That is, we’re back in Rome after a few days in London, a week in Nottingham, and a weekend in Umbria.
I still haven’t gotten through most of the photos, but a couple of iPhone photos are included here. One shows the view from Aldo and Virginie’s London flat, and the other is an obligatory photograph of Robin Hood in Nottingham. (The iPhone camera performs well in the right circumstances.)
Robin Hood in Nottingham.
Anyway, this is all in advance of our move to Abu Dhabi, and with any luck there’ll be another update to follow soon!
Mom and Chiara at Water Tower Place on Michigan Avenue.
OK, so I’ve seriously dropped the ball on keeping my blog up to date, so here’s a brief summary of life over the past few months: super busy at work, great trip to Belgium over the summer (photos to follow!), and a whirlwind trip to Chicago to visit Mom at Christmas. By far the biggest news from the Christmas break is that Mom now has an iPad (and so, email, Skype, internet access, etc.). Finally!
On the right is a shot of Mom and Chiara at the Water Tower Place after the usual bao lunch.
In what has become a tradition of sorts, Chiara and I spent Easter at Elba Island with her parents and her niece Sara. A nice time was had by all (despite the occasional cold shower!), and photographs from our travel around the island (in particular, to Marciana Marina, Poggio, and Marciana Alta) are below.
We spent a quick day and a half in Florence (Firenze) recently, and it was great for both shopping and photography. I’ve only had time to get through a couple of photos (gallery coming… eventually), but here’s one shot (probably my favourite) from our trip.
…at long last both because we’ve been in Europe for a while before finally making our way to Paris, and also because we’ve been back in Rome for about a month an a half before I’ve managed to find time to sort through the photographs and update my blog.
To make a long story short, Paris was great. The parisian taste for grand public spaces and monuments made for some fun photography (despite the grey skies that filled our few days in Paris), and our hosts, Aldo and Virginie, were fantastic.
Chiara and I recently spent three days with her parents and their house in Umbria. (They’re interested in selling the house, and the website for the house can be found here.)
The afternoon light on an Umbrian hillside.
A relaxed time was had by all, and I got quite a few shots of the sunset and the surrounding countryside, as well as a few shots of the nearby city of Massa Martana. Massa Martana had suffered an earthquake several years ago, and they’re just now finishing their rebuilding of the old section of the city.
Chiara and I are back from our Canada-USA trip, and to say that we had a great time would probably be a bit of an understatement. Thanks to everyone who hosted us, and to those we met along the way, you’ve all made our trip truly memorable!
the Chicago skyline
Chiara and I arrived in Chicago where we stayed for a couple of days with my Mom and Grandmother, then we went up to London (via Detroit) to visit Dave and Sona. From there it was off to North Bay to spend a few art-filled days and nights with Deanna and Brent, then to Dad’s before leaving for Coniston/Onaping, where we stayed for two nights with Uncle Victor and Aunt Pauline at their house on Windy Lake. During our stay at Windy Lake we visited Grandma, Uncle Terry, and much of the family in Coniston, and also had dinner with Auntie Mary and David in Sudbury.
the sunset over Lake Nipissing in North Bay
Then it was back to North Bay for a few days during which we spent most afternoons swimming in Lake Nipissing, before going to London to spend two nights visiting my thesis supervisor John Bell. Finally, we were back in Chicago for the last three days of our trip.
I’m back now from 9 days in Oxford, where I attended a couple of IB teaching workshops. The obligatory tourist photograph is shown on the left ;).
While in the UK I managed to get away to London for the day, and spent an afternoon at Tate Modern. Saw the usual stuff, but the works that most impressed me on this visit were the the photographs in the Subway series by Bruce Davidson.
Also while in London I stumbled upon a small skatepark, and two of my favourite photographs from the trip were taken there.
So, on my fourth trip to Pisa I finally made it to the Leaning Tower. The light wasn’t ideal for photography that afternoon (hazy, with brief moments of sunlight), but it left me with something to work on in Lightroom, and I’m fairly happy with the results.
Later that day the weather improved considerably, and I got a photograph of Chiara and Orsetta walking in the evening sunlight that I’m really happy with. I’m not sure which treatment I prefer (when I finally post a gallery of Pisa photos I’ll include another treatment), but here is the colour version.
Edit: I’ve added another version below on the right.
Orsetta was a great host (as always) and we also got to visit Chiara’s friends Pietro and Antonia and their two daughters Juliana and Ludovica. More photos to come soon!