Solvang, Danish Heart of America..

Nikolai

Little Europe in the middle of the Southern California.



It also hosts Santa Ines Mission.

If you have half a day to spare - you won't regret it!

I had a chance to visit it on my way to Yosemite.

The original settlers had to cover a pretty long distance:



They have recreated their homeland style of housing:



Lovely rooftops:







Town is fairly small, but in case you're lost:



Buildings vary in size:



Shape:



And Style:



Central part of the town features both "european" narrow passages:





and wide open streets:



Homage to a great writer:



Two great countries together:



Hope you like the journey:



The rest of the pictures is here.

Cheers!:1drink

Dee

Great tour
I've never stopped at Solvang, now I may have to. That's the best kept windmill I've seen :-)

An interesting challenge for architectural photos, you did good

USAIR

Nik
Cool town and architecture also
You did a good job showing us this town
Love the storks too

Thanks
Fred

WaterfallRich

nice series, Nik!
Those are excellent - great color, composition and clarity.

Angelo

Great set Nikolai. Makes me want to drive up again one day soon for some of the delicious food and pastries of the many restaurants.

Angelo

Angelo wrote:

Great set Nikolai. Makes me want to drive up again one day soon for some of the delicious food and pastries of the many restaurants.

If you haven't yet been, drive east over the mountains into Santa Ynez. An absolutely beautiful valley full of vineyards, horse farms and of course, great restaurants.

Nikolai

Thanks, Dee!

Dee wrote:

I've never stopped at Solvang, now I may have to. That's the best kept windmill I've seen :-)

They are much better in Hollland (as Michiel would confirm), but hey, it was only 3 hour drive from LA:-)

Dee wrote:

An interesting challenge for architectural photos, you did good

Thanks, ma'am, appreciate the compliment!
Although now I can see that I screwed up in post..
I didn't see it at home, but it's pretty obvious at work..:cry
Oh well, I keep learning!

Cheers!

Nikolai

Thanks, Fred!

USAIR wrote:

Cool town and architecture also
You did a good job showing us this town
Love the storks too
Thanks
Fred

I wish the storks were real.. Oh well, I got away with what I could:-)

Cheers!

Nikolai

Thanks, Rich!

WaterfallRich wrote:

Those are excellent - great color, composition and clarity.

Appreciate your comment!
Speaking of clarity...
I had to remove a few wires here and there in PS. Also, since it was a bright sunny day, I did some additional PS work to make it more presentable, otherwise it would be a washed out sky or totaly dark buildings.
But I'm glad I managed to reach the desired effect:-)
Cheers!

Nikolai

Thanks, Angelo!

Angelo wrote:

Great set Nikolai. Makes me want to drive up again one day soon for some of the delicious food and pastries of the many restaurants.

Great place for that, no doubt about it. I enjoyed my time there, even though I was kinda "on a run"..
Cheers!

Nikolai

Santa Ynez

Angelo wrote:

If you haven't yet been, drive east over the mountains into Santa Ynez. An absolutely beautiful valley full of vineyards, horse farms and of course, great restaurants.

I actually drove there (the road goes through a little indian reservation with a huge casino building:-), but I didn't spend much time over there. But I must agree, it's a nice and very scenic place, reminds me of Napa Valley a bit

Cheers!