European jaunt '09 (quite a few pics)

[Paul_G]

Some of you will no doubt have been keeping track on Flickr, however I thought I post a consolidated selection of photos and a bit of a story from this years European jaunt!

After heading off to Europe last year we again decided to do the same thing, all be it we chose two primary destinations to spend the majority of our time - the French Alps near Annecy and the German Black Forest near Schluchsee - so I guess it was less of a roadtrip with a focus on destinations rather than miles and roads per se.

We had a great couple of weeks and the weather, by and large, was great. We took the ferry again this year (whilst I'd like to try the tunnel it was more than double the price of the ferry) so had to mix it with every man and his dog for 90 minutes, catching the 7am Seafrance to Dover. The first day was very much a blatt down the autoroutes, the target being to get to Thones nr Lake Annecy by late afternoon / evening (circa 550miles). The journey was pretty smooth with only a minor holdup at the Reims peage with quality continental qeueing in full swing, fellow autorouters were also keen to help flag Gendarmes speedtraps....although as you'll see from the photos below one slipped through the net! With less than a 100miles to go and the end in sight I pressed the loud pedal a little harder.....triggering a radar at 156km/h....oooops! A comical chase / catch followed with a discussion in pigeon french and high speed escort to the nearest cash point to surrender €45 (not bad considering).

We were sent on our way with a warning that if we were caught again we wouldn't be driving in France again this holiday......which did wonders for the fuel consumption.

We then spent six nights in Thones, climbing a few mountains, sailing on and swimming in lake Annecy and eating and drinking a bit too much. From France we headed up through Switzerland to the Black Forest near Schluchsee, me sticking religiously to the Swiss speed limits given the numerous speed cameras. Notably at one point the car was showing a range of 450miles - something I'd never seen before!

After the blue skies and low 30s of France 10degrees and heavy rain was a bit of a shock to the system, but thankfully the weather cleared up nicely allowing some good walks, a spot of mountain biking and more swimming in lakes. The Black Forest is a lovely region with some reasonably high mountains and some great twisty roads winding up down and around them - plenty of hairpins and such like.

After six nights in the Black Forest we headed for a night in Heidelberg, the weather during the day proved to be truly shocking with thunderstorms aplenty, plus Belgium Saabs and Volvo providing challenging obstacles on the winding roads. After short overnight stay in Heidelberg we head for a final overnight stay in Reims, doing a bit of typical tourist activity and driving some of the Champagne route.

So all in all, we clocked up a fare few miles, saw quite a bit of France and Germany and a bit of police excitement to boot! Final stats.....

Miles: 2,100
Mpg: 30.0

Here are a selection of pics from the two weeks - hope you enjoy.

Autoroute Escort (notably at a speed in excess of 130km/h)!

Lake Annecy:

Bastille Celebrations...in Thones:

And Annecy:

Annecy itself...

and with me in the way..

The impressive Alps:

The Black Forest:

Several waterfalls...

The car on those winding Black Forest roads...

The remants of the rain...

A full boot!

The Schluchsee (water temperature probably around 18degree c....brrrrrr..)

Heidelberg:

Reims and the Champagne region...

Kerstin in front of Verzenay

2009 Vintage...

All comments appreciated and welcomed.

Cheers

Paul

 

[Moz168]

Wow, looks epic tbh,awesome photos to. I really want to do a Euro trip when Ive got the time/money.

 

[Greeny.]

Wow, impressive pics!

 

[Gaz.]

Love the Black Forest.

 

[micallef1990]

crazy pics. did u use any filters?

 

[Revels]

Some crackers there.

Can I ask what is probably a strange question.. At what point do you decide to swap lenses? Do you work out where/what you're likely to be photographing? or just pic a lens and then take shorts accordingly?

 

[Paul_G]

Cheers for the comments all.

Re. filters, the only filter I used was a CPL and that was only on my Sigma 10-20mm.

 

[my172]

Stunning pictures! Looks like an awesome trip!

 

[Paul_G]

Dan, that's a tough question to answer and I don't think I can give you one simple answer.

Generally I had all my equipment with me all of the time in a backpack therefore I would just play about with the different lenses to get the composition / photo I was seeking, and being in areas with impressive landscapes meant the 10-20mm got quite a bit of use. Certainly some scenarios presented an different lens choices - i.e. the Bastille Celebrations.

In Thones I was close to the procession and wanted to capture the size of the procession, together with the overall scene and setting (mountains / crowds etc). In Annecy I was probably just as close to the street procession but wanted a different take on it all so selected the 70-200mm for some close ups and shots of more distant activities.

The same was true of the car shots - I wanted some pans and close-ups so the 70-200mm was the choice, all be it I also wanted to try a 10-20mm pan on the hairpin, but hey it started chucking it down - another year!

On other ocassions I forced myself to take just one lens with me - evenings out, walks around town etc. - to play rather than lug around all my gear. The danger is the more lenses you have the more time you spend ummming and arhing, swapping lens and missing the shots, plus while the lens no doubt is a key contributor to the photo the monkey looking through the viewfinder takes the photo.

So I guess to try and answer the original question....I have an initial rough idea of the sort of photo I want and will stick the lens on to achieve that, once I've got that shot I may play around with another lens to provide a different take on a scene. Notably in the Champagne region I used the 10-20mm quite a bit to capture the landscape of vines, although at the same time, like in the lighthouse pic and grape pic, stuck the 70-200mm on to compress landscapes and isolate subjects.

Hope this sort of answers your question!

 

[Revels]

Cheers dude.

Yeh, I found that I had my 10-20mm on mine yesterday and whilst I had a 50mm in my bag and fully intended to change at some point, I never did..

I'm forever fearful of dust/dropping something so I didn't want to be changing them every 5mins and ended up not using the 50mm at all.

I might have to go back and just take the 50mm with me. Leave the wide at home.

 

[Andy.]

Lovely shots, I have been following the updates on Flickr. Looks like a fun trip too.

 

[Ian]

Same as Andy, been looking at these on Flickr, but definitely need a comment on here as well! The Lake Annecy shot is a cracker, as are quite a few others. Looks like a great trip.

 

[GeordieClioDriver]

Tamrac bag? I reconize them straps! lol.

Cracking set of photos!

 

[richard1]

Brilliant Photo's!

Was in Annecy a couple of weeks ago. The Lake and the old town are simply gorgeous.

 

[rory182]

Stunning photos. looks like a fab trip.

I love the coupe, I need an SLR in my life and I don't mean the McLaren.

 

[MattT]

Lovely variety of pics there mate - need to do a trip like this myself. :approve:

 

[Paul_G]

Thanks again all, glad you enjoyed looking

Tamrac bag? I reconize them straps! lol.

Cracking set of photos!

Yeah I bought a Tamrac Expedition 5x before the trip - mid-size backpack but it means I can carry all the gear including the 70-200mm attached to the body....plus there's still room for a 100-400mm....