Well Worth A Look (GREAT SCRAPBOOK)

Tony,

Thanks for posting! I'd forgotten about the Scrapbooks but will have a look as I really like perusing good photos.

Well thanks Tony and Ken very much for your endorsement of our Scrapbook entry. I appreciate you guys mentioning it in your post above, that's very kind of you. I am glad you are enjoying it! For about 95% of the photos I was using an Olympus Digital SLR E-500 model. The remaining photos (mostly either some of the candid or the wide landscape shots) were just taken with an iPhone.

Thanks again for commenting on our Scrapbook!

Gord

Hi Gord,

I agree you had some beautiful shots! What lens(es) did you use on the E-500 for the wide angle shots?

I would love to find a point-shoot size camera with a extra wide lens(like 2-20-I know that's not a standard lens range; I'm just saying I'd like somewhere in that range).. Oh well. I don't think the technology is there yet.

: ) Thanks!

The really wide - pano shots were taken with the iPhone believe it or not! The lens on the Olympus is pretty much a standard zoom lens of 14-45mm.

Gord

Gord I really enjoyed your scrapbook. My husband and I will be taking the 21 day tour starting April 19th and see your scrapbook just made me more excited.

Found it! Here's the page that begins their scrapbook:
http://oldworldcharmofeurope.weebly.com/
Gord and Julie, fantastic photos! Enjoyed this very much! Tony, thanks for posting!

On the Rothenburg page, food photographs...I'll have one of everything, please!

On to Bavaria; the perfect meal, schnitzel with potatoes, crepes, Austrian coffee and apple strudel.

Sign me up for that trip!

Every page of your scrapbook I looked at, I was saying "Wow!" The scenery was gorgeous, and your photos captured the beauty of it all.

Gord & Julie, looks like you get several votes for scrapbook of the 2014 season. Hope you win a big trip. Could not believe those wide angle shots were from an I-phone. Great job on the scrapbook and thanks for all the great shots and the work that went into the scrapbook. Like Rebecca said, I wanted to eat all the way through the book. Also, thanks for the camera info.

That was terrific; really enjoyed it, especially the happy event at the end (which I won't spoil for anyone else who may check it out).

Gord and Julie, as mentioned, your photos are amazing.

Well once again - thanks to all of you here in this forum that have enjoyed our scrapbook. We really didn't expect that it would gain this kind of attention! Julie and I are thrilled that you have all enjoyed it as much as you have. Thanks again!

Gord

Gord and Julie - oh my gosh, your scrapbook was so wonderful and what lovely memories you have made! Thank you so much for a pre-tour delight for all of us traveling this year. To be able to see the adventure ahead whets the appetite!

Wow, I LOVE this scrapbook! Thanks so much for pointing it out, Tony! I just sighed longingly as I flipped through it... and I didn't know that the giant reddish bowl in the Vatican Museum was Nero's bathtub! I'd always wondered what that was...

What a lovely job on this. Personally, I think it's a winner. And this may have just convinced me that my next Rick Steves tour is going to be Europe in 21 Days! You really get a sense of the actual tour -- not just the places -- from this one. Love love love it.

One note though: the name is spelled Michelangelo, not Michael Angelo. Then again, I'm ridiculously picky. ;o)

Thanks Allora and Nance for your comments - much appreciated! I made the correction to the spelling error - thanks for pointing that out! We've been over and over the text several times trying to make sure we spelled all the names correctly - that one slipped by us - but we appreciate it being pointed out!

Gord

Gord, I hadn't had time to look at your scrapbook til now. Wonderful! I loved my BOE...looks like you had clearer weather but mine was cooler. I loved Switzerland too! So funny that you had Rolinka. I had her for Heart of Paris which I did after the BOE. She is so neat. Loved touring with her. I think I ate at a couple of the same places in Paris...recognized Rue Cler and L'As du Falafel. It brought back such fun memories for me. I loved the whole thing as well...the itinerary, the other tour members, the guide...everything! Thanks for sharing and Thanks to Tony for pointing it out.

Terrific report and pictures, Gord and Julie! I really enjoyed it.

What a great way to spend an afternoon - being taken on the 21 Day Best of Europe trip with Gord and Julie! I really enjoyed reading your scrapbook - I totally felt like I was there! Having just come back from Paris, it was wonderful reliving some of our favorite places, like sitting at the tip of the Ile de la Cite having a drink and watching the sunset! Thanks for taking the time and effort to create such a beautiful scrapbook for all of us to enjoy!

