This summer, we needed a stopover on our way home from The Gulf, so Jason arranged for us to layover in Paris for a few days…just in time to coincide with our 6 year wedding anniversary.  1, 2, 3….awwwwwww.  Of all the cities in the world, there are only a few I could live in and Paris is definitely one!  In fact, since we’d already done all the touristy things the first time, we decided to just hang out and ‘live’ for this trip.  Our neighbourhood, Le Marais district, was central to shopping, the Metro and Notre Dame   Sigh.  It was everything you imagine Paris to be.  I loved it.  We drank coffee and ate croissants; had picnics in parks; rode the metro and walked.  We walked a lot and we happened to be there during a heat wave.  I didn’t think it was possible to eat as many crepes and baguettes as I did!  Here’s a look into our trip.  Stay tuned for Part 2 if you love Paris flea markets and picnics.

Disclaimer: I’m obsessed with cafe chairs.

One of our traditions is to eat at McDonald’s in every country we go to.  We don’t usually get to order a Heineken!

Thing I’ll miss most: picnics in the parks.

I miss our neighbourhood.  Sigh.

One night while wandering through the city, we discovered this rooftop and found the most amazing view of Khiva.

After nearly 2 weeks in Uzbekistan, we walked through the border into Turkmenistan.  Even though it was right next door, it was a completely different world.  For starters, there is a life-long president, and all political gatherings are illegal.  There is a city-wide curfew of 11:00, and several sites of dissapeared from the internet, like Facebook, Youtube and Twitter.  Why did we go?  Well, the country has the 3rd largest natural gas reserves in the world.  What does that mean?  It means your capital city is constructed completely out of imported Carrara marble.  That’s right.  The whole city is white but the other cool thing is a flaming crater in the middle of the desert called The Door to Hell.  While drilling in 1971, Soviet geologists tapped into a cavern filled with natural gas.  The ground beneath the drilling rig collapsed, leaving a large hole with a diameter of 70 metres (230 ft). To avoid poisonous gas discharge, it was decided the best solution was burn it off.  Geologists had hoped the fire would use all the fuel in a matter of days, but the gas is still burning today.

We spent the night camping near the crater.  It was amazing.  Truly a once in a lifetime experience.

Camel adventure through the Sahara Desert.

We spent the night in the desert.  Another amazing experience.

The textures, colors and patterns of Morocco.

We visited a leather tannery.  Believe it or not, part of the process involves soaking the hides in pigeon excrement.  Ya.  It smells as awesome as it sounds.

Jason always finds us awesome places to stay.  Check out this Riad in Fez.  Those doors were found in an antique shop in Casablanca and returned to this house during its restoration.  Beautiful.

We traveled to a town named Chefchaouen that’s painted all blue to keep the mosquitoes away!  It was one of my favorite places in Morocco.

I loved all the lanterns!

And then we made our way to Tunisia for some beach time.  Who new the beach was so spectacular?! Our resort was right on the Mediterranean – this was where I got my tan on!

For those people who know me well, they understand my addiction to doors.  It’s a strange addiction.  Jason thinks it’s strange enough to be featured on a TLC reality show.  I can’t help myself.  It’s a disease, people!

Another amazing experience was our visit to the Berber villages in the Tunisian hills.  They are literally carved out of the stone.  Our hotel was actually a really posh cave!

Here’s my adorable hubby hanging out with the locals.  My favorite part of this picture is the can of Coke in Arabic.  Ha!

Our final stop was in an adorable town that reminded me of Greece.  Whitewashed walls.  Blue doors & shutters.  Perfection.  Sigh.  Take me back.

P.S.  I was suffering from Tanorexia here.  I put Pauly D and Snooki to shame!

Below are some photos from the Hassan II Mosque. It’s beyond beautiful.  It took 10,000 artisans over 7 years to build.  Some of the highlights are the Venetian glass chandeliers and the retractable roof, but I could spend hours describing the mosaic tile work.  Trust me.  It’s awesome.

