Prague, Czech Republic

Prague, Czech Republic

Feb 2013, taken with a Canon 200IS and then edited slightly

Czechs don't do pints, they do litres - and this is the smallest they do. That said, the beer was delicious.

The Jewish Cemetery

Finally tried a Wiener Schnitzel and was distinctly unimpressed - think chicken nuggets, but with pork.

Communist Propaganda at the Communist Museum

Prague's own take on the Berlin Wall at the Communist Museum

I'm not sure what this is, but it reminded me of the Bridge of Sighs so it needed to be included.

Franza Kafka museum - probably the most haunting and touching museum I have been to. Fans of literature or Kafka himself, this is well worth a visit, although poorly signposted!

 

My friend in the Kafka museum

Venice, Italy

Venice, Italy

July 2012, taken with a Canon 200IS and then edited slightly

The Bridge of Sighs, early in the morning

The gondola service warming up for a day's work.

San Marco/ St Marc's before being swarmed by tourists.

Piazza San Marco/ St Marc's Square still fairly empty, save for a few hopeful pigeons circling the tourists.

Lit candles inside San Marco

A friend we met up with in Venice, posing on one of the streets

Gondola service - (advice: we steered clear of the gondolas because we didn't have the money, but from what I've heard they're very overpriced and don't offer anything in the way of views that you can't see for yourself from the streets)

View from the Rialto bridge

We got lost somewhere and ended up on a street that was silent except for the fluid sound of a piano floating from an open window. An old, bald head then appeared on a balcony and watched us fumble with tatty maps, and continued staring at us until we had meandered back to where we wanted to be. It was a magical moment.

The fish market we stumbled across. It absolutely stunk.

Sunset on the Giudecca

Sunset on the Giudecca

This massive cruise liner was really out of place in Venice's narrow, crooked streets. If you look closely, you can see people on top of the cruise liner waving at us - the crowd in San Marco waved back.

Chamonix, France

Chamonix, France

July 2012, taken with a Canon 200IS and then edited slightly

The mountains are possibly my favorite place in the world, so it was a lengthy process whittling down a vast selection of photographs to put up here. Even if you are the least active, outdoors-y person, I would encourage you to visit the likes of Chamonix, or any other villages in the mountains - there are few other places in the world with such natural, untouched beauty,

Fortunately the trains only run through the village every few hours so I wasn't squashed.

Up our first mountain after a 15 hour train journey. At least the fresh mountain air woke us up

It was a sheer drop below. In the horizon, you can just about make out the tips of the cluster of mountains surrounding Mont Blanc.

This inquisitive mountain goat was really friendly, but my travel companion refused to let me get too close in case she decided the headbutt me off the cliff.

Summer flora

The Aiguille du Midi viewing platform (3,842m), with Mont Blanc straight ahead. (She's the curved bump)

Mont Blanc again, this time surrounded by her mountainous buddies.

I was so jealous of these alpinists, but scaling the precipices around Mont Blanc would probably have been too much for my travel companion, who was valiantly battling vertigo in the cable car as it was. An adventure for another day then.

Hopefully, one day, I'll be joining these guys.

On the way down from Aiguille du Midi we stopped off for a hotdog and to admire the scenery. 

The dark grey, moss-covered rock was about six times the height of me, just to put things into perspective.

I went for a walk after the hot-dog and found a gopher scuttling around in the long grass. He let me take a picture of him before running away.

A bike ride around the mountains took us here.

A barbecue over the crystal clear lake. I like how the smoke looks like clouds.