sleeping between two giggling boys...

I forget where I left off, so I'll recap: Our entire class (consisting of 17 students, 2 house parents, 2 professors, 2 spouses, and 7 munchkins) traveled from Oxford to Stanstead, Stanstead to Berlin, Berlin to Whittenburg, and Whittenburg to Leipzig...in 2 1/2 days. We then broke off into personal travel groups.

Brian Schmidt, Jeremy Ponds and I planned a short stay in Germany--with a little help from Rick Steeves of course. Our goal was to get to Baccarach, a small town in south central Germany situated on the Rhine River. Rick suggested a River Cruise from Cologne, so we booked a sleeper train from Berlin to Cologne and hoped to get on the boat there. We missed that boat, so we took a train from Cologne to Koblenz, then hopped the boat to Baccarach--which actually worked out a lot better than Rick's suggestion anyway! I've included a map so you can see what kind of ground we covered in three days. Baccarach is not on this map, but you can find its approximate location just north of Mainz.


So the sleeper train was definately my favorite part of my entire stay in Germany. The sleeper car is a space about 5ft by 7ft. The left side of the car sports a sliding ladder and a closet washstand (its double doors open to reveal a mirror and an ity bity sink, towels and soap). There is then a 1ft space for you to walk into the car in and 3ft-4ft of beds. There are three beds and they stack on top of each other with about 2ft in between. I begged Brian to take a picture of this arrangement, but he said not even his best wide angle could get far enough away to capture this car. Think TINY. So Brian was on the bottom, Jeremy was on the top, and I slept in between two giggling boys. It was a pretty commical situation...especially was the fatigue set in and they started giggling for no apparent reason!

We arrived at Cologne around six in the morning and, after a brief Starbucks stop for Jeremy--that kid lives on shots of expresso!--explored Cologne's cathedral. The cathedral is located immediately outside the train station and, finished in the 1880's, is the largest cathedral in Germany and the largest church facade in the world. It was also the tallest building in the world until the Washington monument was completed. For a nominal fee, you can climb the 509 steps to the top of the spires--Brian and Jeremy did, I happilly watched the bags and took these pictures.



This is Baccarach from the boat. All the little towns along the Rhine look like this: lush greenery and vineyards scaling the steep slopes, a single castle (of the robber-baron style, according to Rick) overlooking the town, and then the small, sleepy town nestled along the bank of the Rhine. Undeniably beautiful, undoubtedly picturesque, and the best part--quiet. Very few munckins visit small out of the way towns. Absolute heaven. Castle Stahleck, which you can see in the first and second pictures has been turned into a youth hostel. We almost stayed there, but it was booked.

This was our hotel, The Rhine Hotel, a very clean, nice place to stay including air conditioning! We were also given breakfast in a diningroom overlooking the Rhine. ::sigh:: I could get used to that! The river was truly beautiful, especially in the early morning sunlight--even if Brian and Jeremy were mad at me for waking them up in time for breakfast! Also note the vineyards in the background--these are reasonable! Some of the vineyards we saw were almost vertically planted on the sides of the mountain. Amazing!

And last but not least, the scary train advertisement I saw in Berlin. Who wouldn't be frightened of this??

Lamposts and doors

I have finally returned from Germany and am greatful to be back on English soil. I really liked Germany--the small towns, at least--but it's no England. Now for the pictures! This post will cover just the Berlin/Whittenburg trip.

The thing I regret most when I return from a place is how few pictures I take of people. Evidently, I have a thing for lamposts and doors...that seems to be the only image that intrigues me enough to capture it while on vacation. So this time, I threw in a naked lady for your viewing pleasure...sort of.

We started our stay in Berlin with a guided tour of downtown. I felt really sorry for the guide because our professors kept loosing their munchkins and leaving the group to chase them. She was constantly waiting on them--surrounded by the obediant students, of course!

This building, located just minutes from the Berlin train station, is the reason Hitler gained power. Apparently, someone (not neccesarilly the Nazis, though that's what a British tourist told me) set fire to it. Hitler claimed it was the "undesirables" and began his fight to eradicate them...and WWII.

This building is the Hotel Adlon famous, or shall I say infamous, for the video coverage of Michael Jackson dangling his baby from one of its balconies. Is it sad I was more interested in this building than the first?

This is Berlin's Holocaust memorial. The architect designed it so that when you're inside it all you can see is the uneven and sometimes tilted concrete blocks--it's supposedly very unnerving and disorienting. Unfortunately, do to munchkin chasing, I didn't have the opportunity to test this supposition.

