We took our 15-year anniversary trip to Amboise, France. This is the most charming town.
Castle? Oui.
Winding cobblestone streets? Oui.
Meandering river? Oui.
Hot air balloons floating lazily over the town? Oui.
Beautiful storefronts? Oui.
Amazing food? Mais, bien sur!
Romantic streets named something like Beautiful Chicken? Even that.
I love Google Maps. It has helped me reconnect with several places in the pictures that I have been editing. I managed to find the street below on Google Maps, and it’s name is: Rue Belle Poule. Beautiful Hen Street. And something new I learned tonight: Poule, in French, means ‘chicken’ if it’s referring to cuisine, and ‘hen’ if it’s referring to the animal. La langue francaise est si belle.

The original was a great memory but I added some feeling to it. I messed around for about thirty minutes with cloning out the power lines (and having to eliminate the chimney as well because of my lack of skill); softening up the whole scene but then adding sharpness back to the bushes and roof. Applying two of the same adjustment brushes to the street to make it look just so. Adjusting the color of the street ever so slightly so it was a little more yellow than blue. But it still didn’t have the look I wanted. Coffeshop Blog to the rescue. I applied her Velvet Butter Lightroom Preset over all that I had done and came up with the above. I love her work.
~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~