Archive for 'Travel'
Florentines and their city never fail to impress. Firenze is beautiful and i was lucky enough to photograph the perfect elopement of Anna and Tommi – which i will share very soon! It was the most amazing day!
The endless cobblestone roads encircle old Florence with endless traffic in an organised chaotic style. Horns honk and brakes squeal as Florentines dart in and out of lanes. Ignorant of fear, motorini (moped) riders dash in and around larger vehicles, as if protected by some divine force.
We visited the Ponte Vecchio, climbed 468 steps to the top of the Duomo and discovered the best gelato in the world – GROM.
I have completely fallen in love with Italy, the people, the food and the art. I can’t wait to return. I hope you enjoy my photos of Florence…Milano is next!
The next part of our overseas adventure takes us to Lake Como. Where we visited the picturesque village, Bellagio. It’s hard not to love Bellagio. It has long been called the pearl of Lago di Como, and the description fits perfectly – it’s beautiful and flawless. If you’ve been to the casino of the same name in Las Vegas, strike those images from your mind – there is no comparison. We explored steep alleys to find hidden restaurants and tiny shops. We went on a 2.5 hour tour of the lake with Bellagio Water Taxis (hello Jennine and Luca) – If you visit Lake Como you must pop in and say hi to Jennine, Luca and Jett - Wonderful husband/wife and doggie team. Really sweet and knowledgable and their boat - ”their 1st love” is beautiful and immaculate – a custom-crafted Italian wooden boat.
Across the lake we visited the spectacular Villa del Balbianello, it peers over the tip of a small peninsula on the southwest branch of the lake in Lenno. The Villa is remarkable and it’s grounds just beg for hundreds of photos to be taken. The villa was seen in Star Wars: Attack of the Clones, serving as the secret hideaway where Anakin Skywalker and Padmé Amidala were married, and it was the place where Daniel Craig’s James Bond convalesced in Casino Royale. We also floated by Richard Branson’s property – complete with a boat house, guest house and of course their main house!
We indulged in coffee, pizza, pasta and a wine degustation! Oh we are in heaven!
Next our trip takes us to Firenze! Where a beautiful couple – Anna and Tommi will be married! x
The first destination on our little adventure across the world begins at one of the richest cities on earth, Abu Dhabi is the king of bling and so ridiculously HOT! 47 degree temperatures with 89% humidity is definitely a tough temperature to go sightseeing in! My hubby Scott and I caught the travel bug quite a few years ago and now save our pennies and travel internationally as often as we can, and i have to say we will definitely be returning to the Middle East. Such a unique, friendly place – such a remarkable destination!
One of the highlights of Abu Dhabi would have to be the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. The mosque is an architectural work of art and one of the world’s largest. It has 82 domes, over 1,000 columns, 24 carat gold gilded chandeliers and the world’s largest hand knotted carpet. AMAZING! The marble’s stark color is even more evident as the backdrop to a sea of tourists and worshipers wearing the traditional black abaya and headscarf provided to all female visitors. The abaya covers the whole body except the face, feet, and hands. It can be worn with the niqab, a face veil covering all but the eyes. Muslim women often wear designer labels underneath their outer garments and increasingly they want to wear fashionable outerwear too. Devout need not mean drab. Abayas range from the plain to those with intricate jewel designs, so beautiful!
We went on a desert safari and dune bashing, rode a camel with a spitting problem, explored some of the souks, and even had a go smoking a Shisha. For those of you not ‘au fait’ with the shisha, it essentially is a water pipe used for smoking purposes, originating about 500 years ago. It comes in so many flavours from the popular apple (and double apple), mint, strawberry, apricot, rose through to the super cool grape. Shisha is all about the social element. Apparently it’s not what you put in your pipe, but who you smoke it with! We visited a couple of the biggest shopping malls i have ever seen…mainly to cool down, sat in our fabulous hotel Fairmont pool bar and drank Mojitos…(the Fairmont Bab Al Bahr would have to rate as one of the best hotels we have ever stayed at – Highly recommend it – service, food, staff, rooms, pretty much everything was sensational!). I even got picked up by a Sheik asking me if i would like to be his “friend” and if i could give him my phone number!
Lake Como, Italy is next…and then we head to Florence, where i will photograph my first ever destination wedding…I can’t even describe to you how excited I am…So keep checking back!
P.s – all these photos were shot using my new toy (i have completely fallen in love!) the Fuji X-Pro 1.
