Back and first birthday for the blog!

Y por fin estoy de vuelta!!! Ha costado, pero parece que el ordenador vuelve a su ser... Entretanto este blog ha cumplido un añito, muchas gracias a todos los que lo seguís!!!

And at last I am back! Not easily, but finally it seems my computer is back to work again. In the meantime, this blog has just turned a year old, thank you so much to all those who read it!!!

Coming back soon, I hope

Hi! Just to let you know that because of a very intelligent virus that has infected my computer I don't know for how long I won't be able to post, just hope I can find a solution for it soon.

Hola! Entro solo para informar de que voy a estar varios días sin actualiza a causa de un virus super majo que se ha instalado en mi ordenador, espero poder arreglarlo pronto...

Miami: Tenerife Reflecting Point

Una de las curiosidades que encontré en Miami fue esta placa conmemorando el hermanamiento de Tenerife y el Condado de Miami-Dade, cosa que desconocía. Creo que en Tenerife hay otra. Este esta en una zona muy bonita, al lado de una pequeña playa en la que se practica kite-surf. Cuando estuve all í  hab í a una pareja haciéndose fotos por su boda. Os dejo con algunas fotos del lugar...

A very curious thing I found while in Miami was this plaque celebrating the sisterhip between Tenerife and Miami-Dade County, of which I was completely unaware of. It hink there is another plaque in Tenerife. This one is located at a very nice area, just next to the water where people were kite-surfing. When I was there there was a couple of newly weds being photographed.

St John's Eve 2012

Os dejo con las poquitas fotos que me han quedado medianamente decentes de la noche de San Juan, hogueras y fuegos artificiales. No es que estas sean estupendas pero es que la mayoría de las fotos de los fuegos artificiales han sido un gran conjunto de desencuadres, desenfoques, fotos en negro con un punto de luz asomando por la esquina, etc. :) Necesito más practica.

Here I leave to you the very few pictures that look more or less good, or at least the ones I am not terribly embarrassed to upload, from the ones I took last night int he celebrations of St John's Eve. Not that they are very good as you will see, but most of the ones I took have resulted into a combination of motin blur, poor composition, pictures totally black but for a blurry point of light saying hello at a corner, etc. :) Definitely I need more practicising.

LAS HOGUERAS/THE BONFIRES

LOS FUEGOS ARTIFICIALES/ THE FIREWORKS

Estas fueron sin duda las mas difíciles, era como ir "cazando" luces con la cámara. Os dejo algunas con composiciones como veréis "interesantes".

These were the most diffcult without a doubt, I felt like I was "hunting" lights with my camera. Here I leave you with some "interesting" compositions.

St John's Eve/Midsummer

Este fin de semana será la noche de San Juan, el 23 o el 24 segun el lugar de España en que estés. Se trata de una fiesta con mucha tradición y costumbres y ritos que varían en cada localidad, pero que suelen tener el denominador común de las hogueras. En muchos otros lugares de Europa se celebra unos días antes, la noche del solsticio de verano (20 o 21 de junio). Claramente el origen de todas estas fiestas parece ser este, la entrada del verano. 

¿Qué es lo típico en vuestro país o ciudad en San Juan o Midsummer? A mi me encantaría estar en algún lugar cerca del mar. Me llaman mucho más la atención las hogueras sobre la arena que sobre el asfalto, definitivamente. En cualquier caso trataré de acercarme a alguna de las que se organizan donde vivo, aunque me parece que saltar por encima… quizá en otra vida :)

This weekend we will be having St John's Eve festivities or Midsummer, celebrated on the night of the 23^rd or 24^thJune depending on where in Spain you are. It is a very traditional festivity in Spain, with customs and rites that vary a lot in the different regions, but with the bonfires as the common factor. In many other places in Europe this is celebrated a few days before, at the summer solstice (20^th or 21^st June). Clearly the start of the summer seems to be the origin of all these festivities. 

