Sophie and I decided to explore the capital of Denmark for a few days and we fell in love with Copenhagen. A city said to be the happiest in all of Europe.
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Hi again everyone! I know we've had a bit of a moment of silence on here, but I'm definitely not going to let it turn into one of those truly uncomfortable ones that leave both parties wondering whether it's too late now and whose fault it is. Don't worry, I take all the blame here in a rare second of self awareness. If you've been following along on instagram, you'll already know that I've been immersed in the amazing world of Iceland for the past week or see. Before we arrived I had few specific expectations of the country other than pictures of the many pretty waterfalls I'd seen in other photographer's pictures. We arrived quite late at night, but woke up bright and early, ready to tackle our first day adventuring around the island by helicopter. We started out over Reykjavik and made our way across the entire island to the east and back again. I can't even begin to describe how unprepared I was for the diversity of the places and aerial views we saw with our tour guide (Private Tours Iceland). We landed a few times and even picniced next to a glacier in the middle of nowhere. How's that compared to an average Friday? If you haven't been to Iceland yet, you have to go. And go tomorrow.
In real time, I just arrived in Paris last night and am trying to spend every precious second running around the city and revisiting all my favorite patisseries, views and restaurants from last summer. More on that later, because London was a whirlwind of fun experiences over the past 3 days. As soon as I arrived from New York, I hopped in an uber (try to avoid black cabs, they're insanely expensive there right now) and made my way to Chelsea to drop off my suitcases at the apartment. I've been to London mutliple times and even lived there for a summer, so I didn't want to waste my time doing extremely touristy things aside from photographing them from the outside. Naturally. I met up with my friend Tobi to find some more off the beaten path locations and I wasn't disappointed. We ventured out to Greenwich to explore the Spiral staircases of Queen's house. I admit it's a bit of a trek out there, but you'll truly feel like you're walking over an old film set in the middle of London and the best part is it's completely free! Seeing as London was absolutely boiling at 36°C I spent the rest of my day cooling off with multiple ice cream cones and time by the pond in Hyde Park. Also of notable mention: the best iced latte at Association Coffee, convincing me that London has truly stepped up its coffee game since I've last visited.
I've been back from Seattle for almost two weeks now, but I still have one last post from that lovely city in the upper left corner of the USA. It's taken me quite a while to compile this post, maybe because I loved it a fair amount more than I thought I would and I wasn't quite ready to say goodbye. Here's my Seattle shortlist on where to eat, what to do and what to most definitely avoid.
First things first, the most important bit (to me at least):
Where to eat...
Oddfellows Cafe in Capitol Hill for a solid lunch and a whole lot of atmosphere. Make sure you get an order of fries while you're at it.
Afterwards you can pop by Molly Moon's for a serious ice cream feast (I'm still obsessed with their Lavender Honey Flavor).
For coffee, I highly recommend Storyville (they have several locations, but I loved the one at Pike Market) or Stumptown, as always.
For dinner, I'd suggest heading back to Occidental Square to Bar Sajor, a lovely space with an open kitchen.
And my absolute favorite: The London Plane (you can read the full post here) for incredibly delcious, flavorful food and a beautiful concept store space near Occidental Square.
What to Do...
Personally, I think you should start your visit to Seattle off with a hike instead of exploring the city. Chances are you're coming from a city and have spent the last day in a car or at the airport so fresh air is exactly what the doctor ordered. Luckily, there are some great short hikes and sights just outside of Seattle, like Rattlesnake Ridge and Snowqualmie Falls.
You can easily do both of those in half a day. Now, you're ready to experience Downtown Seattle. Start out at Pike Market and walk your way through Downtown to the Public Library and Capitol Hill.
One of my highlights was taking the ferry from Downtown Seattle to Bainbridge Island, giving you stunning views of Downtown and Mt Rainier in the distance. You don't really need to explore the island, but it's definitely worth the 8 dollar ferry ride.
While you should avoid going up the Space Needle itself, you should definitely head to Kerry Park for sunset and watch the lights turn on in the city below you, it'll give you a much better view and you'll be able to make some friends up there while you're at it!
I had heard from multiple people what a magical place La Push was. It kept popping up in my instagram feed, followed by in the inevitable "it-took-us-5-hours-to-get-here-caption", so I put it on my secret wish list, assuming I'd never make it there. But, as always, Vincent was the one person that is always willing to go the extra mile for an adventure (you can read the first instalment of our adventures here) and suggested going there before I could even muster the courage to suggest the long trip to the coast, especially given the harsh sunlight would make taking great pictures virtually impossible.
