Category Archives: Travel
Chrystal and I arrive back safely and without delay last evening from our week in Sardinia, Italy. We luckily missed the impending ash cloud descending on Italy from the volcanic eruption in Iceland. I was so excited to share some images from our time on assignment at Casa Tuelada that I uploaded a few of the following. This will be the “Aperitivo” (The drink in late afternoon before a great meal), many more to come of this exclusive vacation villa as well as the portraits I took of the Bortolotti family!
Venice is a city of tourist and we hate being tourist. Between the two of us we’ve spent countless months in over 30 countries from Indonesia to Ireland and we are bent on finding the authentic in places we go. There are 100 times more people that visit Venice each year than there are residents and even most the residents are transplants. So to blend in with the general population we were tourists, taking over 700 pictures, visiting the sites, crowding onto the vapretto’s and traghetto’s… The authentic in Venice is being a tourist, but we were happy and we loved every sweaty overcrowded second of it!
If you’re thinking of going to Venice on your honeymoon it is a wonderful place, although expensive, it is magical and what you make of it. You need lots of patients for the crowds, lines and a keen ability to read a map. I have to admit after my wife nagged me for a gondola ride for five days I gave in and we slipped through the canals in near darkness sipping vino rosso and it was one of the highlights of our trip! See a our video of our Venice adventures here, which will give you a hint at what we will be doing in 30 years.
I love Italy and just found out when I sat down to write this blog, that I will be returning there once again to photograph the vacation get-a-away of Casa Teulada in Sardinia along with a life style portrait session of the beautiful Bortolotti family, whom created Casa Tealuda from an aspiration to actualization.
Our breakfast view on the Grand Canal.
Gelati porta via!
I wish they had a fresh produce boat that pulled up by my apartment on the Hudson.
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Machismo Gondolier
Next time we are going to stay in a place with a kitchen, the fish markets were amazing.
Keys to room in our hotel (Hotel Gritti Place).
Murano Glass
We wondered where all the well dressed were going each day???
Traghetto gondolier
Venice’s symbol and flag.
There was too much beautiful light and life to capture in just a handful of days in the city of canals. Much like New York, Venice feels like a city that never sleeps, whether it be multitude of water vessels ferrying goods and people or the light bouncing around the canals by night or day.
The following are a few of a project that I am working on concerning water, you can see my full fine art print selections available for purchase here: http://www.rwagnerphotography.com/pickpic/gallery/splash.php?gallery_id=5
Its been a few months since we returned from our honeymoon but we can still here the sound of cow bells at 9,000 feet in the Swiss Alps of Piz Nair. We took the funicular half way up from St. Moritz and hiked the remaining distance into the thin but crystal clean sky. Chrystal and I started our honeymoon in Hvar and flew to Switzerland to photograph Eva & Hooman’s wedding in St. Moritz (which you can see on my blog here). The train ride alone was breathtaking, you can see some of our ride in this video.
One of our favorite moments of our stay in Switzerland was a late night meal of simple pizza and Chianti at Pizza Del Arte in St. Moritz. The chalk board when you entered the restaurant, owned and run by a humble Swiss-Italian, stated: “I cook, you eat, we both happy”.
Stay tuned for Honeymoon parts III, IV, V!
Would I go back to Hvar, Croatia and recommend this place: most definitely! My wife and I spent the first five days of our honeymoon here in late July. Croatia was in the middle of a heat wave topping 100º most days. No matter, the temperately cool water is refreshing to enter as it is look at! We could not get enough of the local fresh foods which included anchovies, sea water cured wild capers, in season lavender, ripe figs, both red and white wines and vinegars to mention a few. The red wine, Plavac, is the most dominate on Hvar and I would liken it to Zinfandel (red).
See our short HD video on scootering through the hills of Hvar to walking the streets of Hvar Town here. The end of the video has many of the still pictures I took on our visit as well as a sample of Croatian music. Stay tuned for posts on four other locations we visited on our honeymoon.
What to do when your engagement sessions are put off for warmer sunnier days! Make lemonade, or in my case hit the town with fiancée and turn home kitchen into gastro pub for Easter brunch!
9th avenue on Port Authority ramp taken with my new filter (ie dirty scratched bus window).
Poached eggs on ciabatta, with salmon roe, pesto and smoked mackerel and pastrami salmon.
I had the opportunity to visit paradise and soak up the sights of Xpu Ha Mexico. Playa Al Cielo (Heavenly beach) is one of the most amazingly simple yet beautiful places I’ve ever been. Check out the Al Cielo Hotel for great food, crashing azzuri waves and a slice of heaven. Xpu Ha is located between Playa del Carmen and Tulum on the Riveria Maya.