Now, off to Whittenburg! Home to Martin Luther and his 95 thesis!

So after tossing our luggage at the hotel--which was really very nice, by the way--we traipsed down to the cathedral Luther nailed his 95 theses to. And of course, we took a cheesy group photo in front of those famous doors. This is Rachel Lau posing in front of the cathedral.

And these are the famous doors...and a lampost. I really do love lamposts!

So who would have thought there'd be a naked lady statue in the backyard of the cathedral??? This is Spencer Jackson utilizing her pedistal after a long day of meandering after munchkins. For other people's photographs, he had been scratching his head with an intriguing part of her anatomy. I leave that to your imagination.

This lamp hangs from the entrance to Luther's house...now technically, the whole deal wasn't originally his house. He only had ROOMS in it...but then he got famous or something and they turned the whole building into a museum about him.

And this is Kendra in front of doors at Luther's house. They were nice doors. And they also had this convienient sitting area. I like to sit. And so does Kendra.

And this is the end of the class trip pictures. Berlin was really big...and dirty...and smelly...and big city-ish. I wasn't a fan. I'll just have to add it to my list of cities I don't like (Houston, Rome, London, Paris, Dublin, etc.). The food was pretty good, but, alas, it's no On the Hoof. I liked the smaller cities like Whittenburg and Baccarach far better--they're quieter and much more charming...and I don't feel like I have to run everywhere! One intriguing thing about Berlin though: I found thier expensive designer section. I spent an afternoon goggling at Prada, Ives Saint Lauren, Gucci, etc., followed by a trip through the Audi showroom. The one that I wanted cost 46,000 Euro. Needless to say, no sportscar for me! Nor will I get the Gucci dress, Prada pumps, Chanel sunglasses, and Coach purse to wear in it!

My one true love...

I have recently met the best thing that has ever happened to me--a BBC (bacon, brie and chicken) on panini with cranberry sauce from On the Hoof. Who knew you could add the cranberries?


On the Hoof is a sandwich stop a block from our house and it has been the reason I am still alive on this trip--great food, good prices! Yum.

Guttenburg, Luther and the Rhine

Tomorrow I leave for five days in Germany. I will return late Saturday night, submit to classes all day Sunday and probably have time to post pictures on Monday--no promises on the posting! But! I do promise to take a few pictures--they will either be of the Rhine River Cruise Brian, Jeremy and I plan to take OR of the disaster that ensues as we attempt to get there. Good luck to us!

Rainy days and Mondays

I gotta tell ya, not having Comm Law for a few days makes me really happy! And to top it off, today it rained. Now if you've spent very much time around me, you know I LOVE rainy weather--one of the many reasons why I consider England the actual Garden of Eden. Give me humidity, grey skies, thunder, lightning, and sheets of huge soft raindrops any day! So I spent the morning--after playing on the porch with my camera--sitting in the below pictured chair reading a British Cosmopolitan and enjoying the rain through the below pictured window.

A sidenote: to all my recently married or about-to-be-married friends--forget the kama sutra books! You can learn all you want to know and then some from one issue of the British version of Cosmo. I kid you not! I learned all kinds of things this morning I could have had a happier life not knowing.





I spent my afternoon, playing tech support to a 5-year-old. It belongs to Steven and Jennifer, our house parents, and it's the middle of three very animated girls. Today they all went to have tea--but this one had hot chocolate, because she doesn't like tea. And Jam. She definately had jam...strawberry...and something she ate at tea was still stuck to her face, but I thought it was cute so I didn't bother telling her. She told me I should definately go to have tea where she had tea, but she couldn't remember how to get there or what its name was, so I am supposed to go "down that road and ask the first hotel you see if they serve tea and if they don't, well, they'll tell you the one that does." Yep. She's cute.



My job today--yes Team 55 is paying me to do this, amazing--was to help her print color sheets of JoJo the circus clown off Disney's website. I will say, and Kenny (the only other ACU student in the house today) agrees with me, that I have heard enough of JoJo's theme music to last a lifetime! You can click here to print a color sheet of JoJo. And here to hear a sample of the music. I love my job.

Around and about and IN FRONT of the camera?????

So, about a week or so ago, Holly emailed me and yelled at me for not putting up anything cool and Europe-like on my blog. This trip I really haven't seen anything new...with Comm law I dash to On the Hoof for a sandwhich and get back to class (or the procrastinating avoidance thereof)--whether that's pretending to read my textbook, pretending to do my homework or, my particular favorite, pretending to be awake in class because I was attempting to read Comm Law late into the night and then get up at 7am. So here are a few quick shots and adventures within walking distance of home.