Hagia Sophia

Dome of the Rock | Jerusalem

This trip was one of those once in a lifetime opportunities.  I mean, how many people stay in a Mongolian nomadic tent?!   They call it a ger or a yurt.  I know. Both are super sexy names.  And who doesn’t want altitude sickness when they’re trying to see Mount Everest?!  It’s as fun as it sounds.  And, really. What are the odds that we were even let into Tibet?  It was during the Olympics, and they weren’t letting anyone in to prevent protests or negative press.  While we were in China, we found an agency that helped us get in.  They were only letting in a handful of foreigners and we were three of them.  It was a trip of a lifetime and here are some of my favourite images from Mongolia and Tibet.

Mongolia

We really were in the middle of nowhere.  This was the view of our ger at sunrise.

While we were in the capital, Ulanbatar, we attended an annual festival with archery, wrestling and horse racing.

Tibet | Everest Base Camp

AKA The time we got altitude sickness.  Imagine the worst migraine, insomnia, nausea and breathlessness.  Sounds like fun, huh?!  It turns out we ascended to an altitude in an unrecommended amount of time.  Oops.

Yak butter tea.  Yep.  Tastes just as bad as it sounds.  Mmmmm.

One of my favourite images of all time.  I love it when I can see my own reflection in someone’s eyes.

The Jade Pools. Awesome.

There it is!  Mount Everest.  Do you believe that it was shrouded in clouds for weeks leading up to our visit.  The clouds were actually still there as we made our way to the lookout point.  Just as we arrived, the clouds parted.

Tibet

China

Cuba

Mongolia

Morocco & Tunisia

Peru

Everest Base Camp

Peru

Brazil

Which brings us to todays’ blog post.  Cuba.  I wouldn’t call it my all-time-favourite-must-go-to-place, but I really did love it.  Why? Cuba is like a time warp.  From the moment we arrived in Havanna, we felt like we’d been transported to another world.  Sure, we’ve been to many countries that haven’t been touched by western society, but few are as devoid of American influences as Cuba. There were so many reasons I loved Cuba but I fell in love with the European architecture and layout of Havanna.  We’d walk along cobblestone streets and end up in wide open squares with ornate cathedrals.  I simply couldn’t get enough of the colourful building facades or the fully restored cars.  Loved it all.  The only thing that seemed to be lacking was the flavour in the food.  We joked that every  restaurant had the same menu.  It didn’t matter if it was a pricier restaurant or not, they all served the same bland food.  But really, as long as you had a mojito in hand, everything tasted great!  Ha! Enjoy some of my favourite images from Cuba.

How cute are these three men?!  Despite the looks on their faces, they practically begged me to take this photo.

I loved the architecture and the open European-like squares.

Here’s Jason trying out his first real Cuban cigar.

For this post, I’ve included the image Straight Out Of Camera (SOOC) as well as the edited version.

This photo was taken in a mosque in Morocco and is an example where I wanted a certain ‘look.’  I cropped it to remove the shoes from the left side and then subdued the colours overal.  I think it’s pretty subtle but the focus is put on the guy walking.

I tend not to like my images too warm (orangey) so this one I toned it down a bit.

If I were to edit this image again, I probably would’ve warmed it up a bit more.  But, this is how I edited it then.

This is an example of how bright the colours are SOOC.  I hardly did anything to the image….in fact, I actually can’t remember which one is edited!

Here’s where it gets interesting.  It turns out that I’m not perfect.  I know.  Gasp.  In my defence, It was pouring rain!  I had to step into the torrential downpour to snap this shot so I wasn’t exactly keen to hang out there to get the right exposure.  This shot is obviously underexposed.  No problem.  I just bumped up the brightness.  Easy peasy lemon squeasy.

