these little town blues are melting away

Well, here I am with photos from the last day of my New York trip - only five weeks late, or something like that. Ah well - it's been a busy month! These photos are from Greenwich Village, where my mom and I spent most of our last day in the city. She'd hurt her legs from over-walking on Wednesday, so on Thursday, she needed to take it easy. We took the subway to the Village and wandered around, and then a college friend of mine met us for lunch and spent the afternoon with us. Definitely a much more laidback day than our other days in New York, but fun nonetheless.


The Washington Square Arch in Washington Square Park is, quite obviously, modeled after the Arc de Triomph in Paris. Mom and I have been to Paris together three times, so it was fun to find this homage. 1/80, f/10, ISO 100.


This is Judson Memorial Church, located on the south side of Washington Square Park at Thompson Street. I love this photo because I like the bright colour of the bricks and the even blue of the sky. The cloud and sky looks almost like a painted backdrop, but it was real -- it was just gorgeous that day. 1/60, f/10, ISO 100.


Here's Judson Memorial Church from a slightly different angle and with slightly different settings. I can't decide which one I like better. 1/50, f/13, ISO 100.


Here's another Greenwich Village church -- Our Lady of Pompeii Church. It's located at Bleecker and Carmine, on one of the corners of Father Demo Square. I like the clouds and sky in this one, too, and the colours of the buildings. 1/250, f/10, ISO 200.

Next time: Highlights from the 2008 U.S. Gymnastics Olympic Trials.

i want to wake up in a city that never sleeps

Day Four in New York started early with a tour at the United Nations. I wasn't thrilled with the tour - there were so many people there, and so many groups roaming around simultaneously. The guidebook also promised us a Chagall mural, which we did not get to see. Our guide could only show a select number of things, since there were other groups wandering. I guess they did what they could with the volume of people there, though.



The headquarters of the United Nations. The assemblies are in a different, connected building, but this is where all of the offices are. In front of the grounds, flags of the member nations (in alphabetical order) line the east side of the street for five or six blocks. In case you're not up on your flags of the world, from left to right, the flags in this photo are: Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, and Israel. I loved looking at charts of the flags of the world when I was a kid, so this is one of my favourite photos from the day. 1/80, f/13, ISO 100.



After the UN, Mom and I had lunch at Prêt à Manger for the second time that week. I ate at Prêt so many times when I was in London last year, and so I was beyond excited to find it in New York. I had no idea that they had stores in the States at all. Sadly, they are only in New York on this side of the Atlantic. After lunch, we took the subway to SoHo. Mom sat on a shady bench and read for a little bit while I took some photos. 1/200, f/8, ISO 200.



Besides the fab shopping, SoHo is a great neighbourhood because of the interesting mixture of brick and iron in the architecture and the narrow cobblestone streets. It has a bit of European flair to it. Oh, and we also bought my Mom an iPod at the flagship Apple store, which was really exciting for me. I also looked longingly at the MacBook Pro, but that's way out of the budget right now. 1/125, f/8, ISO 200.



Mom isn't a shopper at all, so there was still time after our walk around SoHo before we needed to head back to the hotel to change for dinner and a show. We finally decided to go to Brooklyn for ice cream at the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory. It's just on the other side of the Brooklyn Bridge. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a way to get there on the subway without backtracking and having to change multiple times. I didn't feel like doing that, so we decided to just walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. It's a classic New York experience, right? One problem: I am terrified of bridges. Especially when I can't cross them quickly! I stared at my feet and walked as fast as I could, but I made it all the way across and I even managed to pause a couple of times for some photos. I think this photo is worth it. 1/60, f/13, ISO 100.



This shot was taken on the bridge, looking northeast to Brooklyn. This shot also made the trip across the bridge worth it. Oh, and the ice cream didn't disappoint, either. 1/50, f/13, ISO 100.

