

The afternoon we spent on the pool just relaxing and enjoying the warm sun of Provence.

Day 3: Avignon, Pont du Gard, Camargue & the Beach

After yet another nice breakfast we drove to Avignon. The papal city is fantastic. We had a kid and a dog along with us, but we still managed to see a lot of the sights, however, we could not go into the Papal Palace itself. Well, there is always next  time ;)....Since there was no way that the kid or the dog would walk the town with us, we decided to hop on a little train thingy. They didn't even care that we our puppy along. The train was great because it really gave us a good overview of the Avignon. It took us through the old town, but also through the gardens of the Papal Palace. We then moved on to the Pont St.-Benezet, the bridge that is the subject of the little song "Sur le Pont d'Avignon". Only about half of the bridge that used to cross the Rhone remains, and very often it gets very windy there. The breeze comes in from the Mediterranean Sea and we could definitely feel it that day. Poor Noah almost freaked out walking across the bridge, and to make matters worse, he let go of the little flyer he held in his little hand and it fell in the water. Noah pretty much lost it, but he was okay once we got off the bridge.

Well. We'd seen enough of Avignon, so we went on to the Pont du Gard, a Roman aqueduct which is remarkably well maintained. I highly recommend visiting there, not only do you get to see a structure that gives you an idea of the genius of Roman builders, but it is also a great location to spend a whole day there. Lots of families just hung out along the river that the Pont du Gard crosses, it is a slow moving shallow river lined by beaches of larger gravel stones, perfect for throwing rocks in the water, looking for fish, taking a swim, or letting the dog go crazy. We would have liked to stay longer, but oh well, the Reeds had to move on...so much to see on so little time...

Pont du Gard

Our next destination on this busy day was the Camargue. On our way there, we got superlost, but it turned out to be a great leap of fate. We found Beaucaire and Tarascon. We only drove through the towns, but at that point, we already kind of knew that we would come back to Provence another time to see more. We drove through the Camargue, the flatland area between land and sea in the Rhone delta,  where you may see flamingos as well as beautiful white Camargue horses. We made it all the way to Saint-Maries-de-Mar on the Mediterranean Sea. It is a well known beach town, so of course we were there along with thousands of tourists...it was a Sunday night I think...It was still pretty, Noah got to play on the beach an got superfilthy dirty and covered in sand...a boy's dream come true.

We made it back to our hotel late at night. This was a superbusy yet fantastic day spent in a medieval town, looking at a fantastic Roman remnant of history, and on a warm sunny beach. 

Day 4: Roussillion, I found what I've been looking for, St. Jurs, Gorges du Verdon

Well,  other travellers - especially those accompanied by a preschooler and a young dog - might have taken a break to relax. Not us. We made our way to Roussillion. The town sits on ochre cliffs which are spectacular. The little town itself is worth a trip with its narrow streets and the beautiful views, but you can also wander through former quarries. Awesome. Noah had fun climbing around, Jacks paws morphed into a deep ochre color, and I got to take a ton of photos. From Roussillion we moved on to the Vaclause area. I still had hopes to find a lavender field. This is what we discovered.

Somewhere between Puimoisson and St. Jurs

I was so happy, even though this might not be THE perfect field. Our drive led us through Cavaillon, Puimoisson, and ended in St.-Jurs. This little village might have been the favorite place we've found on this trip, so unexpected, so beautiful sitting on a mountain on the edge of the Alps. However, we agreed that Provence on a whole was a big surprise to us. We expected it to be kind of nice, of course, it is being hyped, but we thought, oh well, how great can it really be. To us, it really was and is one of the prettiest areas we've been to, and we appreciated the combination of different landscapes, medieval towns, picturesque villages, lavender, great food, and that provencal flair.

Well, St. Jurs was beautiful, peaceful, tranquil. I wasn't ready to go back to the hotel yet, so we drove to the Gorges du Verdon. Well, I had to drive, and I kind of chickened out, the road along the gorge is no joke. Bob would have braved it easily, but it was little too much for me to handle. I'm such a coward sometimes. We made a little past Moustiers-Sainte-Marie, and then went on home. This whole area would be a great destination for a week's vacation. You can hike, do all kinds of water sports, hang out in the small towns along the gorge, or use it as the hub to explore the lavender fields as well the Cote d'Azur. It's too bad, that there are only so many places we can really see and explore in a lifetime. Well, that and the fact that our wallets kind of put a limit on the vacations we can take...;)

Day 5: Let's go home...whether we are ready or not..

