Tag Archives: eu

In Front of St. Stephen’s Cathedral

In Front of St. Stephen's Cathedral
People walking at night in front of St. Stephen’s Cathedral, Vienna.

In Front of St. Stephen’s Cathedral. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

People walking at night in front of St. Stephen’s Cathedral, Vienna.

Two summers ago we took a long tour through a bunch of European cities, traveling on our own and spending at least four days at each stop. This gave us time (though there is never really enough of it) to wander and poke around these places. One of our stops was Vienna, where we had not been before. I knew things about Vienna, but I didn’t really get its culture until we got off the train, caught a taxi, and drove past the remarkable architecture of the place. We stayed not far from this location at St. Stephen’s Cathedral, which gave me the opportunity to grab my camera and go out to photograph in the street at night.

This is, of course, a busy part of Vienna — full of shops, all kinds of obvious tourist attractions, restaurants and so on. While I sometimes can be a bit annoyed by dense crowed (though, at other times, energized by them), right now I’d give anything to share these streets with a few thousand other people on a summer evening.


G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.

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Arch, Michaelerplatz

Arch, Michaelerplatz
View towards Michaelerplatz through an archway, Vienna.

Arch, Michaelerplatz. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

View towards Michaelerplatz through an archway, Vienna.

We came to international travel late. When I was younger I could never think of a good reason to travel far away when all of the enticements of California were so near — San Francisco, Los Angeles, the Sierra, the Pacific coast, the redwoods, deserts, and more. It wasn’t until the late 1990s that it occurred to me that the rest of the world might be worth visiting, too. A key moment: a month traveling through Alaska on bicycles, during when we were often in sight of truly giant mountain ranged I realized that “maybe the Sierra aren’t the only worthy mountains.”

During the last decade or so our horizons have broadened. All of this is my way of leading to admitting that this summer 2018 visit was the first time we had been to Vienna. I had lots of reasons to know about Vienna before this, but it was all theoretical until we arrived and spent days wandering and looking… and beginning to understand what an important center this place has been.


G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.

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Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Street Vendors, Duomo de Firenze

Street Vendors, Duomo de Firenze
Street vendors and crowds of tourists at the Duomo, Florence, Italy

Street Vendors, Duomo de Firenze. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Street vendors and crowds of tourists at the Duomo, Florence, Italy.

One thing you can count on during tourist season in any popular city area like this one is that you’ll find lots of folks trying to sell you stuff, including street vendors of all sorts. The “art” objects for sale range from incredibly cheap trinkets (think of the tiny Eiffel Towers sold by the Paris entrepreneurs), though various kinds of post cards and similar, all the way to hand produced caricatures and others kinds of artistic efforts. (We’re not much for buying such stuff, preferring to make our own memories. Though we do give in on occasion.)

These two fellows were set up in a busy area in the shadow of the Duomo, the gigantic church in the center of the old part of Florence. If I recall, it was still morning, and the crowds were just starting to build, with lines growing at the entrances to this historical feature.


G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.

Blog | About | Flickr | FacebookEmail

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.


All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Walking Man, Florence

Walking Man, Florence
A man walks past businesses in Florence

Walking Man, Florence. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A man walks past businesses in Florence.

Several years ago we concluded a long European trip by visiting Italy, where we spent a week in the hills of Tuscany with members of our extended family. The trip, in total, was about bit longer than a month, and we had about a week and a half in Italy.

Most of our time in Tuscany was in the rural area near where we stayed — that region of fields and vineyards and orchards and small towns and villages. However, at the end of that part of our visit we decided to spend a few days in Florence before flying home. It was our first visit there, and we loved the place. (Yes, it is busy and full of tourists, but if you go out at the right times… less so.) I made this photograph on one of our first walks as we headed toward the Ponte Vecchio bridge.


G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.

Blog | About | Flickr | FacebookEmail

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.


All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.