Next: last day in New York, with shots from Greenwich Village.

top of the list, king of the hill

Day Three in New York was a beautiful Tuesday. Mom and I had a fantastic, somewhat leisurely day, compared to the running around that we did on most of the other days. We began our morning with a trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and spent a few hours there. In a few hours, we still didn't even see half of the exhibits, but we did hit the kinds of art that we like the most and a few new things as well. Since the Met is located right on the edge of Central Park, we then spent the afternoon in the park. I took some photos and we had a fairly good Nutella crepe while we sat by the fountain and read for a while. Then we walked up to Lincoln Center, but they're doing construction on the fountain, so it wasn't very photogenic. Juilliard is right there, too, and I kind of wanted to get a Julliard pen to add to my collection of collegiate pens, but the bookstore wasn't obvious and the construction was loud and we were tired, so we headed back to the Times Square area. There, we met up with one of my mom's high school friends. Susan took us to McCormick & Schmick's for dinner, which may be a chain seafood restaurant, but it's classy and it's the best chain seafood I've ever had! I had the most delightful mahi mahi with pineapple and cashews, and Susan and I bonded over how fabulous Kristi Yamaguchi was on Dancing with the Stars. Good day overall. Now for the photos:


Façade of The Met facing 5th Avenue. It's so big that even with a 28mm and standing across the street, I had difficult getting the whole main part of the building in a single shot! 1/200, f/6.3, ISO 100.


This shot of some of the New York skyline (with Central Park in the foreground) was taken from the rooftop garden of The Met. There were some really interesting metal sculptures on display up there (like a giant yellow "balloon" dog - but made of metal, not balloon) and it was a nice place to sit and re-caffeinate before tackling more of the museum. In order to get this shot, I had to crouch down and tilt my camera way upwards, but I really wanted to get that little bit of blue sky and all of the pretty clouds in the shot! 1/320, f/11, ISO 100.


This is the main hall at the entrance of The Met, taken from the balcony on the second floor. I just love the arches, and how the big open space of the upper third of the room contrasts with the bustling floor. 1/80, f/4, ISO 1600.


The main fountain in Central Park. What a great day for being outside, and I'm normally not an outside-person. At all. This shot makes me want to watch Enchanted. 1/30, f/13, ISO 100.


My favourite shot from Tuesday. I didn't think I'd be able to get a shot like this in New York during the summer! There's hardly any people in it! This is the Literary Walk in Central Park. It's so quiet and peaceful, and the shade is just beautiful. I had to take about five shots before I got the exposure right, but I love how it turned out, and it's now my desktop wallpaper. 1/50, f/11, ISO 400.

All of these were taken with the Tamron 28-300, and it was after I had a chance to take it back to the hotel and dust it off! Also - I want to note that after my last post, someone from Adorama contacted me (and was quite persistent when I was worried that it was spam!) and wanted to look into what happened with my order. I was then offered a discount off my next order and free shipping. Since I want to get a new bag that's better for travel before my next trip, I will probably use that, so it's nice that they are so focused on customer service. Like I said in my last post, things are always going to happen, and I understand that (occasionally!!), but it's what you do after something happens that makes a difference with me.

Anyway, on the subject of bags - I currently use a Lowepro Slingshot, and I like it as a small bag to use on a day-to-day basis, but when I travel, especially by air, it's a huge pain because I have to use the Slingshot as a carry-on, and then I also have to lug around my laptop bag. I'd really like a camera bag that also has a laptop compartment. I'm considering the Lowepro Fastpack and one of the Kata backpacks. The Kata is less expensive and it comes in pink (always a selling point for me, I have to admit), but I'm concerned about the capacity. On my next trip, for example, I will have my Canon 200/2.8L, my Tamron 28-300, my Canon 50/1.8, and I may also rent a Canon 70-200/2.8L. I found a good review of the Kata backpack, but it wasn't from someone who travels with telephoto zooms. So it might be the Lowepro - which I can get in red. Not as great as pink, but marginally more professional.

