December Ramblings: Thinking of Paris. No Driving around Europe for Seniors? Travelling with the new 61 megapixel Sony A7RIV (paired with iconic Leica M10)

Christmas Day in Paris last year , but this year Transport Strikes

In the news I read that Paris main tourist’s attractions are closed this week because of the transport strike against increasing retirement age and other demands. This is sad for tourists coming to celebrate Christmas in the city of lights.

We have been caught in similar strikes. In the 80’s we had to cut short our stay and rushed to the airport luckily got out of Rome in time before they closed the airport and in the early 2000 we also got out of Paris before the strike went into effect.

It is sad for Paris, but glad the strike is happening this year and not last year. We spent Christmas and New Year last year in Paris. We enjoyed Christmas eve dinner at the Eiffel tower, Christmas day dinner cruise at the Seine, Christmas day morning stroll at Tuilleries garden and evening mass at Eglise Magdelene.

Looking into Arc de Triomphe and Place de Concourse

Evening Mass at the Church of Mary Magdalene

No Rental cars for those younger than 25 years and older than 75 years old.

We loved travelling on our own. We dont like joining group tours, we enjoy DIY tours. Touring on our own, we can have flexible schedules not dictated by tour group schedules that many times starts very early in the morning, even requiring that you leave your lugagges in the corridor by midnight. The bus stops only on scheduled designated areas favored by the driver and tour guide, mostly tourist’s traps.

When we travel, we prefer to drive on rented cars/vans. We have driven around France, Italy, Spain. Driving on or own, we selected the places to stop, spending as much time to take photos, dine, even picnic and to sleep, staying as long as we want and driving at our own time schedules, typically after a heavy breakfast, not earlier than 10am.

Three weeks ago, I booked a nicely priced travel package, one that is unescorted and on your own. It was for a quick vacation to Italy for our birthdays next month. When I was making the payment and final booking, I learned the rental car company will not insure me because I will be 76 years old by January. This in effect prevents me from renting the car. I knew there are places, like Ireland, that will not rent cars for 75 years old and older. But this rule is not published in Italian rental car sites. It seems the car rental company, chosen by Gate 1, implements their own rules to bar senior people from driving their cars.

I rebooked a new vacation for next month and sadly will be taking the train. We have done touring around countries by train, In Spain we made Madird as our hub to visit nearby towns of Segovia and Toledo, then train to Cordoba, Sevilla, Granada, ending in Barcelona.

Train travel can be convenient too, but requires lugging your bags between train stations and hotels, limited stops along the way, and long wait times at stations.

Getting in and out of trains is not easy. On a train ride from Geneva to Lyon, our first class seats where on the upper deck and climbing the stairs with month’s worth of luggages was not easy. I had to leave our luggages at the lower level unattended( I have a hack, I bring a bicycle lock so the two large locked luggages are tied together, not easy to steal at train stops)

Now without our car, from Milan we could not stop by Verona the fictional town of Romeo and Juliet and Padua, to visit the basilica of my patron saint, San Antonio.

Driving to Venice is a short 3 hour drive, with the rental car we could easily spend a day in the surrounding towns including Lake Como. Now we have to join a group tour that will take us for a day at the lakeshore town, mandated by the group schedules and stops.

Taking the train means we have to take a taxi and plus train transport from Airport to Milan city center and back, carry our luggages and take a taxi from hotel to train stations and back. And be at the station one hour before schedule. Milan to Venice train via Bologna is faster than driving

I am now looking at our September vacation and hope I can still rent a car in Germany.

Without a car in Munich, we have to join group tours to visit the Bavarian castles, spend hours waiting at trains stations and taxis to hotels and back. The train travel alone is longer by 5 hours plus the wait times of at least another 5 hours. 10 hours lost.

Driving 16 hours 8 minutes, Train 21 hours and 10 minutes, plus all the witing at the stations, taxi from and to hotels.

Sony A7RIV, 61 Megapixels, Voted the Best camera of 2019

In September the new Sony full frame mirrorless camera with high resolution of 61 megapixel Sony A7R Mark IV became available. I was able to receive my camera with the first shipment,

I was one of the many early adopters of the Sony full frame camera. I have been shooting the Sony A7R now for five years. The A7R became available on Dec 8, 2013, like me, many Canon (and even Nikon) full frame shooters have converted to Sony.

First lights of the Sony A7RIV

I am looking forward to taking this new camera to Venice together with the Leica M10 to shoot this lovely city I last visited 37 years ago.

Venice 1981, with the Leica M3 film camera. Scanned prints.

Read the evolution of my travel cameras in this blog https://tonyniev.wordpress.com/2017/03/06/the-evolution-of-my-travel-camera/

The new Sony A7RIV have many new innovations,ahead of other brands and since 1983, Sony have also introduced many more sharp lenses with their full frame cameras. Other lens manufacturers – Sigma, Tamron, Voiglnader, Zeiss, Samyang, Artisan, have also introduced Sony Full Frame lenses.

I tested the many technologies, like the continuous autofocus, on this camera at a recent airshow, The 2019 Aviation Nation at Nellis airbase, home of the USAF Thunderbirds and here are a few images from Nov 16, 2019. I am very happy with the results.

Me at the airshow with the Sony A7RIV and 100-400 mm lnes, (as a back up I also used the 10 year old Canon 5D2 with 100-400 mm lens.