Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2004/09/25
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]LUG: I had a wonderful time on my three weeks around England, Switzerland, and Italy. My wife and I got to see friends, revisit old favorite destinations, explore new ones, and introduce each other to places one or the other of us had been to previously. I carried a small (30liter) backpack with clothes, toiletries, spare film, gifts, etc, and a separate camera bag containing my M6TTL, a 21/4 cosina/voigtlander, a 35/2 pre-asph summicron, a 90/2.8 elmarit-M, and film for the day. It came as no great shock to find that I used the 35 most of the time, there were many times I was glad to have the 21, and the 90 was rarely used except during my cousin's wedding, when I wouldn't have liked to be without it. Altogether I carried about 45 rolls of film without the cannisters in ziploc bags. I had no trouble getting hand inspections during the 3 trips through security in the US (those magic words "professional film" came through again), I was able to get hand inspections of my TMax3200 (but not my 800 or lower) during the 2 trips through London Heathrow, and I was unable to get anything, even the 3200, hand inspected in Zurich. I don't notice any effects on the 800 after 3 passes, and I haven't developed the 3200 yet, but I figure one pass is nothing to lose sleep over. Camera-wise, I saw two other Leicas: a black M6 and a CL. I had maybe 2 or 3 people comment on my M6; a bit fewer then I get in the US. There were, as expected, plenty of digi point and shoots and a fair number of digi SLRs, but I had actually been expecting more; there were a surprising number of film point and shoots and film SLRs running around everywhere we went. Perhaps my favorite place that I saw this trip was new for me: the Cinque Terre on the Italian coast. Absolutely amazing. They're five little towns connected by boat, train, and walking trail. We walked between them all and marvelled at the views of cliffs, vineyards, fruit orchards, and ocean. In addition to the natural beauty, the towns seem to have managed to maintain their identity despite the influx of tourists. All the locals came out in the evenings to chat or watch the soccer games on the beach, any restaurants with a great view that we tried also had great food...they need it to attract local customers...unlike in many major tourist destinations. I'd highly recommend it, if you get the chance. I'm working my way through the photos I took, and will catch up on my PAW postings as I am able. (There's always so much work waiting after a vacation!) For now, I present four photos from my cousin Lucy's wedding in Wales (the excuse for the trip): I like to think my PAW captures some of the happiness and cheer that my English relatives seem especially full of: http://www.duke.edu/~ajs2/PAW/2004_27/index.html My alternates are snap-portraits; of my wife, and two of my cousins. They each seem to me to show something of the personalities, but perhaps that's because I know them: http://www.duke.edu/~ajs2/PAW/2004_27/pages/alt1.html http://www.duke.edu/~ajs2/PAW/2004_27/pages/alt2.html http://www.duke.edu/~ajs2/PAW/2004_27/pages/alt3.html Thanks for looking, and comments always welcome, Aaron