Next time I post (which might not be for a while - I'm moving this weekend/next week!): Day Four of the New York trip - United Nations, SoHo, and the Brooklyn Bridge.

i'll make a brand new start of it

Monday, June 16 was Day Two of my New York trip. Mom and I began the day by taking the subway to Chelsea and walking over to Adorama Camera. I'd ordered a used lens from them over a week earlier and paid for express shipping to be sure it would arrive before I left for my trip early on the 13th. When it didn't come on the absolute last day I expected it to, I called customer service and found out that the order had never been shipped. They promised to fix it, but by then it was too late - I was getting ready to leave. So they were supposed to ship it to my friend's in Philly. They promised it would be there by Friday afternoon. It wasn't. I tried to call customer service again, but they close early on Fridays. Saturday was my friend's wedding. I finally found out from an email that the lens had not shipped until Friday afternoon and would be in Philly on Monday. Problem: I left for New York Sunday afternoon. So when I couldn't get an answer at customer service on Monday morning, we just showed up at the store and I told them my story and asked them to take care of me. The solution they offered was that I could buy the same lens, since they had another, and then return it before I left to return to Philly at the end of the week. They wouldn't charge me anything for restocking, obviously. I said okay. I worked in retail for a long time and I know that mix-ups happen. I appreciate good customer service when problems arise, and they were extremely nice and professional. I'd order from them again.

So. The exciting news about my photos from Day Two were taken with my new lens: the Tamron 28-300mm f/3.5-6.3 XR. It's much cheaper and much lighter than something with a comparable range from Canon. Of course it's not quite the quality, but I've been extremely happy with it so far. It's a great buy for amateurs and especially for anyone who wants to be able to tote around just ONE lens without always switching or without having to lug around a bunch of extra weight. Perfect for sightseers, which is what I was. I have a huge purse (okay, it's a diaper bag) that I carry when I travel, and I was able to just put the camera with lens attached in the bag. No need to bring anything else, although I did have my Canon 50mm/1.8 in case I needed something for dim lighting.

The bad news about my photos from Day Two: since I just showed up and bought a used lens without warning from them, it had not yet been professionally cleaned. There was dust all over the thing, and since I'm a total amateur and didn't check it out carefully enough, I didn't realize it until I was back in the hotel that night. I had to do a lot of photoshopping on any photos that had sky in them. But I still ended up with some winners from the day. Here are my favourites:


For those that don't know the story of this sculpture, it was originally a sphere on a pedestal, located in the plaza at the World Trade Center. It was dedicated to world peace. This is what they pulled from the rubble after September 11. Even more so than walking past Ground Zero, seeing this was an emotional moment for me. It's now in Battery Park, at the southern tip of the island, where thousands of tourists catch the ferry to the Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island every day. 1/100, f/7.1, ISO 100.


This is the Registration Room in the main building at Ellis Island. Immigrants to the United States had to wait here for several hours upon their arrival, until they were checked in. From here, they went to a medical inspection. I'm honestly not sure if my relatives came through Ellis Island. Some of my maternal grandfather's family is pre-Revolutionary War and my grandmother's family immigrated very early to the southern states. I have no idea about my dad's side of the family, though, so it's possible. They also came from Western Europe. Anyway...I really like this shot with the flag in the middle, and all of the different people wandering the room. 1/100, f/4, ISO 400.


Trinity Church is located in lower Manhattan, squished between buildings as a remnant of what New York was before the skyscraper. It's a beautiful building. I guess there was concern after September 11 that its proximity to the World Trade Center would cause the church to experience damage, but as the buildings near it began to crumble, Trinity Church stood. 1/100, f/5, ISO 100.


We took the subway to Roosevelt Island because my guidebook said that it was a quiet island with great views of Manhattan. It's a narrow Island in the East River, between Manhattan and Queens, and it's now home to about 9000 people. For a long time, it was the site of prisons and mental institutions, but now, different types of housing have been built on it. It seems like a lot of different kinds of people live on the island, and yes, it is very quiet - only the occasional car, a subway stop, and a bus that travels up and down the length of the island. I'm kind of fascinated by it. Anyway, it was starting to rain when we got there, so we didn't stay long, but this is a shot of the Queensboro Bridge with some of the Manhattan skyline behind it.