Today, it was time to get back to Landstuhl in order to make it to Bob's checkup the next day. We hit the motorway, but we couldn't quite leave Southern France yet. We took a little detour where Bob and Noah checked out a crocodile farm while I hung out with Jack. They wouldn't let Jack inside, well, he would have made great crocodile food, I guess. From there we drove on to the Ardeche river. The drive was yet again gorgeous, we stopped in a wonderful little town overlooking the river. The Ardeche region is like the Gorges du Verdon, you could spend a week there and not run out of things to do. It is well known for kayaking and you can take short kayaking trips or spend a few days on the river. Well, it was time to go for good...

At the end of our trip, we were hooked on Provence. We decided pretty quickly that we would go back, I just HAD to see some lavender fields in full glory. Even though Provence has more than enough flair to make up for the lack of blooming lavender fields, in the end I've really wanted to see ;)

Fast forward to the ages of digital photography: I am taking 10 times as many pictures on vacations, at family gatherings, and also at sessions for clients than I wold have with film. I don't have to think about that every click of the shutter with a film camera basically cost some money; I can take as many pictures as I'd like to. My camera and my memory card have been paid for, I can delete what I don't like. I can go for different poses, capture many more moments, and I'm doing this because I think that later I'll go through all of these photos to pick my favorites. With the exception of client photos I never do that. My personal photos rest in peace on several photo graveyards which are located on the hard drive of my computer, on a variety of external hard drives, DVDs, even CDs, USB sticks, you name it. I am actually good about backing up my photos (I still have all the negatives and slides of photos I've taken in the film days). I'm not good about viewing them and appreciating them and remembering the moments.

Noah loves to look at photos on my phone or on the computer, but the other day at my Mom's house, she busted out a photo album that she has made of the prints that I give to her here and there from our little family things. Noah loved it and went back and forth through the albums while my Mom told him stories about the photos. It's something she used to do with us, look at old pictures and the more we'd look at these photos, the more her memories of what we were like as babies, of what happened at this moment on a vacation, of why our Dad was laughing so hard on a particular photo, became ours as well.

Now, I am digging out all of our photos, slowly but gradually, from the digital photo graveyards. I've ordered tons of 4 by 6 prints that I glue into photo albums, but I've also created a few photo books. While I love an album that I have made, I like the fact that a photo book doesn't take up as much space while still showing off my photos beautifully. I use the photo albums mainly for photos from our vacations, I have one theme that's finished, I can upload all the photos into that one specific book, and I don't have to add anything on. Photos from Noah, I'll put in scrapbooks, I'm now making an effort to at least organize the photos, put the best ones in the scrapbook based on date, and if I don't have a lot of time, I'll put on a sticky tape with a note that describes shortly why this photo is important. Usually, I don't need that note because the photo reminds me...I'm not the best scrapbooker, it just takes too much time and effort for me, but who cares, a scrapbook doesn't have to be fancy as long as it holds some photos and precious memories.

So, I've made my New Year's resolution mid December, and I'll vow to continue to do this, to get my photos off of that computer, and into an album or onto a calendar or - the very best of them - on a gallery wrap canvas, like the one of Noah that I have mentioned in another blog post.

If you don't have the time to free your photos, make sure to always back them up so you won't lose some treasured memories!!!

Where?

I am pretty flexible when it comes to sessions, I love love love outdoor sessions, they offer the most flattering NATURAL light, and an outdoor locations makes it easy to really get creative, especially for couple's and family photos. The Vilseck area has tons of nice little places that make great locations, but honestly, you can do photos pretty much anywhere. When you book a session, we will talk locations. I have a few places I really like, but I am also open to your ideas! I do have a studio space for the worst of days that don't allow for lengthy outdoor sessions, and I like to use that especially for babies.

When?

Outdoor sessions usually take place early in the morning just as the sun rises, or late in the afternoon/evening, when the light is the best. On overcast days, the time of day doesn't matter too much, but on very sunny days, I kind of like to stick to the early morning/late afternoon timeframes. It is possible to shoot in noon light, though! For studio sessions, the time doesn't matter, since I don't work with natural light but with studio strobes.

