Hi everyone!
Last fall I decided to walk around Chinatown and snap a few photos for a street photography contest. My hands froze because of the chilly weather!
Then I took an underground train where I also took a few photos.
Have you ever been to a Chinatown? Which photo did you like the best?
Thanks for reading!
Hi everyone!
Today’s post will be full of pictures from Oltrarno, a residential neighborhood across the Arno river from the main part of Florence with palaces and cathedrals. We took a walk around this neighborhood before visiting the Pitti Palace and Boboli gardens, where the important Medici family eventually lived.
Oltrarno is known for its artisans and quaint roads.
Some workers….
Fruit from a local market.
We got some strawberries and they were really yummy!
A side street.
Flowers in a window box.
A scooter.
What do you think? Did you like this photo+caption post?
Thanks for reading!
Hi everyone! Today’s post is pictures of Pisa!
We left the Florence train station mid-morning.
Pisa, which is most known for it’s leaning tower, also has a large church and baptistry built in the Medival ages. Surprisingly, they do not look gothic, which was the traditional style of the time. They have more of a Renaissance appearance.
This is the front of the baptistry.
This is the front of the church.
This is a view of the Church and Baptistry from the top of the leaning tower!
And now for the leaning tower! It really does lean!
The tower will not fall over because they have poured cement into the ground underneath!
Look at the amazing ice cream! 😉
Actually, a nice tourist gave me an ice cream cone which was perfect for a funny photo! It was super hot so if I’d had any gelato it would have melted in seconds!
I did get to go up the leaning tower!!!!! My favorite part was climbing it because I had a weird sense of vertigo, as the stairs were somewhat leaning too! (you can’t really see it in this photo.
To reach the top level, I had to climb a small spiral staircase! Because so many people use them they are slippery and quite hard to walk on.
Here is some cool architecture at the top.
The view was great! We were hoping we could see the sea from the top, but it was too far away.
On the top, I sat on the side that was leaning. After a while, we climbed down and went back to Florence.
Do you like the photos? Which is your favorite? Have you been to Pisa too?
Thanks for reading!
Hi everyone!
Yes, Venice Italy! I can’t believe I went there either!!!! I took a million pictures but I narrowed it down so that you wouldn’t have to look at all of them. 🙂
When we first arrived, we road in a water shuttle from the airport but, because I was so tired I didn’t take any photos. We did ride on the Grand Canal, which is the main canal, in a water-bus a day later. I got some great photos and here is my favorite. (Yes, if you noticed I did make some of my pictures more vibrant but hopefully, they still look natural!)
The Rialto Bridge is a pretty famous landmark and it was the only bridge that spanned the great canal for many years. Thankfully now there are a few more bridges to span the canal but we still did not cross over from our side because it was so much of a hassle.
Here is a picture I took from the top of the bridge.
Here are a few pics of the all famous gondolas. We didn’t ride in one but they were awesome to photograph from the many small bridges.
Here’s a pretty waterway near a huge church.
Venice is a city of waterways, but it’s also a city of super narrow alleyways! I found the majority of the paths were actually narrow alleyways for pedestrians only. Most are smaller than the one pictured below.
A few churches had interesting fronts.
Venice also has a leaning tower! It’s really leaning so, I would not want to climb it. :-0
St. Marks square is full of tourists and pigeons. I don’t really care for pigeons so we didn’t feed them.
The bell tower at one end, which you can walk under is really interesting. On the top, not visible in the picture, there are two statues that move and bang a giant bell.
St. Marks church is a Byzantium style church and the ceiling is covered in gold leaf mosaics. They are beautiful especially in the light but unfortunately, I wasn’t able to take any pictures. I did get a picture of the outside.
Here is the square at sunset.
The giant tower was a watchtower so the Venetians could see approaching enemies in the old days because abound the 1300s it was the main trading port in the Mediterranean Sea.
Venice was a once in a lifetime experience that I will never forget! The unique atmosphere and roads will be forever picturesque in my mind!
Do you like the photos? Let me know in the comments below! 🙂
Thanks for reading!
~ Sapphire
Hi everyone!
A few weeks ago, I went to Colonial Williamsburg! If you don’t know what it is, it is a living history town, taking place during the Revolutionary War. It was so much fun and I took a ton of pictures! This post is all about the governor’s palace and grounds.
Let’s begin!