Next: day three of my trip to New York includes the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Central Park.

if i can make it there, i can make it anywhere

I love cities. I grew up about 45 minutes away from Chicago, and even as a young girl, I adored going downtown. My favourite places that I have visited are all cities. I love the hustle and bustle, the abundance of things to do, the culture, the options, everything. So ever since I was young, I have wanted to visit New York. I finally went last month and had a wonderful time. From Philadelphia, I took a bus to New York, and met my mom in Times Square - she'd flown in from Chicago earlier. We walked to our hotel, I cleaned up and changed clothes, and we hit the town immediately for dinner at Patsy's (not that great...I guess Frank Sinatra wasn't a food critic) and then we walked around Midtown. Here are some of my best shots, taken with my Canon 50mm/1.8 lens.


I was excited to see Radio City Music Hall because it's a legendary place for music, and I happen to love music. I guess I was a little caught up in trying to get this shot, because I really didn't notice the barricades and people in formal gowns until we were trying to cross the street, but we were waved in another direction. Right. The Tony Awards. We weren't exactly dressed for those. So instead of fighting the crowds heading toward the front of the building, we went around and walked through Rockefeller Center. 1/30, f/5, ISO 100.


From Rockefeller Center, we walked to St. Patrick's Cathedral. I wasn't expecting it to be so beautiful - it reminded me of many of the Gothic cathedrals I've seen in Europe. We didn't go in, since there was a Sunday evening service. 1/80, f/6.3, ISO 400.


St. Thomas Church, located at 5th and 53rd, was covered mostly by scaffolding, so we couldn't see much of the façade. I was able to snap this shot of the back of the church, though. 1/80, f/8, ISO 200.


My grandma used to say, "This _____ is just like Grand Central Station," to refer to something that was busy or crowded. She never visited New York, though, so my mom really wanted to go inside the building and see it. I like big train stations, so I enjoyed seeing it, too, although I think that Union Station in Chicago is prettier. Since it was a Sunday evening, it wasn't too busy, but the other times that we went through Grand Central on the subway, it was a madhouse. I was so glad to have my f/1.8 lens for this shot, although I still think I should have exposed it a bit more. 1/80, f/1.8, ISO 800.


I have to say that I really wasn't a fan of Times Square. We stayed there because of the central location and the proximity to subway lines, but I don't think I'd ever stay near it again. However, I do think that the Hershey's Store wins for the coolest obnoxious-lights-display. 1/60, f/7.1, ISO 400.

Next: day two of the trip - Statue of Liberty and more.

distillery

On my last trip to Toronto, which was about a month ago, I discovered that the sensor on my 20D was in desperate need of a cleaning. Well, I kind of knew this, but it was even worse than I remembered, so instead of using it to take photos, I used my old backup, which is a Kodak DX6490. Yeah...not exactly the quality that I'm used to! So these photos aren't my best, but I did manage to get some shots that I like while hanging out one Sunday afternoon in the Distillery District. If I have my facts correct, this an area in Toronto that used to be a working distillery, but they've since taken the beautiful red brick buildings and turned it into a fun area for shopping, dining, arts, and entertainment. Distillerydistrict.com proclaims it "Toronto's Hippest Address" and a lot of movies were filmed here during the 90s.


View of the main plaza in the Distillery. I don't know if this is an everyday thing, or just a weekend or Sunday thing, but there were tents set-up, art-show style throughout the plaza. Classy tents, though, with cool stuff and beautiful jewelry - most well out of my price range. I like the angle that the "Gooderham & Worts" sign cuts across the photo at, and I really like the reflection of the clock in the window. I took photos of the clock itself, but this is more interesting.


My favourite part of this photo is definitely the sky. I like that it appears to be in motion, the colour of it, and the wispiness of the clouds. I also like the lampposts on the right. Please ignore the man on the left in the daisy dukes. I wanted to crop him out, but using 4x6 proportions, I would have had to sacrifice too much sky, so there he stays. I suppose he adds character.