What's your photographer like?

I am not an extroverted person at all, but somehow I become a outgoing person when I take photos. I try to make this as fun as possible, after all, I want you to be comfortable and enjoy this experience. I also hope to get some genuine smiles. If I overdo the cheering-on, please let me know ;), but I have learned, that while parents think that I am nuts, kids do pretty well with a silly photographer ;). Whatever ideas you have, bring them on; I prepare for every single session, I'm trying to change things up a little bit for every client, but I really honestly love when clients have some ideas of their own that we can incorporate in our session. If you are thinking about changing outfits, please stop thinking and just bring the outfits!

How long does a session take?

Session lenght depends mainly on the subject.

I like to take my time for newborns, I would say at least 2 hours. They will get hungry, they need to be changed, they need to be cuddled, and this all takes time. When I do a newborn session, I don't book another session for that day, just so we can make sure to have enough time and to work without any kind of stress. I love babies, they usually are happy and jolly and we can take as much as an hour (or even longer, depending on what baby thinks of this); you can change their outfits as many times as they let you.

For individuals or couples I would say we'll need somewhere around 30 to 45 minutes. Family sessions can be either a little longer than that if you have older kids that will be patient enough to do family photos as well as some individual photos, or maybe shorter if you have young kids/toddlers that have anything on their agenda but to sit still for a second for a photo. With younger kids, stay patient; they are in charge and we will most likely have to work around them in order to get some nice photos.

Investment

For pricing and any other questions you may have, please contact me either here or message me via facebook.

When it comes to printing your  photos, think about what you'll do with them. Will they go in the album or are you thinking about hanging them on the wall? Many times, I have made the mistake to order a print that I thought would look great on the wall only to realize that they look tiny once I've put them up. The following neat comparison visualizes how different sized prints look when they are placed on a wall.

So, an 8 by 10 might sound like a pretty decent sized print size, but it depends on how you want to use it. Several 8 by 10s placed on a wall would make for a great photo wall, but if you'd like one image to really stand out, you might want to consider choosing a larger print size. A few months ago I've ordered a gallery wrap, and initially I almost felt guilty for spending the extra money on the larger size, but now that the gallery wrap is hanging on the wall and I get to look at it every day, I'm glad I got it. You can check out the gallery wrap here http://sabinereed.zenfolio.com/blog/2012/8/prints.

When you order prints of images I have created with an aspect ratio other than 3:2, again, use the preview option, so you don't lose parts of the photo or end up with white blocks on either side. I usually leave enough space on an image for it to be printed in either size without using any important parts, but just in case, always doublecheck. If you have any questions about this, don't hesitate to contact me. I also have a little example here to help visualize what I'm trying to say here in rather technical terms. The transparent areas on the 5 by 7 and the 8 by 10 is what would be cropped. The 4 by 6 is the aspect ratio that I produce.

Friday

After an easy drive we got here in the early afternoon. We went down to the Koenigsee, but decided not to go on a boat yet because we didn't want to have to rush. We just checked out the place a little and then went on to drive the Rossfeldstrasse.

This panorama road is a beautiful street carved into the mountains and offers fantastic  views of the area surrounding Berchtesgaden and - on the other side - of Austria. We lucked out with having wonderful fall weather. You actually have to pay for driving this road, but oh well, it was beautiful and worth it. Since it was still kind of early in the day, we went on to Ramsau, where I took my calendar shot of the little church and the bridge on a creek.

From there we went on to Salzburg and walked the town untill we ended up in a nice big Biergarten.

Saturday

We got up early to beat the crowd at Koenigsee. The first boat leaves at about 8 am, and we got there relatively early. It was still foggy when we went on the boat and we really couldn't see that far, but it was actually pretty nice to be on the lake in the morning mist. The guide on the boat played the trumpet for us in order to demonstrate the echo. Pretty cool stuff. After an about 35 minute trip, we reached the little chapel of St. Bartholomae, where we left the boat. It was still foggy.

