EntriesMilan Travel Pictures
After 4 days in Venice, it was time to move on and our next city was Milan. It would be our first train ride of the trip and I was surprised at how nice the train was. It was modern looking, spacious and clean. A stark change to how some of the VIA/GO trains look like here in Toronto, Canada.
Milan is not a very popular city for grad trip travelers, but I’m glad we got to check out the Duomo.
Milan is obviously known for its high-end fashion and it doesn’t disappoint. Right beside the Duomo is Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. The shops open up into the street which is covered by an glass ceiling. I consider an outdoor shopping area because there are no doors to get into the galleria. The types of shops you’ll find include Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Prada etc. There’s even a Gucci cafe but the best view of the action inside the galleria can be had from the McDonalds.
From one of the McDonald’s, you get this amazing view of the Duomo.
There was one McDonald’s across from the Duomo, that’s the one in the picture above, and there was another in the galleria. Both were packed and had a long lineup to the counter.
Another well-known place to visit in Milan is the Castle (Castello Sforzesco). The property includes a fairly massive park.
I found this piece of art rather interesting in the city.
I’m not quite sure what it is.
The last two pictures are from the same day. We went to Piazza San Carlos thinking there would be a cool park to check out but it was close. So after a day of walking, I had to kick back and relax a bit before the next days train ride to Florence.
Tags: Europe 2008, Grad Trip, Milan
Venice Travel Pictures
Venice is an incredibly beautiful city, it doesn’t take very long to get lost or to walk through the entire city. The best way to get around is via Vaporetto, basically the public transportation system of Venice. People hop onto one of the water buses and get off where they need to. The Vaporetto’s cover the main island (Venice) as well as the outer islands in the area.
We arrived in Venice early afternoon and took the time to wander around. On our first full day we took the Vaporetto across the island to San Marco. Here’s the view:
Here I am sitting on one of the many bridges that dot the city.
From San Marco, this is the famous Bascili. There are a ton of pigeons and people love to feed them and have them crawl over their body. Not my cup of tea.
If you looked at my panorama photos, you will have noticed a bunch taken of Venice. Those were all taken from the bell tower and here’s a view of the piazza from the top.
Back on the vaporetto, we kept passing by this museum with a skull made of our different pieces of metal, a photo just had to be taken.
The Grand Canal during sunset is truly a beautiful sight, here are a few pictures during dusk.
This picture was taken on the way back from Lido, one of the islands near Venice. Many of the workers in Venice don’t actually stay on Venice because it is too expensive, instead many of them live on the islands like Lido.
We spend one day on Murano and Burano, two other islands near Venice. Murano is famous for their glass work and Burano is famous for their colorful houses and lace factories. There are very few lace factories around these days.
No trip to Venice is complete without a Gondola ride so we took one. It cost 60Eur for 30 minutes but our Gondola guy also sang and give us a history lesson of the area while he rowed us around.
Tags: Burano, Europe, graduation trip, Lido, Murano, photos, San Marco, Venice
London Travel Pictures
I promised I would share some pictures of my Europe Grad Trip, so let’s finally begin. The journey begins in London so that’s where the pictures will start.
After arriving in London around 7PM we made it into town and wandered with our bags until we could check in. Our first stop was at Piccadilly Circus:
We then moved onto the Big Ben where I observed how the clock was a few minutes fast.
Wandering along the waterfront we were able to see what the London Eye looked like, we didn’t actually go up.
From here, we continued wandering through St. James Park and made our way to the front of Buckingham Palace where we watched the guards changed. This is an hour long event and not a 2 minute job that I thought it was!
By this point it was approaching noon and we had been up for most of our flight and walked around for a few hours with our bags. After a quick lunch at Cheers we checked into our Hotel – Hilton. Outside the hotel was this yellow Lotus so I took a picture.
The next day we went down to the Thames Rivers and checked our the Tower Bridge, Tower of London, looked at HMS Belfast and a random piece of artwork in the area.
We also walked to the Globe Theater which we went back to later in the evening to watch King Lear from the 5GBP standing area.
On our way to dinner we passed by the Court house.
Our on next day we went to Regents Park.
We also stopped by at Camden Market and picked up panoramas of London.
Here’s a view looking down one of two elevators required to get to the tube from our station.
The day after that we went to Hyde Park, the Orangerie (where I stole an orange off their tree) and the Science Museum.
Early the next day we made our way out to Stansted Airport and flew with Ryanair to Venice.
Tags: Buckingham Palace, Changing of the guards, Europe 2008, graduation trip, Hyde Park, London, London Eye, Lotus, Orangerie, photos, Ryanair, Shakespeare, St. James Park, Venice
Europe Trip 2008 Panoramic Photos (Photomerge)
In sharing my manually pieced together panoramic photos with Nivedh Manohar of Overclockers Online we started to discuss ways the different panoramic photos we had done. He enlightened me with a feature in Adobe Photoshop that automatically merges photos into a panoramic, hence the term photomerge.
In total, I discovered I had 38 panoramic photos. At the original size, the combined size is exactly 200MB. To spare the ridiculous loading times, I have compressed them to a manageable 1024 pixel dimension. Click on the small 350 pixel wide thumbnail for a slightly larger. If you would like the full size image, drop me a message and I’ll make it available to you.
