I traveled through France in the summer of 2011 with my at that time girlfriend. We spent a few days initially driving through the city streets of Paris enjoying the culture, the architecture, the lively Latin Quarter, the Champs Elysees, the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, the Cathedral of Notre Dam, the Louvre, and many of the other noted sites of the city. After enjoying our fill of Paris we ventured northward to Normandy and visited the solemn gravesites and cemetery's of the Canadians who lost their lives in the second world war. I was stunned to witness the ages of most of the soldiers who died and are buried there. Most had never reached their twentieth birthday. We walked along the very shore that they had stormed on D-day in remembrance of their sacrifice. In the same northern area of France we visited Bayeux and viewed the famous "Bayeux Tapestry", an iconic tapestry chronicling the conquest of Norman conquest of England that I had studied in my high school art classes. From there we drove the scenic route around the coast southward toward the wine regions of Bordeaux and on toward the prehistoric caves of Dordogne depicting the charcoal art the inhabitants painted on those walls . We continued south into Arles, where Vincent Van Gogh lived out the last days of his life in a mental hospital and visited the castle that one of the popes lived in when the Catholic Church took exile in France. We also toured through the Palace de Versailles and, succinctly, we had a great time in the country. For this venture I took my Canon 5D Mark II and my 24-105m f.4.0 L, 70-200mm f/2.8 L, 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6, 16-35 f/2.8 II L, and, for the first time a brand new 24mm f/3.5II L Tilt and Shift. You can click on any image to enlarge it to full screen.
© Steve Tambosso - "The Wandering Fireman"