We hiked up to the Eiskapelle, or ice chapel, which is Germany's lowest glacier. The hike up there was pretty intense (well, at least for those of us who don't regularly hike...). Noah did awesome and walked the whole trail by himself. He also talked non stop. Little kids amaze me sometimes, so much energy, they talk and talk, walk and walk, and I'm there, totally out of breath. Since we got there so early, we were pretty much the only ones on the trail. It took us about an hour to get up to the ice chapel. At its end, the trail fades into the rocks that have been moved by the glacier, you have to cross the little creek coming from the glacier and its rock bed in order to move on.

For kids Noah's age, this is a perfect playground. Well,that is, if you have good nerves as a parent and don't get phased too much about them climbing up impossible looking rocks and then jumping down. I've learnd a while ago that Noah has developed a pretty good judgment of what is doable and what is maybe a not so bright idea, so teeth grindingly, I endure his endeavours. He LOVED it! When we got back to St. Bartholomae, we hit the Biergarten there.

Bier, Weinschorle, and and Apfelschorle never tasted so good!

We made our way back on the boat, this time in glorious sunny weather. Next on our agenda was the Eagle's Nest. In order to get there, you have to find your way to the parking area at the Dokumentation Salzberg, hit the bus, and get a lift up the mountain. The drive is spectacular, another road carved into the steep moutain. Once you are up at the bus parking lot, you have the choice of either walking up to the top of the Kehlstein, the mountain, the Eagle's Nest is built on, or to walk through a tunnel to an elevator, that has been used by Hitler and his guests back in the day and is still functioning. We took the elevator; it is kind of strange to think that Hitler was in there and along with him some of the biggest names of Nazi history. This is the tunnel that leads to the elevator up to the Eagle's Nest:

Even weirder is the thought that you are walking on paths that were walked upon by this creep once you are up on the mountain. The Eagle's Nest, or Kehlsteinhaus, is now a restaurant, situated in a very peaceful location with a wonderful view, yet busy due to the amount of tourists up there. It is hard to believe that the Nazi elite used to enjoy their vacations there.

For dinner we went to a cute Italian place in Berchtesgaden called Pizzeria Bella Napoli. They have basic Italian food, pizza and pasta, but it was very good, and the place is the the cutest Italian place I have seen in Germany so far.

Sunday

Day 3 was supposed to be a rainy day, so we headed out super early to go to the salt mines. Super early, because when the weather gets bad here, there is not much indoorsy stuff that can be done, so we figured, we should get there as soon as possible to beat the crowds. Well, we got there at 9:15, got our ticket, and went on the tour within 10 minutes. People that arrived later had to stand in line and wait forever, so either go on a sunny day if you have enough time, or go very early. The tour is great, it is informative, but also very fun. You get to wear overalls and feel like a miner. A little wagon train brings you deep into the mines - sounds claustrophobic, but it really didn't feel like it. From there, you go on by foot. There are two wooden banisters or slides that you have to slide down on, you get to go on a little ferry that brings you across a salt lake in the mountain, and you get tons of information on how salt mining works. The tour takes a good hour and a half, and really I thought it was great, and especially with kids, this is a lot of fun.

Afterwards, the rain got really bad, but it didn't stop us from checking out a cool waterfall across the border in Austria. Again, due to the weather, we had the place almost to ourselves, and Noah got to climb on rocks, check out the water fall, and walk the little trails.

Back in Berchtesgaden, we went to the Hofbraeuhaus by Bob's demand. Yum. I like Italian and Greek food, but man, nothing tastes better than a Schnitzel when you are hungry. I am very German like that. Afterwards, we went back to our hotel and Noah and his Dad went to the pool there.

Monday

Nobody was ready to leave yet, so after checking out of our hotel, we decided to go up a mountain. We used the Jennerbahn to go to the top of the Jenner mountain. The weather was picture perfect and we got to enjoy beautiful views. 

I still wasn't quite ready to go home - I never am - so we stopped at the Wimbachklamm, a small gorge with plenty of small and big waterfalls. 

We finally started our drive back home, but thanks to a Stau, we made a pit stop at beautiful Chiemsee (I think, this will be a future four-day-weekend destination for us) where I got my Italy fix in a nice restaurant overlooking the lake.