I don't have any great close-ups of the buildings, but this is the best of the ones that I have. The green Victorian ironwork against the red brick is just fantastic. The sign in the lower righthand corner indicates the building's number. Since there are not streets here, just pedestrian walkways, all of the buildings are numbered.

Next: I really will start to highlight last week's trip. I had just forgotten that I had a few decent Toronto photos to share.

south of the border

Here's a fun fact for you: Windsor, Ontario is the only place along the U.S.-Canada border where Canada is actually south of the United States. There's a little plaque in downtown Windsor, which is right across the river from downtown Detroit, that informs interested tourists of this. I took a photo with it a couple of summers ago.

So, Windsor. I have such fond memories here. As the nearest interesting Canadian city to me (because the only thing that Sarnia has going for it is Coffee Lodge, and that one time when they had one of the greatest Canadian casts for a skating show ever), there was a time when I found myself in Windsor about once a month. That time has passed, but I still do enjoy it, especially the Med Bread at Moxie's. And the Chapters. Mmm, Canadian books. It's so difficult to find Will Ferguson's hilarious travelogues even just across the river.

So on a sunny Saturday in April, BFF Jules and I headed to Windsor for the afternoon. I was writing a travel article on it for my school's newspaper, and I wanted a fresh perspective and photos that weren't terrible. If you want to read the article, it's here, on page 9. Oh, and it's a PDF file. But if you just want the photos, here they are. Apologies for the dust...I shot the whole day with a dirty lens, and I had no idea. Oops.


Taken from the riverfront park in downtown Windsor, this is GM's Renaissance Centre in downtown Detroit. It was built a few decades ago to help revitalize downtown Detroit, and it's a living/working/entertainment/dining conglomeration of steel. The idea didn't really work, because it ended up being a self-sustaining bubble that didn't need the rest of the city, but it was a nice idea, and I guess the Ren Cen is kind of sweet. 1/1600, f/14, ISO 1600.


The rest of Detroit's skyline is much older, and I think the old style skyscrapers are just so pretty. Of course, I have the heart of a city girl, so I think that the steel-and-glass variety are gorgeous, too. 1/3200, f/14, ISO 1600.


Here's a pretty great photo of BFF Jules, gazing lovingly across the river at Detroit. She really does love Detroit more than anyone else that I know. (Nope, she's not from there.) 1/2500, f/14, ISO 1600. (Apparently, I had NO idea I was shooting on ISO 1600...)


One of the new additions to Windsor's riverfront - a sculpture imploring passers-by to "pray for peace." I like this shot, but I wish that the Radisson's sign wasn't right in the middle of it. 1/400, f/18, ISO 1600.


If you read the article, you know all about the Odette Sculpture Park. If not, well, the OSP is part of the riverfront in Windsor, and it features all kinds of random sculptures. I guess the really crazy stuff is further towards the bridge, but we were tired of walking, so we turned around. Next time. 1/1600, f/18, ISO 1600.


Kind of an interesting shot with one of the sculptures and part of the Detroit skyline. 1/1250, f/18, ISO 1600.

Next: Canadian Stars on Ice. Once I post those shows, I'll be all caught up!

that's chicago.

I'm so excited for my first hometown post on this blog! I grew up in the Chicago suburbs, but have been living in central Michigan for over 2 years now. I'm only a 3 and a half hour drive from my parents' house, so I go home every chance that I get - usually about once a month. This set of photos are from a day downtown with some friends while I played tour guide, one of my favourite pastimes.


The "Diamond Building," as it's commonly known, is actually the Smurfit-Stone Building, and the big metal blog is "The Bean," which is actually called "Cloud Gate." It was a new sculpture installed in Millenium Park, which opened in 2001, I believe. And no, I did not photoshop that beautiful blue sky. 1/2500, f/10, ISO 200.


This is Holy Name Cathedral, on North State Street. I think it's the "headquarters," for lack of the proper term, for the Chicago Archdiocese of the Catholic Church...but again, those might not be the right terms. At any rate, it is a beautiful building, tucked right into the city. 1/200, f/11, ISO 200.


