Benfeld, Alsace

Benfeld is a small town about 35km (25 miles) south of Strasbourg, its history goes back over 6000 years but it was largely distroyed towards the end of the last war by the Germans as they pulled out. I took these while walking around the town.


Details: Benfeld, Alsace, Eastern France
29/12/05, 15:23
Canon 20D, ISO-100, RAW
1/6 sec @ f22
20-35mm 2.8L @ 32mm
Tripod


Details: Benfeld, Alsace, Eastern France
31/12/05, 15:04
Canon 20D, ISO-1600, RAW
1/80th sec @ f5.6
20-35mm 2.8L @ 25mm
Hand held


Details: Benfeld, Alsace, Eastern France
31/12/05, 16:00
Canon 20D, ISO-1600, RAW
1/25th sec @ f2.8
20-35mm 2.8L @ 20mm
Hand held

Strasbourg by night

Strasbourg by day or night is a beautiful city, one of the largest cities in France and the capital of the richest area after Paris. Strasbourg is on the French/German boarder by the Rhine which divides the Schwarzwald (Black Forest) to the east and the Vosges mountains to the west.
Strasbourg has changed "hands" between the Germans and the French several times over the last few hundred years, the people have always been French but many still speak Alsacien/Elsässisch, a German dialect. The French are on their fifth republic and that constitution states that the official language of France is French however Alsacien has finally been added to the official list of languages of France.

Alsace is famous for it's cooking and wine, bäckeoffe, tartes flambées (flammeküche) and choucroute are amongst the local specialities, usually washed down with an excellent glass of "Vin d'Alsace", the most famous of which is Gewürztraminer. Another produce I really shouldn't forget is the excellent beer, strasbourg is the home of two well known beers (Kronenbourg 1664 and Fischer) it is France's biggest beer producing area.

So, to the photos. I took these one evening between Christmas and New Year, it started snowing on boxing day (26th) and the temperature dropped to -11C (12F) at night. It snowed a little for several days leaving several inches of snow by the end of the week.


Details: Strasbourg, Alsace, Eastern France
27/12/05, 22:49
Canon 20D, ISO-100, RAW
1 sec @ f4.0
20-35mm 2.8L @ 25mm
Tripod

Notre-Dame de Strasbourg, the cathedral, is probably one of the most spectacular in the world, started in 1015, it took over 600 years to complete (probably down to the 35 hour week) and as you can see it's still missing a spire. It was the tallest building in the world for over 400 years. Sadly it's very difficult to get a clear shot of the front due to nearby buildings. The front façade is incredibly complex, it's not hard to imagine what they spent 600 years doing.


Details (both): Strasbourg, Alsace, Eastern France
27/12/05, 22:45
Canon 20D, ISO-100, RAW
4 sec @ f5.6
20-35mm 2.8L @ 20mm
Tripod


Details: Strasbourg, Alsace, Eastern France
27/12/05, 23:12
Canon 20D, ISO-100, RAW
10 secs @ f11
20-35mm 2.8L @ 35mm
Tripod

Kitten

I spent Christmas and New Year in Alsace, one of the cats had had kittens a few weeks earlier, this is one of them, my youngest son Pierre (nearly 3) absolutely loved them.


Details: Benfeld, Alsace, Eastern France
25/12/05, 11:18
Canon 20D, ISO-100, RAW
1/250 sec @ f2.8
70-200mm 2.8L @ 155mm
Hand held, built-in flash