England

Finally, a mere three months after our return from Europe, this photo journey is coming to an end. And there was much rejoicing.

There weren't as many quality pictures at this point in the trip, as we were getting weary of being shutterbugs and just weary in general. There's especially a distinct lack of much from London, but we were only effectively there for about a day and a half.

Here's the shores by Tintagel, the reputed birthplace of King Arthur. There's all kinds of legends around this area. Cool.

Here's the view from the Glastonbury Tor. Lovely.

And here's the Tor itself, with the ruins of St. Michael's Church at the top. When King Henry VIII dissolved the monastaries during the English Reformation, the local abbot was hung here for refusing to turn over the abbey to the king.

You are looking at an architectural marvel known as the scissor arch in Wells Cathedral.

Here's lovely downtown Winchester. It's a smallish city with lots of charm.

Let me tell you, the Guinness assuredly tastes better in England.

Here's an impressive root system at Avebury.

London's famous Millennium Bridge across the Thames.

We wound up spending our last night in Europe at Heathrow Airport. Luckily, our camping gear made what could have been a pretty crappy night OK!

Thus ends the Matt and Jac Europe 2006 photo extravaganza!

France

Shoot. Time really does fly. Europe is such a fading memory already, even though we only got back a month and a half ago. These photos focus mostly on Paris, the crown jewel of our French experience. We also stopped in Strasbourg, Normandy and Brittany, but there weren't many pictures from them. That's too bad, becuase they had their unique charm.

Caution: There's a lot of pictures in this one! Vive la France!

Les Champs-Elysees. This is a great example of a world-class street in a world-class city where you can stroll the streets without a care in the world - as long as you don't look at the price tags!

Jac loves Art Noveau. Here she is at one of Paris' famous Metropolitain entrances. These apparently kicked off the Art Noveau movement.

And here's a beautiful Art Noveau room at the Musee d'Orsay. Tres organic.

I wonder if anybody's done this before...

Paris was an art tour de force. Here we are entering the Louvre via its iconic glass pyramid.

But not all famous Parisian icons are in galleries.

A short walk away from the Moulin Rouge is Monte Martre, one of the more charming parts of Paris with a great view of the city.

Here we're wondering if the Pompidou modern art museum will actually have anything that isn't messed up.

Jac thought that this pink room was pretty fun.

I thought that this shadow sculpture was pretty fun. Otherwise, most of it was well beyond messed up.

This is my kind of art: a beautifully crafted prayer in stone. Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris is stunning. I'm more pleased in an artistic sense with this picture than with any other I took on the trip.

This was certainly one of the highlights of the entire trip. A bunch of us planned to meet at the base of the Eiffel Tower for a picnic of wine, cheese, bread and chocolate that lasted all night for some. Truly magnificent.

The Eiffel Tower is ridiculously photogenic. I took a ton of experimental photos of it during the lightshow and this is one of the best results. This was not done by photoshopping (other than some color tweaks).

Finally, we leave Paris for Mont St. Michel. This, believe it or not, is an abbey. One that happens to be heavily fortified as there were extensive wars between Brittany and Britain. They fought so much that they have the same name. It used to turn into an island at high tide - until a causeway was built in more modern times.

This is a really fun shot from inside the Abbey at Mont St. Michel. You might not notice at first, but that's a giant mirror and I'm taking a picture of our reflection.

And here we are, embarking on our voyage across the English Channel and bidding adieu to France. It was lovely.

Well, that leaves us with only one country to go. Hopefully England will make its appearance before Christmas!

Zürich

<insert obligatory apology for not updating in too long here>

That unpleasantry out of the way with, let's throw up some pictures of our short stay in Zürich, the capital city of world banking. Let me tell you, this place definitely felt rich. The prices everywhere reflected this, as this was one of the most expensive parts of our stay.

It also was the time where Jac and I celebrated our first anniversary. We stayed in a hostel/hotel called "Martahaus" and thoroughly enjoyed a night's reprieve from camping! To make things even sweeter, that happened to be the night of one of the two torrential downpours we experienced on the whole trip. While my fellow travellers were beseeching the Lord's mercy, I just reached over and closed the window. :P

On with the show:

Here's me standing in front of the Martahaus Hotel where we stayed for the night of our anniversary, right in the heart of old town Zürich.
This is fast food - European style. This place was run by a major grocery retailer called Migros and it operates solely as a take-away eatery. The only difference is that the food is actually good, (somewhat) healthy and made fresh. These things are everywhere and this is how the locals eat on the go. You'll never see any suckers other than tourists paying around $10 for a Big Mac combo. Idiots. And note that Europeans even do a good job of design even though Migros is Switzerland's largest grocery chain. Could you imagine Superstore or Safeway making quality space like this? We demand too little...
Here's a fun little sight less than a block away from our hotel: The Polybahn is a funicular that runs up the steep hill from the old city to the University. And it comes right out of the building and up and over the street! It sure was surprising the first time we saw it.
Here's a night shot looking into Zürich's old city. The twin "saltshaker" domes of the Grossmünster can be seen on the right. Christian history buffs may be interested to know that it was where Ulrich Zwingli preached his Reform message.
And here's me, enjoying some delectable Swiss fondue to celebrate our anniversary. It was incredible.