Detail from the Chicago Tribune Building. I had a traumatic experience here in sixth grade, regarding the county spelling bee, almost qualifying for the state bee, and not having the right list of words that all the other kids have. You put the pieces together. It's still too painful for me to talk about. Pretty building, though. 1/320, f/5, ISO 400.


I admit, I almost deleted this photo in my camera when I was looking at my pictures from the day on the train out of the city. I forgot to reset my aperture after I went back into the sunlight, and this looked way too overexposed to be salvaged. I was upset, because the broken ice on the river was just gorgeous that day. I kept it, though, and I managed to tweak some settings on the image, and now look at it! Yay! 1/320, f/5, ISO 400.

Next up: same day in Chicago, but a different occasion - Stars on Ice!

west coast dream

I was so relieved that Vancouver didn't disappoint me. You know how, sometimes, when you're so excited to see something, and the excitement just builds and builds to the point that a let-down is inevitable? Titanic was like that for me. So was Miami. But Vancouver...well, I basically fell in love with it. It's too bad that UBC doesn't want me this year, because I was ready to pack up my life and drive it across the continent without looking back. Ah well. Maybe someday. At any rate, I do hope to be back next year, if not sooner.

So here are some photographic gems from my sightseeing day in Vancouver. Meg played tour guide for us again on Monday, which ended up being one of the only days we had to enjoy the city. Tuesday-Sunday were spent at the arenas, so the rest of the highlights from my trip will be of the event. We didn't get as beautiful of a day as we did in Seattle, and there were some rainy moments, but at least the weather was tolerable, and it was still quite a bit warmer than what Michigan was getting.


Canada Place! It looked important, and I am a sucker for provincial flags, so I took a picture. It's at the north end of downtown, right on the water, and it's a hotel and convention centre, I believe. 1/200, f/2.8, ISO 100.


This is a rear view of the main train station in Vancouver. I love the architecture of the building, and the contrast of the trees against it, but I do wish the sky had been blue that day. 1/100, f/5.6, ISO 400.


In keeping with our theme of "First Starbucks" moments, this is the first Canadian Starbucks, located inside the Vancouver train station. No themed merchandise here - just a small plaque. It's not much more than a kiosk, actually, and I didn't even get a coffee here. Something about being on vacation makes me crave lemonade, and there was a yummy juice place competing with Starbucks inside the train station, so that won. Jules did support this Starbucks, though, so I didn't feel terrible about playing paparazzi with it. 1/100, f/2.5, ISO 400.


Google helped me decide that this is St. Andrew's-Wesley United Church. It's on Nelson St. in downtown Vancouver, across the street from the Sheraton Wall Centre, which was the official hotel for the 2008 Canadian Championships, and where I stayed later in the week. I had to go there on Monday to pick up my media credential, and we did some photoshooting in the space in front of it, when there were a few moments of sunshine. 1/100, f/14, ISO 400.


Oh, Robson Street. We spent quite a bit of time here - including several hours in Chapters, two separate meals at Tsunami Sushi, and half an hour in Meg's car while we waited for a tow truck to jump-start it after the battery died. Here, I managed to grab a shot of the street between cars that features Lush, one of my favourite stores. 1/100, f/5.6, ISO 400.


This is why Vancouver is incredible. Seriously. This picture doesn't do it justice, but just look at that. 1/100, f/5, ISO 200.


I'm not so great at night shots, but I thought that this one turned out okay. There was a windowpane dangling above Georgia Street downtown, so we were caught in traffic for almost an hour. By the time we made it to Stanley Park, it was completely dark, so this is the best shot that I took there, unfortunately. I guess I'll just have to go back. 1/125, f/1.8, ISO 800.

Next up: first day or two of my assignment in Vancouver, so...skating! Lots of skating.

san francisco times seven

Thanks to the Global Deejays' remix of "Sounds of San Francisco," every time I say, "San Francisco," I say it like, "San! Fran! Cisco!" Listen to the song if you don't understand. Trust me - your life will never be the same.