I hope this gives a better understanding of how I edit my photos.  Maybe next time I’ll include some of my camera settings, if that’s something people would be interested in.  Be sure to leave a comment and let me know what you’d like to see.

I’m content to simply sit on beach with a little breeze, and my iPad with an icy drink near by.  But, I also love a little sightseeing. My husband, Jason (AKA my tour guide) always finds us a little gem to explore.  This year, it was Granada, Nicaragua.  And it was filled with my other favourite things: cool doors.

Cute dogs everywhere!

One of the highlights of Granada was our hotel.  It was actually a colonial mansion from way back when the Spaniards ruled these parts. I’m such a history buff.

But seriously, look at the art.  These giant canvases were all over the property.

The pool in the courtyard was amazing but this incredibly high ceilings and beautiful tiles were making me drool.

It was so hot to walk around mid-day so we stayed by the pool.  Each afternoon, the clouds would roll in and a little rain storm would pass.  It was the best time to take pictures – nice, even light.  As I ran across the street to escape the rain drops, Jason snapped this pic.

There seemed to be a church on every corner.

After Granada, we made our way to Costa Rica.  Awesome.

This was one of our Jungle hotels.

We hardly ever take our camera out during the day because the light is so harsh.  Sunset on the other hand is perfect light.

Jason suggested we go ATVing.  I was apparently one of the slowest drivers our guide had ever been with.  Safety first!

We parked our ATV and went for a little hike into the mountains until we found this awesome waterfall/pools. That’s Jason jumping off the cliff!

My brother and his fiance decided that they’d had enough of Edmonton winters so they sold all their stuff, pack up their lives, and moved to Europe. Nice, huh?!  My dad’s side of the family originated from Malta, which (if you’re a little rusty on geography), is a small island in the middle of the Mediterranean, off the coast of Sicily, sort of  between Europe and North Africa. You know.  Right there. And, it’s old.  Like, really old.  In fact, some of Europe’s oldest buildings are found in Malta.  Thankyouverymuch,wikipedia.

Alright, enough of the history lesson.  I’m not biased at all, but aren’t these two hot?!

Oh, look at me.  I look like I just fell off the pages of Italian Vogue. What’s that? Mike says, “I can’t really see you through this dense fog. I have to squint and give you my steamy eyes.”   Ugh.  These two are so freakin good lookin!

The ceremony was beautiful.  One of the highlights occurred when my brother answered his phone during the vows.  Typical.

It was even more beautiful as the sun went down.

Even though my brother made me work on his wedding day, he made sure I got to play a little in the Med before I left Malta.  Thanks, bro.

I’ve had a passion for photography since I can remember, but the last few years I’ve spent photo documenting our travels.  My husband and I have made it to over 60 countries and I’ve loved capturing the beauty in every new place we visit! But recently, I’ve been doing ‘photoshoots’ for friends and family and I’m ready to take it the next level.   Thanks to the nudging of those friends and family, I’m open for business.  Now, I’m not quitting my day job as a full-time teacher, but I’ve got the flexibility in my life to fit in a little more.

And, since I’ve got a little spare time right now (while on vacation in Central America – woo hoo!), I’ve been working hard at setting up this Blog.  It’s my website/blog all in one.  It will be a place for me to document my progress and for clients to discover a little bit about me. Oh, and I really love comments.  So, feel free to leave me some love (the Haterade gets deleted by the filters!).  And if you have questions about my settings or tools I use, go ahead and ask.  I learned most of what I know from other people along the way.   I’ll be sharing my journey…but it won’t be one of those corny journeys.  This will be fun (and really funny) because I’m hilarious.  No really.  I am.  Ask anyone.  Except my husband.

And because you can’t have a blog post without a picture…here I am getting caught in the rain in Granada, Nicaragua.  Obviously, I didn’t snap this picture. No, it was my wonderful husband, Jason.  He taught me all the technical stuff about photography.  You know, like the numbery things.  He’s an accountant.  He’s really good at the numbery things.