Travel – Page 16 – Michael Rappa

An Unexpected Journey

September 30, 2014 Michael Rappa5 Comments

California, here I come!

After spending two weeks in Europe and a week in Cape May this year, I had basically used up all of my vacation time, so I never imagined I’d be hopping on a plane in a couple of weeks for my first ever trip to California (actually, it’s my first trip to anywhere in the U.S. west of North Carolina).

My boss had asked me earlier in the year if I was interested in attending a conference in San Francisco. I said yes, but wasn’t sure if it was actually going to happen. The trip finally got approved in mid-summer but we were so busy at work that we kept putting off making the arrangements. As the summer dragged on and all of the hotels got booked up, I had pretty much assumed it wasn’t going to happen. But in the end everything worked out and now I’m headed to the Golden State!

I decided to turn it into a mini-vacation by flying in two days before the conference and staying for three days after it. The big question was what to do with that extra time. I could have explored more of the city (I won’t even be able to scratch the surface of everything San Francisco has to offer) or I could have visited some of the surrounding areas like Napa Valley, but when I realized that Yosemite National Park is within a four-hour drive, my decision was made. There was no way I could pass up the chance to walk in the footsteps of Ansel Adams and gaze upon the beauty of Yosemite, so I booked a cabin for two nights in the park and reserved a rental car to drive out there after the conference. Yosemite should be spectacular decked out in the colors of autumn.

Meanwhile, the weekend before the conference I’m meeting up with my cousin who lives nearby for a planned drive along the Route 1 coast and up to see the redwoods, which will be awesome.

In between, I will be attending Dreamforce, a massive tech conference with well over 100,000 people expected to attend. It’s like the Comic Con of cloud computing. I will be staying near Fisherman’s Wharf and commuting to the Moscone Center for the conference. It should be quite an experience, though I’m not sure that I’m prepared for that type of human traffic congestion.

I will try to see as much of San Francisco as I can during my four days at the conference, though how much I’ll be able to accomplish each day after the conference lets out remains to be seen. If any San Francisco natives out there have advice on what I can do with my limited time, I’d be most grateful. I would like to try climbing at least one hill. I also want to walk through Chinatown and along the coast near Fisherman’s Wharf, and maybe visit Golden Gate Park. Any dining advice would also be appreciated (e.g., is In-N-Out Burger worth the hype or should I stick to finer dining establishments?). Thanks!

I’d also be grateful for Yosemite tips, and I’m curious if there are any places worth visiting between Yosemite and San Francisco since I have a late night flight home and can take my time driving back. Perhaps one of the Gold Rush towns?

I’m very excited about this unexpected journey. It’s hard to believe I’ll be flying for the third time in a year. I’m becoming a regular jet setter. 🙂

Photo of the Day: Feeding Pigeons in Amsterdam

September 10, 2014 Michael RappaLeave a comment

During my stay in Amsterdam this summer I took a long walk from my hotel into the city center, eventually finding myself in Dam Square, which was packed with people and pigeons. I noticed that some folks were letting the pigeons eat out of their hands, so I snapped a couple of quick photos. I liked this one the best; I thought it looked like something you might see in a magazine. Lucky shot. 🙂

Date: 7/12/2014
Camera: Nikon D5100
Click for larger view

You can view more featured photos at my Photo of the Day Collection.

Scotland Panoramas

September 5, 2014 Michael RappaLeave a comment

I’ve been home from my Eurotrip for nearly two months now and I’m still busy culling and processing all of my photos (it takes a long time to whittle over 2,000 photos down to around 1,000!), so it will be a while before I begin posting journal entries. In the meantime, here are some panoramas I took in Scotland. You can click on any of the photos to view a larger size…

This first one is my favorite. Taken during my trip to the Scottish Highlands, it’s what I like to call an accidental panorama, meaning that it was not originally intended to be a panorama, but when I saw the two separate photos next to each other, I realized they were close enough in composition to be stitched together into a panorama that looks much better than either photo individually. It’s such a beautiful area it almost doesn’t look real; I want to live here.

This next one was taken at the same stop. The white house in the distance is basically all by itself–now that’s what I call privacy!

This one was taken from the grounds of Urquhart Castle on the shore of Loch Ness. The castle was once owned by the Grant family, who are most likely my wife’s ancestors, so being there was pretty neat. If you squint hard while gazing out over the loch, you might be able to catch a glimpse of Nessie. 🙂

This final one was taken at sunset from the top of Calton Hill in Edinburgh.