I highly recommend the Berchtesgadener Land for a four day. In fact, it would serve as a great destination for even a couple of weeks, there is just so much to do there. Because with the military you never quite know what the schedule is like, I booked a hotel that would have allowed us last minute cancellation, but was slightly more expensive than other hotels (https://www.booking.com/hotel/de/alpenhotel-denninglehen.en-gb.html?sid=67e70d7868b133597c207eea3d2f66a5;dcid=2). I am sure you can find a great little B&B for a lot cheaper, though, and that's the only thing I would do differently on this trip.

We had to pay a small fortune to hop on a big cool bus to be driven up to the volcano's crater. An older Italian guy got into a heated argument with the guys working there, from what I understood he was outraged by the high prices. It was highly entertaining, loud, lots of use of gestures, very Italian. In the end, the trip was well worth the money. Noah had a good old time on the bumpy ride!

We had to climb up the last few hundred meters to the craterwhere you can walk on the rim and look inside the volcano. A nice lady from Israel insisted on taking a picture of us, so here it is ;)

There are guides up there that tell you a lot about the history and the geology of Mt. Vesuvius, which was pretty neat. The volcano is dormant right now, so while it is pretty interesting to see, right now, it's not too spectacular. The last eruption occurred in 1944, before that, you couldn't look into the crater as it was covered by a hardened layer of lava that you could actually walk across. There also used to be a chair lift going up the volcano, which has been destroyed in the 1944 eruption, along with that lava layer. There is one little spot where you can see smoke coming out of the volcano, but other than that, it really is calm and quiet. The guide told us, though, that it is only a matter of time untill Mt. Vesuvius will erupt again, and since Naples and the surrounding towns and villages are getting bigger and bigger, and are among the most densely populated areas in Europe, the evacuation will be a nightmare. It was kind of hazy, so we couldn't see too far, but the view has to be amazing from up there on a clear day, when you can see Naples and the Sea from the top of Mt. Vesuvius.

Well, it wasn't too late in the day, so we decided that we should to a pit stop at Pompeii. Again, I have to mention how awesome my Noah is as a traveler, we walked around the ruins of Pompeii for about three hours, and Noah did great.

The size of Pompeii is impressive, as is its history. It was an ordinary town, its inhabitants underestimated the power of Mt. Vesuvius. I guess, small eruptions happened frequently, so the people just didn't take them too seriously. Once they realized how severe the eruption was, it was too late to escape. What I thought was so strange about Pompeii is how very well preserved some the walls in the houses and the paintings on them were, but how little effort is taken to actually protect them from the masses of tourists walking through Pompeii every day.

Some of the best preserved paintings are sperated by little ropes from visitors, but to others, you can walk up to and touch. There are no employees or volunteers like in other museums that kind of watch over these relicts. I guess, the size of Pompeii makes it impossible to maintain it. A lot of items have been brought to a museum in Naples, however. Much of Pompeii is yet to be discovered, and from what I understand, they are trying to make it a more holistic kind of archeological site, where things stay where they were found but are to be protected better.

We ended our day trying to get back to Sorrento. Traffic was crazy, the scooters passed us like swarms of bees, but you know what, I'm writing this from my boring German home, and I miss Italy. Traffic looks like a big chaos, but actually, it is pretty organized, and people are very corteous. You just have to be brave and use your gas pedal, watch out a little, and people will let you merge in.

Well, we finally made it down here. Driving here is insane, but fun at the same time (if you are a passenger, that is ;).) People drive generally the speed limit +30km/h's, they pass in the most impossible of curves, it's a matter of who pushes the gas pedal first goes first, no matter what the rules of traffic say. Even as a pedestrian you aren't safe, crosswalks seem to be painted on the streets for decoration, nobody will stop for you if you don't bravely jump on the road to cross it. Well, it is awesome, though, and it somehow works pretty effectively, a big fun organized chaos. This place is a great mix of locals and tourists, it is bursting with life and fun, the noise level is crazy.

Our hotel http://www.ilrosetosorrento.com/ is a gem, run by a young family, located on the busiest street in Sorrento (if there is such a thing, the streets are all crazy busy); it is hard to carry a conversation out there. However, when our host showed us our room, I was surprised by how quiet it is back here. The house built along the street shields the back building, where the guest rooms are located from the noise, and there is a beautiful garden that we look out onto. It is like a little oasis in the middle of this happy loud chaotic place.

