I have to admit, I had full intentions on sharing these images last year. However, life happened and I have to be honest—I just forgot, ha! This week I am heading back to Europe and this time we are adding Portugal to our list. My friend, Sophie, has offered up her place again for us to stay in Spain, then after a few days in Salamanca, we will travel north of Spain to see the mountains—and then right across the border to visit Portugal. I figured, now is the time to share these photos from the first time we went to visit her in Europe.
This was my first time in Europe. I was nervous, more so about the plane ride, then about the language barrier in Germany once we arrived. Thankfully, we stayed with good friends, Devon and Alex, for the first leg of the trip. My friend Jessie and I had a blast. Seriously, it was so nice to be in Germany and to actually WALK to the grocery store and village to pick up necessities. Oh, and they eat carbs there!! So much bread! And yet, they are all so skinny. It was delectable, and I enjoyed their morning rituals of actually having a sit down meal every morning because they know its the best one of the day. I left Germany feeling happy.
Later, we went and visited the lower portion of the Swiss Alps. Our original goal was to hike up the mountain and to stay overnight…but, we ended up walking only a little bit up when we realized we probably would not make it up to the top by the time the camp closed. Instead, we took a hike around the lake and was in for a real surprise. After feeling like a failure (me, I was the one that felt like a failure because I could not make it up the mountain), we came across this pier right on top of the glacier water. In the distance we could see not one—but, two castles. It was the most fairytale thing I may have ever seen. I couldnt stop laughing. It was the day before my 29th birthday, I was tired and embarrassed because of the mountain fiasco, and we find this gorgeous spot of land that gave you a spectacular view of CASTLES!
After this trip, Jessie and I headed south to Spain and met up with Sophie. From there, we visited all of the fun places in and around Salamanca. At the end of the trip, we went to Barcelona and oh my goodness yall I could lick the streets there. So much history, so much pretty, and the water was to die for. I wish I could go on about Barcelona, but honestly I dont even think I could do that city justice.
The images are from that trip and were all shot on a pentax 645 with portra 400 film. In case you were wondering, I only bring my film camera with me on big trips. It helps me to stay in the moment. And when the film comes back, it kind of feels like Christmas.