Armed with coffee and an array of wildly random snacks we started driving up the coast in the morning, stopping at Lake Crescent and other random spots along the way. Essentially, it took as much longer than the advertised 5 hours to finally get to La Push, because we're photographers and we waste way too much time stopping to take pictures everywhere. We hiked through the woods for about 15 minutes until we reached second beach. I grew up on an island, so I have a sentimental attachment to the ocean, but nothing could have prepared me for the beauty of La Push. It was one of those surreal moments where you couldn't even believe that you were going to get to the beach, after hours of driving and walking through the thickest forest. We stayed for hours waiting for sunset, but were surprised by fog just as the light turned golden. I couldn't have asked for a more perfect day and better encouragement to always go the extra mile.
Shop the Post below:
On my second day in Seattle, we did the unthinkable. We skipped Seattle entirely and started our roadtrip through Oregon. If you ever head out to see the Pacific Northwest I highly recommend renting a car and trying to see as much of the surrounding nature as possible. Start out in either Seattle or Portland, but make sure you see the other city too! They're only 2.5 hours apart! I've driven in the states before, but this time it hit me again how vast this country really is.
We got up bright and early at 6 so we could make use of the whole day properly. This strategy of course included massive cups of coffee and keeping ourselves awake and alert by continuously eating. Our first stop were the infamous Multnomah Falls. I'd seen this waterfall so many times in pictures, but I was so impressed by the scale of it, not to mention how great it was to be able to walk across it on a bridge.
Our next stop on the agenda was Trillium Lake with views of Mt Hood. We were hoping to capture the reflection of the mountains across the lake, but the weather was against us. It was extremely sunny and windy so we decided to just rest and take in the scenery instead of walking around the lake to get good shots of every angle.
After Trillium Lake we were hit with a sever case of hunger after over four hours of driving so we decided to head into Portland. The first stop on our list was Stumptown Coffee at the Ace Hotel. It was so interesting to be in the city were Stumptown began!
Stumptown left us recaffeinated and ready to continue exploring Downtown Portland. I was amazed at how many oldtimers we saw during my time there and I think I started annoying Vincent with my fangirling every time I saw one. If you're ever in Portland I would also highly recommend Heart Coffee, Blue Star Donuts (they're made of brioche dough!!) and make sure you check out Nob Hill for a stoll in an adorable neighborhood.
Last, but certainly not least, Salt and Straw ice cream. Over the past two years I had increasingly heard about Salt and Straw, so naturally I needed to see what all the fuss was about. When we arrived on location there was a line that wrapped around the block and while I don't usually participate in queues I patiently got in line. However, my patience soon wore thin so I figured out an alternative to waiting for another hour: you can skip the line if you buy a pint! With a pint of Sea Salt ice cream and caramel ribbons in hand, the world immediately looked much rosier and it was the perfect end to our time in Portland before we headed back to Seattle
As always you can follow along in real time over Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat (sophiesvob).
I just got back from my trip to Seattle at 1 am today, but even after a long day back at work I feel incredibly inspired and refreshed. Before I share the pictures from our crazy road trips around Oregon and Washington State (and of course a Seattle Shortlist), I wanted to devote one post entirely to The London Plane. Half restaurant, a quarter flower shop and a quarter concept store, but 100% beautiful and aesthetically pleasing. Not to mention the food was amazing (any restaurant that serves home made hazelnut butter with salt on toast earns a solid place in my heart). Before we had our main courses, we all had a round of warm biscuits with seasonal preserve and creme fraiche. I immediately knew we were in for a treat, the kind of treat I wouldn't be mad about having every day. We also shared the chicken salad, focaccia, avocado toast and snap pea salad. I was so happy to hang out with Cory and Bethany again and meet Daniel for the first time to chat about our passions, photography and travel!
Find them right off of leafy green Occidental Square in Downtown Seattle:
Robert Redford once said that tourism is wonderful if you seek places that are unspoiled and expose yourself to the experience of beautiful destinations, yet if all of us do just that it will ruin it for us all. I guess we all have responsibility when traveling and exploring.
This place has been a jewel for the longest time. Now on weekends you must get in line surrounding the lake behind bus loads of people. Rarely you see it untouched as we did today.
I have never in my life seen such a color in a lake and such visibility! Up to 50 m you can see under water. The water collects here from the snow melt each spring. It almost disappears till autumn. Breathtaking views and a true happy maker.
Oh he know about his looks!
Can you find the three benches on this photo?
I observed three male ducks diving for food back side up, when a male and a female duck approached those youngsters took off and gave it a try, if they could win the lady over I cannot tell. But you can see the bold approach and the shy girl taking off with her mate in the pursuit. Could he get rid off the Casanova of a duckling?
On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice:
"Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink.
Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them."
John 7:37-38