There are tons of stores here, many tourist traps, but some also offering wonderful ceramic crafts from the area (and I am not really into that stuff, but since we're in Italy and I am biased towards everything Italian OF COURSE I like it!). You can buy limoncello, the lemon liquor, everywhere. Again, we took a break from the busy part of Sorrento by walking down to the Marina Grande. It was a wonderful change of pace, crazy city life up on the cliff, where the city center is, but quiet and calm fisher life at the little harbor of Marina Grande. Noah finally got to play on the beach for a little bit, and I got to take pictures of boats and sand and surf. It helped, that it was yet another overcast day, there were hardly any tourists there because it just wasn't a beach day...that's my kind of day...

So, here's my story: I thought, the drive along the Amalfi Coast was insane, narrow roads, crazy drivers, but Bob is an awesome driver. On the way home, though, he decided to listen to the GPS and not to me, when she told him to hang it right into a TINY alley. Well, we damn near got stuck in that narrow road which had rock walls about 3 meters high to each side. This were the longest 250 m of my life. It took us about twenty minutes to get through it. Even Bob got a little nervous. There were maybe 2 cm space to each side, if that much. And bends, lamposts, and little houses along the way. Bob measured the road by stretching out his arms, and he could pretty much touch both walls at the same time. I kid you not. For those of you who know Bob, you know that "can't" or "this is impossible" are not part of his vocubulary, they are nothing more than a challenge to him. Nothing is impossible to Bob, and there is always a solution. Well, when Bob said "We can't make this", I lost my s***, ahem, composure...I saw the car wedged in the alley with Bob climbing out of the moonrof. If you wonder about what Noah did during this, he sat in the backseat, headphones on, watching a movie, oblivious to what went on around him. The Italians were highly entertained. They asked "WHY would you go THIS way?". Yeah, Bob. WHY? Despite the facts, that all the Italians along the way said, that there is NO way that Bob could get the car out of there, he made it. Once we were through, I highfived Bob and then slapped him on the head. Stupid GPS, the wife always knows best, haha! I tried to get Bob to reenact the whole scene so I could take a photo of it, but - and those of you knowing brave Bob will be shocked - he refused. This should tell you, just how close we were to being stuck in the car in an alley in Italy.

Yep. That's our windshield wiper in the picture...

Yep

It just had to be like that, of course. Whenever I go to Italy, there will be rain. I went to Calabria on the tip of the Itialian boot a few years ago with a good friend of mine, in the height of summer, and we had days of terrestrial thunderstorms. We decided to drive to Tuscany...still rainy. The first time Bob and I went to Venice was in February. It was raining badly, but we couldn't use an umbrella cause the wind was so terrible that it flipped the umbrella. I was about to give up and say let's just go home, when we got the first view of the Canale Grande and the chruch of Santa Maria della Salute. We waited out the worst of the weather in a little bar, and continued to check out Venice in the rain. Once, we rented a little Beetle convertible to drive around Lake Garda, I think it was in May. Needless to say, we took the top down once in the whole week we had the car. Well, so here we are, in Sorrento, in the beginning of September, and it's raining. It seems like it's dying down, though, so I am hopeful for the next few days. And, even if it continues to rain - at least it's warm, and we always make the best of it :)

Yesterday was our last day in Tuscany. We started they day out by driving to Volterra, another one of these great old towns that are so very well preserved. Our GPS lead us clearly off the beaten path, we drove mainly on gravel roads, but the views were out of this world beautiful. Well, we saw a sign that said "Pisa 63km", so after Volterra, we drove there.

Having Bob as a driver is like hitting the lottery, we pretty much always find parking in the midst of action and at hours when it should be impossible to find a tiny little parking spot. I am hoping, that I haven't jinxed us now...Well, Noah was almost a little impressed by the leaning tower. Pisa is so "touristy", but that's why we all want to go there, and to all the other "touristy" places in the world. The reason why it is "touristy" is obvious, though. The Piazza dei Miracoli, the square of miracles, with the leaning tower, the duomo, the baptistery, are so well preserved monuments to history. It is not surprising tourists want to see that and flock here from allover the world. I have to be honest, I hate being a "tourist" but I wouldn't want to miss the touristy stuff, not in Italy and not anywhere. It is touristy for a reason! Well, here is my tourist shot (this is all Noah had patience for) of Pisa...