You can see more photos from my trip via the links below. The only ones I haven’t gotten to yet are Paris.

Photo of the Day: Leeds Castle Peacock

August 19, 2014 Michael RappaLeave a comment

During my visit to Leeds Castle in England I happened upon this peacock roaming the grounds. I followed it for a bit and eventually it sat down, almost as if posing for me.

Date: 7/9/2014
Camera: Nikon D5100
Click for larger view

You can view more featured photos at my Photo of the Day Collection.

Photo of the Day: Canterbury Cathedral in HDR

August 12, 2014 Michael RappaLeave a comment

This HDR image of the cathedral in Canterbury, England is a composite of two separate photos taken from roughly the same angle. My first photo had underexposed the foreground arch, so I took another one with flash, but this slightly overexposed the rest of the image (especially the sky). I hadn’t originally taken the photos with the intention of creating an HDR image so they didn’t exactly match, but I thought they were close enough in composition that merging them was worth a shot. The end result turned out better than either photo had looked on its own.

You can view more featured photos at my Photo of the Day Collection.

Photo of the Day: Edinburgh Flower

July 25, 2014 Michael RappaLeave a comment

I took this a couple of weeks ago during my visit to Edinburgh Castle in Scotland.

Date: 7/6/2014
Camera: Nikon D5100
Click for larger view

You can view more featured photos at my Photo of the Day Collection.

Photo of the Day: Stonehenge Under the Setting Sun

July 18, 2014 Michael Rappa4 Comments

I’m back from my trip to the United Kingdom but it’s going to be a while before I am ready to start posting about it. In the meantime, here’s a teaser photo from my visit to Stonehenge. My group had a private viewing after the park closed at sunset. We were able to walk inside the circle of stones, which are normally roped off to the general public. To give you an idea of how far away most people must remain, this photo was taken from behind the ropes.

One cool aspect of Stonehenge is that it is still very much off by itself, unlike many other famous monuments that have cities built up around them. It was an incredible experience to move among these ancient stones, to lie down inside the circle and stare up at the sky as the sun continued its descent below the horizon. It was without a doubt the highlight of my time in England.

Date: 7/2/2014
Camera: Nikon D5100
Click for larger view

You can view more featured photos at my Photo of the Day Collection.

My English Fortnight Awaits

June 27, 2014 Michael Rappa1 Comment

eurotrip_2014

It came up so fast. My flight to London is now just a day away; I can’t wait to get this show on the road. In addition to the itinerary I previously posted, I’ve since purchased tickets for a few other activities: a trip to London’s theater district to see a play, Let The Right One In, at the Apollo Theatre; excursions to The London Eye, The View from The Shard, and the Tower of London; a tour of Edinburgh Castle in Scotland; and the Original Hop On/Off Bus Tour of London, which also includes a Ripper Walking Tour and a Thames river cruise. I don’t think I could have packed this trip much more densely. 🙂

I also just learned that, in addition to Wimbledon during my first week, the Tour de France will be passing through London during my second week, so the usual hustle and bustle of the city is going to be kicked up to eleven–should be quite an experience.

I still haven’t researched places to eat in London, so I would be grateful for any suggestions any of you might have (where to go, what to order, etc.). Advice on good pubs and the best places for afternoon tea would also be most welcome.

This will probably be my final blog post for the next month or so. I usually don’t write when I’m abroad, and after I return, it takes me a while to cull/process my photos and organize my thoughts. I will, however, be making the occasional update on twitter, as well as on my facebook page, for those who are interested.

And now I must sign off and get back to packing. Cheers!

My London Visit Has Become an Epic Eurotrip

My First Eurotrip, Part 4: Von Trappin’ in Salzburg

June 26, 2014 Michael Rappa2 Comments

This series is a look back at my very first Eurotrip in 2007, during which I visited Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. I never kept a journal during that trip so I am writing this mostly from memory. All photos were taken with my old pocket camera.

Salzburg
My original title for this post was “The Hills Are Alive in Salzburg,” but then I realized that a fellow blogger recently used almost the exact same title, and I didn’t want it to seem like I was copying. 😉

April 4th to April 5th, 2007: It was time to leave Vienna and head to Salzburg, passing through more gorgeous Austrian countryside. Along the way we caught a glimpse of Melk Abbey, one of the world’s most famous monasteries, over 900 years old and still functioning as an abbey and school. Unfortunately we didn’t have time to stop and check out this impressive site, so I had to settle for a photo snapped from the moving bus.

Eventually we reached Salzburg and I got my first glimpse of the spectacular fortress that overlooks and dominates the city landscape.