So, the town is pretty big, with one large road but there are two main sites: The Governer’s palace and the Capitol. There is the courthouse, the market, a few taverns, and trade shops, along with gardens and houses you can visit.
Here are a few pictures of Duke of Gloucester Street (the main street).
The Capitol is at the end of the road in this one.
This is the palace green.
The gate in front is really interesting because it is the English crest.
This is what it looks like from the front.
Inside, there is a weapon room, and bedrooms but I only got pictures of the weapon/ receiving room.
The top guns are actually from the 1700’s!
The walls were lined with guns, swords, and pistols to show the governer’s strength.
In the back, there are really pretty gardens.
There were tons of gorgeous tulips!
I even got our tour guide to pose for my picture!
We heard some rivermen sing behind the palace too.
In one of the kitchens, we got to make chocolate! It was actually pretty hard.
Outside we got to see a few animals. One was a Cleveland Brown (I think? I’m not the horse expert) and one of the last couple hundred of the breed still alive.
And I also saw a young ox and a cart horse.
(^just outside the palace) They give carage rides, but we didn’t end up doing one.
The end of part one of my Colonial Posts!
What did you think? Have you been to Colonial Williamsburg before?
Thanks for reading!
Hi guys!
Guess what?! I got a tour of the U.S. Capitol!!!! It was amazing, and I even got to go see the house floor!! Congressman Harper, from Mississippi, gave the tour to our group so we were able to go to some places most tours do not!
I took tons of pictures! These are of the outside, early in the morning.
First, we went to the original place where Congress meets.
Statues line the outer walls. The one below is of the ceiling.
Then we went to the place where Congress meets now! It was amazing, but I wasn’t allowed to take any photos =(. Our group sat in the front row of the seats because it was empty.
And now for to dome! At the base, the walls are lined with famous paintings like Cornwallace’s surrender and the signing of the declaration!
Our tour was just before the area was open to the public so it isn’t as crowded as it normally is.
As you look up, there is intricate molding before the beginning of the dome.
And finally the dome! It’s really magnificent! I was standing in the center of the room, which is actually the center of Washington D.C., and the dome was so large I couldn’t fill it all on the photo!
(^this is probably one of my favorite pictures!)
Then we were able to onto the Speaker’s balcony! The view was amazing!
This one I took when we were riding down an escalator.
The tour was finished so we went outside to catch a ride home. I wanted to go up closer like I had in the morning but they blocked off the area. When we went home we learned it was because Trump and Paul Ryan were greeting the Prime Minister of Ireland on the front steps! It’s that funny timing! Here are the pictures I took from behind the blocked off area.
What do you think? Have you been to the Capitol? Which picture is your favorite?
Thanks for reading!
Hi guys! Last summer, my family and I went to Acadia National Park in Maine. It is so beautiful! We went hiking, biking, sailing, and kayaking! This is part 1 of my Acadia trip photography! This part is themed tide pools because these are pictures when I went tide pooling.
Acadia is an island, so there is a lot of water! I love the ocean so it’s perfect for me!
This is at low tide, so at high tide, all of these rocks are covered. It rises at least thirty feet!
The snails are everywhere!
There are lots of crabs too if you look hard enough. Once we saw one that was five inches wide!
I really like how the sunshine makes the bushes glow.
The end!
What do you think? Have you been to Acadia? Which picture is your favorite?
Thanks for reading!
Hey guys! A few weeks ago, I flew on an airplane from D. C. to Colorado! I love flying, and I’ve been flying since I was one – so I’ve been flying a lot XD! I took a few pictures out of the window. I think the clouds look so cool!
(you can see my reflection in this one ^ :-))
I love looking down at the ground; the cars look like ants! I was writing in my notebook the whole flight!!!
I took a few photos of the airport!
Have you flown before? Did you like the pictures?
Thanks for reading!
Hi everyone!
So, yesterday serious winds, some gust up to 60 mph, came throught my area! The wind was so strong a car flipped! Eight doors down a tree fell onto the powerlines, so we lost power. It’s really interesting to be without something we take for granted and something that is such a part of our everyday life. I took some pictures of the candles we had to use to see.
The next few pictures are of a jar, with a napking around it and a candle inide.
I look a few pics of the lighter for fun!
Did the storm effect you? Did you loose power?
Thanks for reading!
A Sapphire's Stardust 