Joe Benning Photography

Travel & Photo Blog

  •   Reston, VA

Tallin, Estonia

Tallinn may be the most beautiful city you’ve never heard of. The capital of Estonia, Tallinn is a small city in a small country with a turbulent history, particularly with respect to relations with Russia. On our walking tour of the city our guide noted that for Estonia, “NATO is everything”.  There are about 1.5 […]

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More on Three Days in St Petersburg

Among the many mind boggling things to contemplate is the fact that the Russian aristocracy didn’t just have one enormous and opulently decorated and designed palace. They had several of them; each one elaborate and ornate. In fact Catherine actually put a halt to all the gold being used to decorate her palace that had […]

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Three Days in St Petersburg

The Summer Palace, Peterhof, Russia It would take years to see all there is to see in St Petersburg; actually it would take years just to see just the important stuff. So we picked our spots and saw all we could, including the winter and summer palaces. This post includes photos taken at the summer […]

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Helsinki, Finland

Helsinki, with the highest urban standard of living in the world, is, not surprisingly, one of the most livable cities in the world. It is refreshingly clean; the architecture is magnificent; the city is very walkable and friendly to tourists. With its metropolitan area population of 1.25 million people it is the third largest municipality […]

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Banff, Canada

Banff is nestled in the Canadian Rockies in Alberta, Canada. It is a place of spectacular beauty, which may explain the proliferation of one of the banes of modern life. I refer to that most horrid of devices: The Selfie Stick. It seems like everyone in Banff has at least one, ever ready to snap […]

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On to England

After spending some time in Ireland doing some sightseeing and visiting family, we made our way over to England to visit (and stay with) with our good friends Michael and Sally Oxlade who live in the country side. They were kind enough to take us on a 2-day whirlwind tour that included Winchester Cathedral, Highclere […]

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Wasting Away in Margaritaville

Well, here we are in Key West, Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville, also known as the Conch Republic. It is quite a scene. In some respects, it bears a faint resemblance to Nashville’s honky-tonk scene. There are lots of bars and restaurants with working musicians playing guitars looking for a break. Like Jimmy Buffet. But Key West […]

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St. Bart’s: Land of the Rich and Famous

St. Bart’s, St. Barth’s, St. Bartholomew—take your pick, the names are used interchangeably—is one of the 4 islands that make up the French West Indies. The other three are Martinique, Guadeloupe, and the French side of St. Martin. Most notably, St. Bart’s is where the beautiful people come and play, including the likes of Leonardo […]

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