Venice
Florence
Pisa
Rome
Paris
= 
I promise to start sharing more photos this coming week!
Tags: Adobe, Europe 2008, Grad Trip, Overclockers Online, panoramic, photos, photoshop
Europe Trip 2008 Panoramics
I have finally pieced together photos of our Europe Trip that covered London, Venice, Milan, Florence, Pisa, Rome and Paris between May 7th and June 10th. The photos were taken with a Casio Exilim EX-Z1050 (10MP) digital camera and pieced together using Adobe Photoshop.
London was the first city we visited but we did not visit any high points in the city that would allow for panoramic city photos.
Venice was the first Italian city of our trip and from the Bell Tower in San Marco (Campanile di San Marco) you get a wonderful view of the city, the water and the islands that dot around Venice.
Leaving Venice we took the train to Milan but like London, there were no good free high points that allow you to take panoramic photos. From Milan we went to Florence, where the blue skies, green grass and small city made for breathtaking views. The photos below was taken from Cimitero Delle Porte Sante on our way to Michelangelo Piazza.
From Michelangelo Piazza the city is a bit closer.
Karen and I both believe that Florence had the best view during our trip.
Leaving Florence we went to Pisa for one day where the most obvious thing to do is to visit the Leaning Tower. However, going up the Leaning Tower is quite the experience. I think it is the best way to fully appreciate the lean. You also get a great view from the top.
The final Italian city for us is none other than Rome. Rome is full of history and two of the most popular places include the Vatican City and the Colosseum. At the Vatican City we went to the cupola (top of St Peter’s Basilica) and I had enough photos for 2 panoramic, possibly more if I wanted to put the rest together. In addition to those two sites, I compiled a panoramic photo of some ruins along Via dei Fori Imperiali between Colosseum and Victor Emmanuel II.
The final stop on our trip was Paris and the most obvious place for panoramic photos would be at the top of the Eiffel Tower. There’s absolutely no doubt in my mind that the view from the Eiffel Tower was spectacular but at such a great height (300m above ground) some of the detail is lost. However, it is the only monument open late into that night allowing for pictures of the “City of Lights”. Before revealing the photos from the Eiffel Tower, we first went to Notre Dame, the site Victor Hugo’s Hunchback of Notre Dame. From here you can see large portion of Paris and its surrounding area.
The night of our boat cruise we also went up to the Eiffel Tower because the weather was finally starting to clear and we didn’t want to miss the opportunity. When we arrived at the top, the sun was setting.
That’s a wrap for all the panoramic I currently have. I am still selecting which photos from each city I will upload and share. Expect that to happen in the coming weeks.
Tags: Europe 2008, Florence, Grad Trip, panoramic, Paris, photos, Pisa, Rome, Venice
Back in Toronto
After 36 days in Europe for my graduation trip where I covered London, Venice, Milan, Florence, Pisa, Rome and Paris, I came back to Toronto yesterday afternoon in one piece. The flight was smooth until the last 20 minutes when we hit some very choppy air. To make matters more interesting, they made us sit in the plane for another 20 minutes while Peel police escorted someone off the plane. Why? Who knows!
Over the coming weeks I will slowly upload a few of the photos I’ve taken. In total there are over 2200. I’ll likely break it down by city and share a few comments about why the photo is special.
Tags: Europe 2008, Florence, Grad Trip, Itinerary, London, Milan, Paris, Pisa, Rome, Venice
. 11 Jun 08 | Travel | Comments (0)
Final Itinerary for Europe Trip
Here’s our final itinerary for Europe. I’ll be back in Toronto in June!
| Date | Depart | Arrive | Location |
| Wednesday, May 07, 2008 | 18:25 | Depart Toronto | |
| Thursday, May 08, 2008 | 6:25 | Arrive in London | |
| 7:15 | Liverpool Finsbury Square | ||
| Monday, May 12, 2008 | 11:25 | Depart London (Stansted) | |
| Monday, May 12, 2008 | 14:20 | Arrive in Venice | |
| Bus to Venice | |||
| 16:00 | Arrive in Venice | ||
| Friday, May 16, 2008 | 10:30 | Depart Venice | |
| Friday, May 16, 2008 | 13:05 | Arrive in Milan | |
| Tuesday, May 20, 2008 | 11:50 | Depart Milan | |
| Tuesday, May 20, 2008 | 14:32 | Arrive in Florence | |
| Saturday, May 24, 2008 | 10:00 | Depart Florence | |
| Saturday, May 24, 2008 | 10:35 | Arrive in Pisa | |
| Sunday, May 25, 2008 | 8:55 | Depart Pisa | |
| Sunday, May 25, 2008 | 12:14 | Arrive in Rome | |
| Thursday, May 29, 2008 | 3:00 | Bus to Airport | |
| Thursday, May 29, 2008 | 6:45 | Depart Rome | |
| Thursday, May 29, 2008 | 8:50 | Arrive in Paris | |
| Bus to City | |||
| 8:00 | Train to CDG Terminal 2A | ||
| Tuesday, June 10, 2008 | 11:40 | Depart Paris | |
| Tuesday, June 10, 2008 | 14:05 | Arrive in Toronto |
Tags: Europe 2008, Florence, Grad Trip, Itinerary, London, Milan, Paris, Pisa, Rome, Venice
. 07 May 08 | Travel | Comments (0)
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