In the evening, we went back to San Gimignano for one last time. No matter from where you approach the town, you can see it sitting on the hilltop from a distance.

San Gimignano during the day is overrun by tourists, but again, righteously so. It is beautiful during the day, but we were lucky enough to stay in an agroturismo closeby, so we stayed untill it got dark. You kind of can imagine what it must have been like there in medieval times when the stores have closed, most people left the town, and it gets dark and quiet. Our agriturismo http://www.agriturismocesani.it/ , by the way, was fantastic, everybody was superfriendly, and the views...well...this is what I woke up to this morning...

So, not too bad, right? Well, on this trip, I am learning to embrace my inner tourist, I love to do backroads travelling and to finding places and to me, the countryside and landscapes will always be more attractive than a city, but then again, as I was reminded in Pisa, the tourist attractions are visited by so many because they are something special, in this case something that mankind created on a green field and made it a miracle...wow, that's cheesy, right ;)

Well, it was a long drive to Tuscany. Very long. While I thought I was supersmart to not plan our vacation for August, when pretty much all of Italy is on vacation, mainly within its own country, I failed to realize that we started our drive on SATURDAY, the 1st of September. This meant, that all of Italy was on its way home from vacation within its own country. For a drive that should have taken us maybe 9 to 10 hours, we needed almost 14 hours. We barely made it to our agriturismo before it closed for the night. However, it seems to have meant to be. Five minutes before we got to the place, we drove by San Gimignano in the distance, and - I kid you not - there was a double rainbow in the sky. I promise, this is not a photoshop trick, the rainbow was right there.

The reason why I wanted to come to Tuscany in the first place was, that I had this image in my mind... I wanted to see the Tuscany of rolling hills, fields, cypress lined winding roads connecting small villages. On the quest to find it, we made our way to Siena. The Piazza del Campo really is beautiful, a big fan shaped place surrounded by medieval buildings, most prominent the Palazzo Communale with its tall tower. Noah got to run around and chase pigeons, so the kid was happy :) The piazza has to be wonderulf in the evening hours, when there is music and people sitting there laughing and chatting. I would love to go to Siena when the Palio is going on, the horse race that is based on so many traditions, but lasts less than two minutes.

From Siena, we went on to Pienza where I found what I've been looking for...

I found this great place, the light was PERFECT, and there was Noah, fighting me every step of the way. I got ONE good picture out of him (on the rest of the pictures he is in action, pleading his case on why it is NOT cool to have his picture taken...), in outfit number one. I love this single one image of him, though. I love how the light glows around him, I love his little smile, I love the way he is sitting there.

Most kids, like Noah, just don't have interest in having their photos taken, they want to play, run, discover things... anything but having to sit still and smile at the camera, especially for more than a couple of quick pictures. When I take photos of children, I try to make it as quick and comfortable for them, I try to give them some time in between different poses/settings, so they can run off some energy. I let them be in charge (or, ahem, let them think they are in charge ;) ), so we can keep them happy for as long as possible. I make a fool out of myself to get a smile out of them. I don't care if the kids think I am crazy as long as I can get some smiles out of them. As parents, I think that when we take pictures of our kids or have them taken, we have to be patient and let them be who they are. The best smiles are those that I get when I tell them a funny story, do something goofy, ask them a silly question, or let them play. Taking photos of children is challenging sometimes, but it is so rewarding. I love doing it, so thank you to all of you who have given me the chance to work with you and your children :) !!!

UPDATE October 25th, 2012

So, as mentioned below, I've ordered a gallery wrap through the website. The lab that actually prints the wrap is http://www.mpix.com/ . I have odered basic prints through them before and I just love the quality! The pictures don't do the gallery wrap justice, but I'm still going to show you. Excuse the crappy iPhone quality...

I ordered a 20x30 wrap, and it actually doesn't look as small as it does in the photo. Have I mentioned how much I love the overall quality of the wrap? It is printed on canvas, the picture on the lower left gives you an idea of the structure. There is texture, but the print still looks like a photo. The clarity is amazing, even at this size, and the colors are exactly as they show on the photo on the website. I was a little hesitant at first to spend that much money on a gallery wrap, but I'm glad I bought this rather than some ordinary boring print at some home decor store. As my baby gets older, this wrap will serve as a reminder of a moment on a late summer afternoon in the sun.