Hohensalzburg fortress, one of the largest and best preserved medieval castles in Europe.

After checking into our hotel we went on a guided walking tour. I quickly fell in love with Salzburg. It was not only my favorite city on this trip, but possibly my favorite that I’ve ever visited. Salzburg doesn’t feel at all like a city, there’s not a tall building in sight. Featuring cobblestone pedestrian streets lined with historical buildings fronted with iron signs, it’s like a walk back in time. I could have spent an entire week here.

Mozart’s birthplace. The museum inside is very touristy.

The Salzach River runs right through the middle of the city, with pedestrian bridges crossing it.

I was particularly fascinated with the fortress, taking many photos from many angles. Here are a few:

While in Salzburg we saw many landmarks that were featured in The Sound of Music…

The Mirabell Gardens archway featured in the film.

St. Peter’s Cemetery, where the Von Trapps hid from the Nazis,
though the actual scene was filmed in Hollywood.

After our guided tour we had free time before dinner. I went off by myself and ended up in the main square in the shadow of the fortress, where I spotted some men playing on a giant chess board (I saw several of these giant boards in Lucerne as well).

The man moving the knight in this photo would later be my opponent.

I watched a couple of games and then decided to challenge the winner of the most recent game. We didn’t speak each other’s language, but the language of chess is universal. I did very well early on—I went up a knight pretty quickly and appeared on my way to a win, but then I blundered back a knight and ended up losing a close match. Despite my disappointing loss, it remains a fond memory—how often do you get to play jumbo chess in Europe while gazing up at a magnificent castle?

After the game I made my way back to the hotel for dinner. The helpings of schnitzel were very generous—I guess they knew they were serving Americans. 🙂

That night we went to the Augustiner Brewery, which was founded by Augustinian monks in 1621. The beer crafted here is still based on their methods, and those monks knew what they were doing. The beer was maybe the best I’ve ever had anywhere; it went down so smoothly.

The next morning we went on another walking tour.

This monastery is built into the side of the mountain.

Closeup of the monastery catacomb windows carved into the rock.

After the tour we split into smaller groups. Some of us decided to go up to the fortress. There is a steep walking path to the top if you prefer to hike, but we opted to ride the funicular since we only had a couple of hours to spare (you could easily spend an entire day exploring everything the fortress has to offer). I was surprised at the speed of the funicular cars; they travel up the track much faster than you would expect at first glance.

View of the square below. In a neat coincidence, the marching band down there was from New Jersey.

Side view of the fortress overlooking the city below.

Although this tree in the middle of the castle courtyard wasn’t white,
my first thought when seeing it was of the Minas Tirith white tree in Lord of the Rings.

Before heading back down we had lunch at an outdoor restaurant overlooking the valley below. Unfortunately the Alps were shrouded in haze, so we could barely make out their majesty. I imagine the view must be phenomenal on a clear day. All in all, our visit to the fortress was the highlight of our stay in Salzburg. The rest of the group members who chose not to accompany us really missed out.

Back down in the square it was time to leave for the salt mines, but we had about 20 minutes to kill, so I played another quick game of chess with a native Austrian, this time with everyone in the group watching. Since I had to rush through the game, I wound up getting my butt kicked. The Austrian who defeated me was very nice, though, even posing with me for a picture afterward. My uncle has that photo somewhere.

The bus then picked us up and we were off to the salt mines. It’s a pretty neat tour: part walking, part mine car ride, and part boat ride.

Uncle Kipp and me (everyone had to put on these outfits before entering).

One really fun part of the tour is sliding down the optional big slides to the lower parts of the mine. You ride down with a partner. Several of the students went multiple times.

After exiting we toured a replica Celtic village at the top of the salt mine mountain. From here we had a nice view of the valley below

With that, our stay in Salzburg was near an end. In the morning we would depart for Lucerne, Switzerland, with a stop at Neuschwanstein along the way, which will be covered in the next installment. Until then, I leave you with a shot of the fortress at night.

Farewell, Salzburg. I hope to return someday.

View more photos from this trip.

My First Eurotrip, Part 3: Vienna Waits

June 19, 2014 Michael RappaLeave a comment

This series is a look back at my very first Eurotrip in 2007, during which I visited Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. I never kept a journal during that trip so I am writing this mostly from memory. All photos were taken with my old pocket camera.

April 2nd to April 3rd, 2007: After two days in Munich it was time to leave. We hopped on the bus early in the morning and headed to Vienna. Along the way, I enjoyed my first-ever glimpse of snow-covered mountains as the Alps came into view.