I thoroughly enjoyed "taking" the BOE tour with Gord and Julie. I have been on eight RS tours but not the Best of Europe tour. By the way, Dale was on another RS tour that I took. While I have not kept in touch with him, I was excited to read the exciting news.

Loved this scrap book,, great pictures!! And loved the back story!

Wow! So glad you are all enjoying our Scrapbook! Reading all your comments brings back such great memories and spurs us on to plan the next trip! Hmmmm......where to next?

Gord, everyone that has looked at the scrapbook has enjoyed it and if it happens to win the contest, well you can take anyone of Rick's tours free for one person. That is a big savings for any trip. We had our first travel meeting in Nashville on 1/30 and I talked a lot about the Germany, Austria, Switzerland tour I had taken a few years ago. Rebecca and George were very interested in the tour and then when they saw the pictures from your scrapbook of those areas, well they are getting ready to book the GAS tour for May. Many people look at all or most of the posts on the site, so I knew you would get lots of great responses from your scrapbook. The scrapbook that won the 2013 prize was also very good but I thought your pictures were much better. Debating now on that camera you used. If I had a few of those pictures on my camera, they would have already been blown up to 15x20 and on my office wall. Good luck in the scrapbook contest. You get my vote, but sorry it won't help with the judges.

Gord & Julie, thanks so much for a wonderful trip down memory lane! I took this tour in 2008 and looking through your scrapbook, I felt like I was there again. It is great - from the pictures to the dialogue, so much fun. Good luck in the contest!!

Thanks everyone again for your comments. Even if we don't win we enjoyed putting this together and it was worth the effort just to have had this experience here in this forum which was totally unexpected! I went to look at the scrapbook page on the RS website the other day and was very surprised to see 60 entries this year! Many of them are also excellent scrapbooks as well. Must be quite a job for the judges to sort through all those entries. Happy travels everyone!

With a possible first prize worth over $4000, I would expect hundreds of entries. Sixty entries only equates to just over a total of the people on 4 tours if everyone was a couple. Think Rick's company averages about 10,000 people a year on his tours. Imagine most people have the same problem I would have trying to put something like that together. There are some really great scrapbooks entries this year. I have not checked them all out but have looked at about 12 of them. Gord, I still like yours very much and wish you good luck in the contest.

Yes, there are a lot of wonderful scrapbooks this year (and previously, too!). I think these are all a great resource for tour information and represent a lot of hard work!

Congratulations to the winners! You lucky travelers, you!

GORD AND JULIE CONGRATULATIONS. Just saw where your scrapbook won the 2014 1st Prize. Maybe my post did some good after all. Everyone that looked at it thought it was great. A great scrapbook and what a wonderful prize you won. Have you decided what tour you will take? I picked yours as first place and even had a couple the others as possible winners. Again, congratulations to you both.
Tony

Congratulations to our tour buddies Gord and Julie. We can't think of anyone more deserving to win. It was a pleasure and a privilege to get to know you on our RS BOE 21 day tour.
Love JoAnn & Sarah

Thanks for the congratulations! I was just about to come in here and announce to this group that we had won - but some of you already found out before I could do that! We were contacted on Monday this past week and were advised by the Rick Steves office that we were co-winners with another entry and I've been holding off going public with that until the RS office made their announcement. Thanks so much to all of you here who posted comments. I'm told that these remarks posted here in this forum did come to the attention of the contest judges - so THANK-YOU to all of you for endorsing our entry while the contest was still underway. As I mentioned earlier we certainly did not expect your interest and your comments, but we are appreciative of them. So now we have some planning to do......we're thinking 2016 spring break (Julie is a teacher so our vacations are tied to the school calendar) - perhaps Greece or Turkey! I'll let you all know by posting here once we have it figured out!

Here is the link to the page announcing the winners:
https://www.ricksteves.com/tours/scrapbooks/contest-winners

All the best to you all...and Happy Travels!

Gord

Congratulations. It is an excellent scrapbook and a well deserved win.

Gord and Julie: Your scrapbook is lovely and informative! The pictures are terrific! Congratulations!

I just spent the last few hours going through your wonderful scrapbook. The photos are beautiful, with a real eye for capturing local color. Congratulations on your win! Looking forward to your next scrapbook!

I have to agree. We just went through your scrapbook an am very excited to take our BOE 21 day trip leaving July both. We live just down the freeway from you and it is nice to see a fellow Canadian enjoyed the trip. Looking so forward to getting away.
Thanks for effort you put into it.