Sam Strickler

TRAVEL: Belgium

admin — Fri, 18 May 2012 16:33:42 +0000

We recently spent three days in Belgium exploring Brussels, Antwerp and Brugge. What stood out to me about Belgium was 1) the stunning architecture especially the gabled roofs and 2) the HUGE beer culture. We did quite a bit of beer tasting and probably didn’t try the same beer twice; the number of beers available was incredible and all of them were very good and different. Here’s a couple photos from the trip….hope you enjoy them.

TRAVEL: Lake Como hiking

admin — Sun, 13 May 2012 17:03:55 +0000

We found the Greenway hiking trail on a travel website and decided we’d see if it was cool. It is a maintained path along the western edge of Lake Como which weaves in and out of small fishing villages and up along the hillsides for 10.5 km. It turned out to be pretty fun and we only got about 50% through it before the weather turned so so we’re excited to go back. Here’s some photos from the day.

TRAVEL: Terre d’Acqua, Acquerello Rice and the Mondine

admin — Sun, 06 May 2012 15:44:32 +0000

I had an open weekend and Julie was busy doing some planning for school so I decided to spend a day exploring/photographing somewhere I hadn’t been before but within a short distance from Monza. After a little research I stumbled upon the Vercelli area in Piedmonte which turns out is known as Europe’s rice growing capital because of its position on the Po River plain which allows wet rice fields. The fields are special because not only are they advantageous for rice production but they are also unique to Italy and therefore make some beautiful and unusual Italian landscapes. I was interested so I woke up early and drove the hour and a half to get there and started just driving around the Terre d’Acqua (water lands). At that time in the morning the light was great, the colors bright and all of the wet rice fields created nearly perfect reflections of the skies and mountains meaning I made a lot of photo stops.

Next, I was lucky enough to get shown around the Acquerello Rice Production Farm in Colombara. Acquerello is a small-quantity and high-quality Carnaroli rice producer who’s rice is popular with some of the world’s best chefs, including Thomas Keller, Jamie Oliver and Anthony Bordain. The farm was built in the 16th century, is in the huge rectangular courtyard Italian farm style and is surrounded by 140 hectares of rice fields. But while the farm was beautiful, the production process very interesting (especially to an industrial engineer) and the product impressive what I liked best was the history of the farm and rice growing in general in Italy. I was introduced to the fascinating history of le Mondine which was the name given to the hundreds of women who worked the rice fields for several months a year while staying in dormitories on the farm. It was an interesting (and hard) way to live and Acquerello has even renovated several areas of the farm to show how they looked back then. In the eco-museum you can see the dormitories where the Mondine lived/slept, blacksmith and carpenter’s workshops, living quarters, cattle sheds and stables and even several elementary school classrooms.

It was a great trip so if you’re ever in the northern Piedmont I would highly recommend visiting the Terre d’Acqua and in particular making a stop to tour Acquerello to learn about rice production and its fascinating Italian history.

TRAVEL: Marche/Umbria, Italy

admin — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 15:06:46 +0000

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TRAVEL: Mantova, Italy

admin — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 09:37:39 +0000

I think Mantova is an undiscovered gem in Italy. It only gets a page or two in the guidebooks which is maybe because it’s surrounded by touristically important cities like Verona, Venice and Parma but the city is one of my favorites and has got a great atmosphere to it. Just one of those places where a photographer could spend days because it’s filled with real people doing real things rather than a sea of tourists seeing “sights”. We particularly liked the Palazzo Ducale, the 14th-17th century palace/castle of the royal family of Gonzaga, because on the outside it looks drab and strictly fortification-like but on the inside it’s filled with serious art (think Mantegna frescoes, Rapheal tapestries and Rubens paintings) and what seems like an endless row of gorgeously painted and crown-molded rooms, corridors and halls. Here’s a visual tour of Mantova.

TRAVEL: To Austria and Back

admin — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 06:48:01 +0000

Long Weekend Route: Monza, Italy -> Bolzano, Italy -> Salzburg, Austria -> Hall, Austria -> Monza, Italy

Bolzano, Italy

Notice the newspaper is in german; this region speaks both Italian and German

Row of window seats in old town Bolzano

Salzburg, Austria

Antique doorbell system in old town Salzburg

Salzburg Cathedral (you can only call it a 'Duomo' in Italy)

Hall, Austria

TRAVEL: Milan, Italy

admin — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 18:13:23 +0000

This post is probably long overdue considering we live right outside the city and have for the past 6 months (wow, times flies) but I’m finally getting around to posting on Milan. While at first glance Milan is an unattractive, dirty and chaotic place if you visit it enough it starts to grow on you. And while I’d gone into Milan for many beer runs, dinners, and hosting tours I hadn’t really taken my camera along until Julie’s parents, Cyndi and Scott, made it to town a couple weeks back. We rode the metro in and spent most of the day wandering the Duomo and Navigli districts and had a great time. Here are the photos from that day.

TRAVEL: Genova, Italy

admin — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 18:16:34 +0000

Genova is a town I wasn’t crazy about visiting. For whatever reason my initial thoughts about Genova were that it was a gritty port town with nice history but with little to do or see but Julie was pretty excited and we didn’t have anything to do so we hit the road. We ended up spending a very long day walking all over Genova, seeing everything from the port to the palazzi and although the weather wasn’t awesome it ended up being a great city to visit (and photograph). I think Julie captured it perfectly when she came to the epiphany that the cool part about traveling is that sometimes those places you travel to with low expectations end up being the best because they surprise you.

Great light in the crowded old town

Narrow alleys

In awe of the Genova Duomo

Violinist

Genova Market

Beautiful church in middle of ancient old town

Crosswalk

Stunning architecture of Palazzo Reale

Lonely statue

Courtyard of Palazzo Reale

TRAVEL: Bernina Express

admin — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 13:43:19 +0000

We finally made time to ride the Bernina Express and had a great time. The Bernina Express is a scenic railway connecting southern Switzerland with northern Italy over the Swiss Alps, specifically the Bernina Pass which at it’s highest point is 2,253 high meters in altitude. The Bernina Express was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2008.

Near the Bernina Pass summit

Enjoying the ride

Bernina Pass Alps

St. Moritz stop

Bernina Express train map

Looking up train times

TRAVEL: Luzern, Switzerland

admin — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 07:12:00 +0000

A couple weekends back we made the short drive up to Luzern, Switzerland. Luzern is one of those places that is hard to leave…even if it was totally freezing while we were there. Anyways below is a visual play-by-play of our time there. Also check out Julie’s take on it at her new blog here.

We started by walking the streets of old town Luzern

We also made it to the famous Lion Statue

We had a beer and bratwurst from the Rathaus Brauerei

Luzern old town as we were headed to dinner

Another on the way to dinner (fondue)

Looking up the Reuss River at the beautiful Luzern architecture

Everyone celebrating Carnevale under city hall

I love the old wooden bridge in Luzern...it's even better at night with all of the buildings lit up