LONDON!

The next series of posts will be a reflection of a spectacular tour of Europe that my sister and I went on together. We spent a couple weeks traveling around...our first stop was Great Britain. London was one of our favorite cities! It was clean, smelled like fresh flowers (everything was in bloom), and was absolutely charming.

The famous telephone booths

The famous Buckingham Palace guards...this one was guarding the palace where Prince Charles is rumored to have resided for some time.

Buckingham Palace! The first time we visited was at ~1am, so we had it all to ourselves.

Big Ben and a partial view of the London Eye

The London Eye at night, overlooking the Thames

View of Big Ben and the Parliament building from across the bridge

Same viewpoint at nighttime

Obviously I was kind of obsessed with Big Ben...

but this stereotypical London scene was begging to be photographed.

Westminster Abbey and part of the Parliament building

The Peter Pan statue!!! This famous statue by Sir George Frampton in Kensington Gardens was one of my most highly anticipated sights to see. I was completely enchanted by the city of London, and the Peter Pan statue was the cherry on top. I love this statue.

221B Baker Street! The home of Sherlock Holmes.

The stunning Tower Bridge of London

We went to the London Ice Bar--it was awesome.

...and now...WILL AND KATE!! Holly and I were beyond lucky. We ended up at Buckingham Palace (by surprise) and found our way in front of the people who had been camping out for five days. Unbelievable. At one point we were swinging from the trees and were interviewed by a camera crew...we were on Belgian TV, haha.

The rest of the Royal Family...Prince Charles, Camilla, Her Majesty the Queen (in the yellow dress and hat), and then there's Pippa on the end too.

It was Royal Wedding Mania.

 The day after the wedding, the Today Show was filming (note Al Roker in the pink).

Westminster Abbey the day after the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were married there!

I know that was a huge post (expect the rest of the Europe posts to be huge as well, haha)...thanks for being patient and looking all the way through to the end!

I LOVE LONDON!!

Preview of Europe!

Here is a little preview of the posts to come of my Tour of Europe with my sister :)

This is the famous Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. I love this shot because I think it looks "Parisian," haha.

Around Kriti -- Part 2

And here is the second in the series of posts from random places around the island of Crete.

St. Mark's at night in city center Heraklion

Some kid sitting in an ideal spot for this image down at the harbor...lucky :)

One of the colder days here, "winter," there was some snow on the mountains and it was so pretty.

It was strong surf this day...

Iraklio's Venetian Harbor. Love the impact of this image in b/w.

Also down at the harbor

Centro.

I love this image. My friend described it as 'moody.' It was taken during a storm.

Closing with my favorite beverage, cappuccino. The Greeks have heavily influenced my coffee-drinking habits, and I am now officially an addict having multiple cups a day. Some are better than others. The top image is the stuff I make at home. The bottom image is from an incredible little cafe called "biscotto." Seriously, this was the best cappuccino I have ever had. Can't wait to visit again :)

Random places around Kriti -- Part 1

This post is a mixture of different days and locations...just some of the subject matter which I've recently shot. Look for Part II coming in the next few days!

First, a lone tree growing in the sand on the beach near Ammoudara.

I snapped this image in Rethymno, I felt that this dilapidated building had much character.

This is actually a rusty old flag pole in Iraklio

An interesting Mediterranean-style building in Hania

Dog prints on the beach in the sand at sunset

Cute old man selling sunflower seeds. In case you can't read it, his sign says, "No Stress .80"

Rusty anchor at the harbor

For some reason I loved this clock.

That's all for now, don't forget to look for Part II, I'm saving most of my favorites...

Rethymnon

Rethymnon is a pretty coastal city in Crete, only about 70 km from Heraklion.

 We went into the old fortress of the city

 Looking through one of the 'towers'

This was originally a church, which was then converted to a mosque, and then back into a church again

For some reason, this kind of reminds me of the Lord of the Rings...

The Venetian Harbor of Rethymnon

Chania

Chania
Beautiful, beautiful Chania! I wish that the University of Crete was here instead of in Iraklio :)

Venetian harbor

So Mediterranean looking isn't it?

Love the color of this image

Favorite!!!

Balos

My friends and I made a trip to the west coast of Crete, and after a wonderful hike arrived at this gorgeous scene. The beach of Balos. This photograph really doesn't do it justice. The water was so vibrantly blue and the landscape and mountains were stunning as well. Additionally, there were quite a few other islands scattered along the coast. A very interesting topography.

Akti Zeus

Akti Zeus...an abandoned hotel in Ammoudara. It was pretty creepy. It's located on the outskirts of the hotel zone, near a power plant. Nearly everything was left inside, beds, phones, furniture, dishes, stocked closets with lightbulbs, etc. The floors are covered with dust, footprints clearly visible. Oh, and I can't forget the creepiest part...the clock in the lobby still works, it's still running and ticking. Eeek!

Don't worry, I went with a group of people. I would not go here alone, at times I felt like I was in a horror film! Hah!

The exterior.

Some parts of the hotel looked like a crime scene...literally.

One of the rooms.

The property has no locks, so people come and go as they please.

An interesting tree

Ending with the creepiest image...the headless and appendage-less mannequin in the lobby. I didn't pose him either, he was set up just like that.