We broke up our six-hour drive to Vienna with a stop in a town called Mondsee, the location of the church featured in the Sound of Music. Our overall tour was actually called “The Sound of Music Tour,” so this would be the first of many sites from the movie we would visit.

After touring the church I made my way to a beautiful nearby lake framed by mountains.

We then continued on to Vienna. Our hotel was right around the corner from the main drag of the newer part of the city. I took a quick walk around the area, which reminded me of walking through New York City, and then returned for dinner. On a side note, here are a few observations about dining in Germany and Austria: everything is a la carte, including butter for bread. There are no free drink refills like in the States, but glasses have a mandatory fill line. Water is served by the bottle (ordering tap water is generally not done). The tip amount on a bill is less than in the States (I think because their waiters are paid more)—ten percent seems to be standard, and for small bills, many simply round up to the next Euro.

After dinner we headed to the Prater park and went for a ride on the famous Riesenrad Ferris wheel, which is over 100 years old. You may have seen it in movies like The Third Man or The Living Daylights.

The cars are massive; our entire 18-person group could have easily fit in one. There are also dinner cars. After the Ferris wheel we enjoyed some other attractions. An interesting feature of the amusement park was the presence of casinos, though I did not partake; I’ve never been much of a casino person.

The next morning we visited Schönbrunn Palace, one of the most popular tourist attractions in Vienna. Like Nymphenburg in Munich, it was once an imperial summer residence. It looks very impressive from the outside but I can’t recall much of the inside with no photos to remind me (they did not allow photography inside the palace).

A common characteristic of palaces like Schönbrunn and Nymphenburg is a sprawling garden in the back, which must look spectacular when the flowers are in full bloom. Due to a lack of time, I never made it to the fountain or the Gloriette pictured below, one downside of being on a regimented tour. On the other hand, I saw much more in a short period of time on this trip than I would have on my own, so it’s a trade-off.

There was an outdoor Easter market in front of the palace, which I spent some time wandering through while we waited for the bus to pick us up. We then went on a bus tour of Vienna before being dropped off in the middle of the old city for free time. One interesting aspect of Vienna is a lack of skyscrapers, particularly in the old city, which is filled with historical buildings, making for a much more interesting walk than you might enjoy in some other cities.

The famous Hundertwasser house, an apartment building designed by artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser.

The hilly, cobblestone street in front of the Hundertwasser house.

St. Stephen’s Cathedral, over 800 years old.

A small group of us then went to the Hotel Sacher, home of the famous Sachertorte, a chocolate cake with a thin layer of apricot jam on top, coated in dark chocolate icing. Everyone else in the group ordered this treat, but I’m not a fan of mixing fruit with chocolate, so I ordered some ice cream and the house tea.

The tea was delicious. I enjoyed it so much that, after returning home, I searched online for a way to buy it. I eventually found a company, Upton Tea Imports, that sells a clone of the tea, called Sacher Blend (this also marked the beginning of my love affair with loose-leaf tea). The Sacher Blend is very close to the original and I have continued to purchase it every year since. In fact, I am drinking some as I write this.

Uncle Kipp and I then walked through the Naschmarkt, a famous outdoor food market. I know, I keep saying “famous,” but pretty much everything in Vienna is famous. 🙂

I stopped at one of the food stands and ordered my first ever döner, which is a Turkish sandwich similar to a gyro. Very tasty, and I’ve eaten at least one on each of my European trips since.

We then did some more walking around the city.

Sezession Haus
The gold leaf globe is supposedly based on a sketch by Gustav Klimt,
the first president of the Vienna Secession movement.

Shortly after posting the photo above, an online travel guide (whose name I no longer recall), chose to feature it in the Vienna section of their guide. I wonder if it still exists.

Behind this fountain stands the Russian Heroes Monument,
an unpopular reminder to Vienna locals of post-WW2 Soviet occupation.

With some free time left, we decided to visit an art museum in Belvedere Palace. There are many paintings and artists featured here, but the main attraction is the work of Gustav Klimt. Belvedere is the home of Klimt’s The Kiss, the famous (there’s that word again!) painting you often see adorning the walls of college dorm rooms. Having only seen The Kiss depicted in posters, I was surprised at how very large the original canvas is.

The rest of the night after dinner was uneventful for me. Uncle Kipp took the students out on the town, but I wasn’t feeling well, so I stayed behind and packed. In the morning we would depart for Salzburg.

View more photos from this trip.