GRD II, f2.4, 1/30, ISO 183, RAW, 40mm
GRD II, f3.5, 1/500, ISO 400, RAWThe weather got better and we had a very hot and sunny day today. With the weather my pictures also got better ;). On my way home I stopped by the Tate Modern to take some pictures and then on the way to London Bridge there was a Spanish festival at Borough Market. This was a great opportunity to take pictures and also enjoy some of the free Paella and Sangria they had there.
It was pretty crowded so at first I had the 40mm lens on the camera but switched to 21mm and later to only 28mm for better shots.
Since my recent pictures were not so much to my liking I decided to post 2 pictures from today.
I have had the luck/chance to travel quite a bit around Europe, and the one thing that is clear in my mind is that european fellows tend to have a nice opinion about us spaniards ,even when they tend to take the piss out of us a bit ( the silly Manuel from the british comedy show "Fawlty towers", which I actually found hilarious, comes to mind).
ReplyDeleteBut as I stated before, Spain is a country of strong topics. Bullfighting (which a lot of people , myself included, find an anachronism, a barbaric and cruel tradition, not apropiate for a modern european country), and then the eternall topic of "sangria and paella". Don´t get me wrong, I love paella and sangria, but they are not precisely the most representative things from our culture, and probably more a "cheapish" menu we have been feeding turists with for decades..(which obviously doesn´t say much in favour of a country that has an economy that relies very much in the touristic industry)
Please, don´t get me wrong, I don´t mean to be patronizing, I am trying to do an exersice of self-criticism her. My point is that very sadly it is out fault, because we have been very unsuccesfull in promoting our very rich gastronomicall culture outside of our country,(leaving the everlasting tapas aside..).
Now, sorry for my rambling essay..back to photography!! Where the guys in the picture spanish?
Erik
Erik, you are right and I am aware that Paella and Sangria are not the best that the Spanish cuisine has to offer but they are most assosciated with the country and were mostly represented there, along with some Spanish wine. The Pealla was actually pretty good considering it was free :). Unfortunatelly an event like this does not do too much to show others the facettes of the Spanish cuisine. To their defense though they did promote different kinds of food but not as well as the Paella.
ReplyDeleteOverall the Spanish are better regarded than Germans or English when you travel through Europe.
The 3 guys in the first picture were Spanish. As for the other picture, this guy was probably British. I used the picture since I liked the look he gave my GRD II ;).
The atmosphere of the first photograph is excellent Cristi.
ReplyDeleteThese folkore festivals tend to give a tourist view of a country. I sense you Erik that Spain, like other European countries, is a country of strong topics. You name bullfighting for instance, but I also think of the civil war and the Franco regime.
But it is often funny what we think of each others. The British and Swedish drink all day on a holiday. The Germans digg holes in the beach like a bunker. An Italian with his hand pointing down is a dead Italian. The NL sign on Dutch cars means "Nur Links" (only left) driving.
The great thing about Europe is that we are full of history, but we know so little about each other.
You are certainly right Wouter but I lived in 4 countries (if you don't count Scotland and England just as the UK) and traveled through Europe. There are is definitely a little bit of truth about everything said about the various countries. It might apply only to a handfull people but these people are easier to spot ;).
ReplyDeleteThe NL for "Nur Links" is new, I lived in Germany near Düsseldorf for 13 years but never heard of it before. However the Dutch were famous for driving in packs through Germany with their Wohnwagen (caravans) during holiday season.
The Germans do mark their place with towels while complaining about things that are not the same as home while on holiday.
The British do drink a lot but not only on holiday ;).
While some people get offended by this I think it's an important part of the culture and the great thing about living in Europe. Europe has a lot of countries and cultures that are (sometimes) very different and a nice contrast to each other. Each country has it's own peculiarties but this is part of the charm.
That makes me proud of being an European. The diversity and complexity are intriguing. More and more I feel Europe is my homeland. Not an ethnical homeland, but an ethical one. It goes beyond saying I'm Dutch.
ReplyDeleteWow, interesting discussion!!
ReplyDeleteI was a touristic guide for nearly 10 years. brittish tought me how to take the piss from germans with their "bouncing towels", and beach bunker stuff, and the simple mentioning of "two world wars and three world cups.." could get a britt. cracking..
Britts are famous for the drinking ( I´m afraid that´s a stigma they´ll carry till the end of times, even when the truth is that we all probably drink as badly when on hollidays..). They are also famous for sticking out toghether and hanging around in the 400 million british pubs around the world..
Dutch: friendly and polite, but tight with the money...
French: A bit arrogant and really VERY (maybe too) proud of their country and culture..
Italian: noisy (that, I´m afraid is something we spaniards share..maybe the latin roots) and hard to satisfy (specially when it comes to food..)
Scandinavian: They will say yes, silently, just by moving their heads up and down and then they´ll do just the opposite (just as silently..). That is if you ever notice they were there at all..
Spanish: Friendly, noisy, lazy buggers that move slowly under their burning sun and that never finish whatever they start..
And I could go on, but those are just topics, and the truth is that I met beautifull people from all places (and discusting ones too).
Those strong topics are maybe due to the strong cultural heritage we europeans have, with a long, torrid and rich history. But Europe is changing fast with the inclusion of the new countries of the west that have been so close to us but were kept like a secret as a result of the terrible comunist regimes.
It will be interesting to see what that, toghether with the growing influences of the cultures from the south and west do to our european identity, that i sometimes think could do very well with some fresh air..( as long as we don´t start celebrating the fourth of july and we forget about Halloween..) ;-)
Erik
I agree with both of you and it is a very interesting topic to discuss.
ReplyDeleteThe diversity is what makes Europe so special.
At the same time we should not forget that at the end of the day we are all the same and should just be open minded and take all the stereotypes with a laugh since there is some truth to them.
Our country is the place we live in at the moment and our nationality is part of how we are. Neither really defines a person.