Deutschland

Germany was great. For the first time on the trip, I could actually communicate with the locals to a limited degree. It's not like I needed to--Germans typically speak excellent English--but it made me feel better after a few weeks of frustration in Italy.

And two words: bratwurst and beer. I had the most heavenly bratwurst of my life at some market in Munich, and beer was to be had in abundance. We were only there for a painfully short three days, visiting only Dachau and Munich. Hopefully future trips will spend longer in Deutschland...

Enough out of me. On with the pictures.

The gate leading into Dachau, which roughly translates to "work makes you free." How sadly ironic, considering that the moment they walked through that door, they were far from free.
A view into the camp through a barbed wire fence.
One of the ovens where they cremated the dead. Dachau was not a death camp like Auschwitz, but the forced labor and malnutrition—not to mention the cruelty of the SS—still claimed many lives. The juxtaposition of the flowers and the oven said a lot to me about hope. This was a hard place to be.
But all is not gloomy in Germany. Here's a whimsical stereotype: the oompah band player in a Munich market chugging back the beer—at 10am! These guys were everywhere in downtown Munich, probably due to the World Cup quarterfinal between Germany and Sweden that was being played that day.
Here was the courtyard of the Hofbräuhaus during the game. Crazy football fans.
The Hofbräuhaus was only quiet because everyone was watching the game in the courtyard. Otherwise, this place is a giant, beer swigging hall of boisterous good times.
Speaking of beer, they believe in liters in Germany. Here's Jac and I looking somewhat wearied from the heat but happy at the prospect of hoisting a stein. Did I mention that I love Germany?

Anyways, there's a little taste of Germany. Unfortunately we didn't get too many shots of the city proper. We got photo fatigue every so often on the trip and the city seems to have been one of its victims.

Next up, Zürich.

Italia Tre

Ah, here we are again. I'm not quite procrastinating, I'm just making something useful out of my necessary study breaks... right...

Well, here we go with the last batch of Italy pictures. After the Amalfi coast, we made our way through Assisi (hometown of St. Francis), Ravenna and Venice, our last Italian stop. We were in Italy for nearly three weeks. It wasn't nearly long enough, but that was the refrain of the whole trip.

This is the chapel of San Damiano monastery, where St. Francis heard the Lord say to him "rebuild my church." Francis initially took this literally and started to work on the walls. He later learned to understand metaphor!
Class is in session outside of San Vitale in Ravenna. San Vitale was completed in 548, making it one of the oldest existing basilicas in the world. Lots of early church and state political stuff tied up in this place too!
Some very cool looking marble columns inside San Vitale.
Here's me standing on a bridge over one of Venice's innumerable canals. Venice is a ridiculously photogenic city, and its a crime the amount of stuff that I'll have to leave out of this post. Maybe I'll revisit the city later on, but we've gotta keep this thing moving.
The stereotypes are true: there's gondolas everywhere. We learned that they've never actually been a truly local form of transportation - it's always been all about the tourists with these babies.
So of course, we had to ride one. Come on, it's Venice! How can't you?
This is the kind of stunning view you get from the gondola. It was so tranquil and just plain lovely in these minor canals.
You can guarantee that you won't find this sign anywhere else...
And finally, just to prove that there is land in Venice, I present this view from the top of the Rialto Bridge, one of Venice's main bridges. As you can see, Venice is a thriving tourist trap.

Well, that's it for Italy. Next stop, Munich.

Italia Due

In my last Italia post, I neglected to provide some photos from our stay in Florence that it would be a shame not to share. That out of the way with, we will continue to our next Italian stop on the lovely Amalfi coast.

Here's our group enjoying a lovely Italian dinner at our Florence campground/resort. It was a delectable multi-cheese lasagne that I could happily eat every day for the rest of my life.
Speaking of food, here's how the Florentines do gelati. You're not going to find that on Corydon! It was incredible.
This is a cool-looking street in Siena, a city close to Florence. They were Renaissance-era rivals until the plague killed off a good chunk of the Sienese. Today they're mostly renowned for the color of their bricks which inspired the color "burnt siena."
Jac got this candid shot of this cute girl eating gelato in Siena's main square.
We visited the ruins of Pompeii, with its nemesis Mount Vesuvius looming in the background.
We had a great tour guide in Pompeii, who showed us little gems like this: a phallus pointing the way to the city's red light district. The more things change...
Here's Jac standing on the water by our campground in Sorrento, looking uber-cool and model-like. Sorrento marks the approximate beginning of the Amalfi coast.
Pictures can't do justice to the experience of careening along the high roads and sheer cliffs of the Amalfi coast. This is the type of incredible view that awaits you there.
And this might give you a sense of the roads we were on. My life passed before my eyes multiple times. It was great!

Well, that's it for this time. This is taking a long time to comb through and edit everything! It helps that I should be working on an essay and that this is a convenient distraction. :)