The bell-tower of the church across the street.
(Yes, there's an ancient stone church across the street from our house. It also has a lovely seating area on the opposite side of the street from us where you can eat lunch, study Comm Law (ha!) or various other activities to numerous and scandalous to mention.)

The gate to said lovely sitting area.

A stream behind University Park adjacent to yet another lovely sitting area perfect for the afore-mentioned activities

A very unflattering picture of Shaley and her temporary pillow, Kendra. Kendra is the girl who sleeps in the bed next to me and this is our room. Notice tight crop to avoid A) an even more unflattering view of Shaley and B) our extremely cluttered floor.

Now here's a little somthing you don't experience every day:
So one day, we're having class in University Park and a reporter and photographer from the Oxford Mail come up and start talking to us. Europe is currently experiencing record heat waves, and these two gents were doing a story on all the people who were too hot to stay indoors and do thier various normal activities. Most UK homes and businesses do not own airconditioners--all the chocolate at the 9to9 had melted into a gooey mess! In any case, places were canceling work, school, you name it. So the Brit reporters were shocked to hear that their "heat-wave" (high 80's, low 90's--in direct sunlight, mind you!) is almost cold weather to us.
And it really was kind of chilly, sitting in the shade with the breeze blowing. Tiffany Gaunt had the towel she was sitting on wrapped over her legs, Kendra was trying to tough it out and not move into the sunlight, and I had my standard worn-out green jacket on. So the reporter gets into a conversation with Mr. Pybus about media ethics and the photographer does a doubletake when he sees me in my jacket. Before I know it, he's talked me into going out in the sunlight so he can take a picture of the crazy American who wears a jacket in 90degree weather...and the next day, we bought our copy. I made page 4.

click any image to make it larger

my one complaint with the whole affair--they called me a Texan!

Can you find the mistakes? Leave a post if you find one!

Photoshop is my friend

Yet another post delayed by wedding planning and Comm Law--thankfully, this post catches me up for my internship posts! Europe pictures on the way (just as soon as I take them ::grin::).

You might recognize Tia from our Paramount Shoot earlier this summer. We did that shoot to send pictures of her to her husband who is in Iraq. This shoot is to send pictures of his dog, Radar. Radar is a German Sheppard trained by the police accademy (it's kind of weird, taking pictures of a dog while it's owner is commanding it in German) and is only about two years old. Radar was also just diagnosed with cancer and probably will not live to see his master come home from Iraq. Hence the pictures. But the question you might ask is: why spend the money to hire a professional (meaning Mike) to photograph a dying dog??? The answer: because a professional (or his intern) can photoshop fur.

This is a close-up of the above picture BEFORE I edited it. The dog had just had a biopsy and, though he didn't appear to be in pain, looked like, well, you can see for yourself.

And a cute shot of Trace just cuz I liked the funny lighting.

Playing Ketchup (or Catch Up, whichever you like)

So, I'm still in Oxford and Comm Law has been royally kicking my butt! However, this weekend is a travel weekend (and since I'm getting married in October and have absolutely no money, I'm taking it easy in Oxford, enjoying the empty house and the quiet) so I have time to catch up on my blogging and picture editing.

This post is an engagement session I double shot with Mike and Holly right before I left for England. The couple both have Airforce backgrounds--believe it or not, she's a jet engine mechanic studying to be a paralegal--and the baby, Chandler, is the absolute cutest baby I have ever met. He was quiet, agreable, responsive and he doesn't like grass, which made him have the cutest unhappy expressions I've ever seen. Really. If I were going to have a munchkin, I'd want it to act like this one.

I discovered three things during this shoot:

1. I love red and green together, the color combination really makes me happy!
2. Shooting in RAW is AWESOME! It really gave me control of the colors and let me bring out my reds and greens.
3. If I'm going to continue in this business--which I intend on doing--I definately need to quit talking to dogs and babies the same way.

Now the pictures!








Let me know what you think!

Melissa's Bridal Portraits

Here is Melissa's very public proofing session. On July 5, I took her bridal portraits (with the help and direction of Holly) and, regrettably, am just getting them back to her. The session was a lot of fun. We shot the first half at the Windsor Ballroom and the second half at Erinshire Gardens, both in Abilene TX. It was a tough decision narrowing down the 300+ images to a mere 29. Let me know what your favorites are!

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