For Thanksgiving, my mom and I went to San Francisco. She said it was because she'd wanted to take a vacation during the summer, but I was too busy, and she didn't want to go by herself. I think it was partially because she wanted to get out of making a Thanksgiving meal when there were only three of us. My stepdad decided to stay home, and had Thanksgiving dinner with his son & his family, so it was just Mom and I for the trip. I love travelling with Mom. I get all of my nerdy travelophile genes from her, so we generally want to see the same things, and she doesn't mind that I try to pack in as many things as possible.

This trip was a photographic learning experience for both of us. I helped my mom buy her first digital camera over the summer, a respectable model of the point & shoot variety, but she'd barely taken it out of the box by November. I ended up giving her a crash course on the Civic Center plaza in San Francisco on Thanksgiving morning. This was also a learning experience for me, because it was the first time I took my DSLR on vacation. The results were a bit disappointing, but I did learn some things, and I was able to touch up my shots with Photoshop, so I feel better about the experience now. The most important thing I learned is that I'm never visiting a photogenic city like San Francisco again without a shorter lens than my fixed 50mm. So for future vacations, I'll probably plunk down the cash to rent a wide-angle lens if I don't have one of my own. But for now, on to the photos!


We arrived in San Francisco on Wednesday afternoon, the day before Thanksgiving. Our first order of business, after checking into our downtown hotel, was to buy a bus/streetcar/cable car pass. We decided to eat in North Beach, where there were supposed to be some great Italian restaurants, and we got there by way of taking the streetcar to Fisherman's Wharf, where I snapped this photo. I'm not sure if we just picked a mediocre restaurant, but I've had much better Italian food in Chicago. Thankfully, that was our only mediocre meal of the whole trip. 1/40, f/1.8, ISO 1600.


On Thanksgiving, we decided to do as much "outside" sightseeing as possible, since most places were not open. I read in our trusty AAA guidebook that the City Hall in SF is modeled after Les Invalides in Paris, and sure enough, it was! I'm not sure what's with the weird trees in front. I meant to research that when we got back to the hotel that evening, but we never got the internet working in our room. 1/400, f/8, ISO 100.


AAA Guidebook told us that the Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park would be open on Thanksgiving, but AAA Guidebook lied. I'm glad this photo ended up being one of my favourites from the trip, or I would have been angry. 1/400, f/8, ISO 100.


The trip to Golden Gate Park wasn't a complete bust, however, since the Japanese Tea Garden was open. It's even open on Christmas, apparently. It was a bit smaller than I anticipated, but it was beautiful, and I got quite a few great photos. I also took some not-so-great photos, but that's all part of the learning process, right? 1/400, f/7.1, ISO 400.


I snapped this while we were walking around Chinatown. It was painted on the side of an elementary school, and I thought it was hilarious. That's all. 1/160, f/3.5, ISO 400.


My mom and I agreed that our favourite place in San Francisco was the old Mission. This is the carving(?) that is above the altar in the small chapel. We also loved our visit to the Mission district because of the lunch we had there. As we were leaving the Mission, my mom commented that there would probably be great Mexican food in the neighbourhood, but it was hard to know where to go. I suggested that we go back inside the Mission and ask where they like to eat. The woman at the desk recommended Pancho Villa Taqueria, and it was fantastic. It was just your simple taqueria. We had fish tacos, which we often get at Baja Fresh in Chicago, but this was obviously a touch more authentic. The ingredients here were so fresh, and it was ridiculously cheap. They also had fresh juices and top-notch horchata. 1/60, f/2, ISO 800.


What's a trip to San Francisco without 923842398 photos of the Golden Gate Bridge, or "GGB," as I started calling it. My mom doesn't share my propensity for abbreviating things, so she was a bit confused. I took this from Lincoln Park, outside of the art museum, not long after my mom sprained my ankle running for the bus. I admit that I left her sitting on a bench while I trotted down a path to look for this shot. Don't worry - I promised her a copy. You know, I am scared to death of boats, but I would love to be on one of those sailboats under the bridge. With a wide-angle lens. Definitely with a wide-angle lens. 1/250, f/14, ISO 200.

Up next: Another skating competition!