Maybe you can guess from my avatar that I think it is Washington D.C. But, I am looking for a new adventure. The landscape guys gave me some great ideas, now it's your turn. I have 9 days and $5,000 for the trip of a lifetime. Thanks, Derek
Throw a dart on a map. The decision is yours if you want to mould it into a trip of a lifetime. Any place on this earth (or not) is worth the exploration.
Just as a photo is not taken, it is made. A trip is not taken....
Fly to Stockholm (8hr layover take Arlane express to old town 20min ride)
Catch you connecting flight to Tallinn Estonia 45 min flight. Spend 2 days in old town Tallinn.
Take Ferry to Helsinki (45min ride $25.00 spend one day there)
Catch flight from Tallinn to St Petersburg
St Petersburg to Moscow
On the way back get a flight with 8 hour layover in Paris and take taxi
Come Back to the states
As a Swede I find Stockholm a bit bland for the photography this time a year. Summer is really nice tho.
Before moving to Japan we went Paris-Strasbourg-(Bern)-Milano-Venice-Firenze(+Piza)-Rome-Barcelona. There are madly spectacular views, specially while crossing Alps from Switzerland to Italy. Surely, going by car you can snap tons of quality shots...
Whatever is interesting to you and looks the freshest seems to be the one to see, and the one where you see... i agree with night86mare too, for the same reason.
Most photogenic city in the world? I'm not sure there's a definitive answer to that question. It depends on what you are interested in. There can't be many people who have visited every city in the world to get a fair opinion from either!
Here's 10 suggestions for a city based day trip, most of which I've visited, the rest of which I intend to.
Each combination of cities are close enough to each other and could be done in very motivated 9 days, excluding getting from DC and back
(in no particular order)
Delhi, Agra, Jaipur
Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Hiroshima
Venice, Rome
Vienna, Budapest
Helsinki, Tallinn, St. Petersburg
Hong Kong, Shanghai
Havana, Panama City
Cairo, Istanbul
Paris, Prague
Sydney, Melbourne
Can only speak for my experiences - I agree you can throw a dart and pick the right time of the year for that area and make it world class.
Tokyo offers everything you can dream if you travel the surrounding areas over 10 days. Cityscapes, landscapes, street photography, you name it. There are great threads in FM giving details. I was stationed south of Tokyo for two years and never lacked for photographic opportunities.
I also agree that Sydney and surrounding areas or Singapore or Hong Kong are great cities although Hong Kong would be last on my list because the pollution is bad and can cause days without good light.
From my list, Sydney and Singapore are easiest because English is prevelant. Tokyo would be my first choice but hotels are very expensive there making it less of a value. Mass transit is easiest in Japan but excellent in Singapore and HK as well. Sydney requires bus passes or cabs.
barcelona spain, take ferries to mallorca, ballearic islands, or to italy
landscapes, italy, cinque terre, tuscany, umbria
2nd choice city, rome
another option for dramatic coastlines, fly to marseille, take the train east along the riviera to italy, stopping for a full day in monaco, maybe overnight in villefranche sur mer, it's only a 4 stop 17 minute ride to monaco, around italian coast to cinque terre, for a couple days then train on up to switzerland for a couple days with a train pass
Thanks to all of you for your suggestions, now I wish I had 90 days and $100,000. there are some great ideas here, and I am leaning towards Helsinki, Tallinn, and St. Petersburg, but thanks to all of your ideas it is going to be a very difficult decision. Derek
