Siena

Family Outing │ NEX-7 + Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* E24mm F1.8 ZA │ 24mm F4.5 1/800s ISO100Talk about mass tourism! When we arrived in Siena, an enormous throng of tourists was plying the direct routes between the “must see” attractions. Luckily you could escape to areas still controlled by the locals. These are typically separated from the rest of the city by steep hills, areas that are largely inaccessible to the typical, over indulging, cruise ship passenger.

Floating

Floating │ NEX-7 + Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* E24mm F1.8 ZA │ 24mm F4.0 1/640s ISO100Sometimes the best approach is the simplest. Viewed from the stern, our ship looks almost like an apartment building floating on the water. With just the vertical block of the cruise ship and the horizontal line of the horizon there's (almost) nothing else to distract the viewer.

La Veranda │ NEX-7 + Sony E16mm F2.8 + VCL-ECU1 │ 12mm F7.1 1/4000s ISO800 (oops!)Our favored breakfast era is also on the stern, on the 11th deck, just below the jogging track (a rude reminder as we tuck into our extensive breakfast).

Taormina Tourists

Lean on Me │ NEX-7 + Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* E24mm F1.8 ZA │ 24mm F2.8 1/640s ISO100

On the Sea

Sea & Sun │ NEX-7 + Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* E24mm F1.8 ZA │ 24mm F4.5 1/500s ISO100A different port every day; they're all interesting settings in their own right. At the onset of the voyage I thought that I'd end up posting photos from these destinations every day. It turns out though that I'm every bit as intrigued by the sea voyage and all that that entails. There are the muster stations, tenders (photos coming in a following post), tug boats, pilots, docking, piers, or simply the waves rushing by below our balcony. The photo above is of the floating highrise that was parked opposite us at the pier in Corfu, Greece this morning.

As Waves Go By │ NEX-7 + Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* E24mm F1.8 ZA │ 24mm F4.0 1/1600s ISO100

A Postcard from Montenegro

Kotor │ NEX-7 + Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* E24mm F1.8 ZA │ 24mm F4.5 1/400s ISO100The captain is warning us that there might not be any internet for much longer, so I thought I'd post this photo and not spend the time going through the remaining hundreds I took today in Kotor. But this image pretty much sums up our day: a big boat (incidentally not ours which was at anchor a little further out), the old walled city and a lot of stairs.