What is typical in your country/city at St John’s night or Midsummer? I would love to be somewhere by the sea to celebrate. Definitely I feel more attracted by bonfires in the sand than over asphalt.  Anyway I will try to go see some of those that will be made where I live, but about jumping over them…. maybe in some other life :)

Art Déco in Miami

Quizá  una de las cosas que más me gustó de Miami (Miami Beach en este caso)  fueron sus preciosos edificios de estilo Art Déco. Para mi el calor era infernal, y eso que no era la peor época (mayo) y no recuerdo el paseo a plena luz del día como algo precisamente maravilloso, pero debo decir que mereció  la pena solo por esto. Eso si, de noche, con las luces, aunque distinto, también es interesante y mucho más agradable en cuanto a temperaturas se refiere...(ay, esa brisa...) Os dejo con algunas de las fotos que hice.

Perhaps one of the things I liked the most about Miami -Miami Beach in this case-was this: its gorgeous Art Déco Buildings. To me, the heat there was like hell, even if it was not the worst time of the year (May) and I don't really have a nice memory of this walk, but I must say it was worth it just because of this. Anyway, at night, with lights and the cool breeze it was very nice and also interesting, if different. Here I leave you with some of the pictures I took.

Still here :)

Hola, escribo este post para dar señales de vida,  estoy un poco liadilla y no he podido actualizar pero espero hacerlo dentro de poco.

¡Nos vemos! 

Hi! Just to say I am still here, just terribly busy these days, I will try to publish a post soon.

See you soon!

Gorgeous beaches: Comillas, Cantabria

Y esta es la famosa playa que atrajo a nobles y burgueses, del mismo nombre que el pueblo, Playa de Comillas, de arena fina y con bandera azul. Está en el mismo pueblo y muy cerquita también se encuentra la Playa de Oyambre, perteneciente al Parque Natural de Oyambre.

No tuve oportunidad de bañarme pero imagino que en verano será muy apetecible...

And this is the famous beach sharing the name with the place, the large Playa de Comillas, a blue flag beach with fine and golden sand. This one is in town, and very close you will also find the Playa de Oyambre, belonging to the Natural Park of Oyambre.

I did not have a chance to swim, but I guess it will be very nice in summer...

Lego in Copenhagen, Denmark

A place to dream and being a child at least for a while... Some pictures from the Lego shop in Copenhagen, I would have stayed to play for hours :)

Copenhagen

The Black Diamond (The Royal Library)

Streets of Copenhagen

Architecture in Comillas, Cantabria

Ver mapa más grande

Some days ago I was writing on this gorgeous English-style house in Comillas, and I mentioned it contrasted with the rest of the villas, mainly Modernist, that were built when spending the summer in Comillas became fashionable, after King Alfonso XII spend his summer holidays there, invited by the Marquis of Comillas. This first Marquis of Comillas, Antonio López y López was a key person for the history of the town. Born in Comillas to a very humble family in 1817, he migrated like so many others with the dream of prospering to the Americas, and fortuned smiled at him in Cuba. He returned wealthy to Barcelon, Spain, where he continued his different enterprises, among them the foundation of the Compañía Trasatlántica Española. Married to Luisa Bru Lassús, who belonged to a well-off Catalan family that he met in Cuba and whose father was one of his business partners, his support to King Alfonso XII in the Cuban revolts earned him the title of the Marquis of Comillas, created for him and his descendants. He invested large sums in his home town, thanks to his influence and to that decisive invitation to the King to spend the summer holidays in Comillas, it was actually the first Spanish town which had street lightning, in 1881.

The king’s visit attracted many nobility members and the gentry, who started spending their summers in Comillas, looking for its temperate and mild climate and the benefits of the famous sea bathing properties. This way, impressive houses and public buildings started to be built in this typical and small Cantabrian town –in 2011 it has nearly 2500 inhabitants-, many of them the design of young Catalan architects following the beginnings of the Modernist style, among them, Antoni Gaudí.

At the same time, the second Marquis of Comillas continued with the creation of the Universidad Pontificia de Comillas, its building being one of the most spectacular.

Here I leave some pictures for you, I am sorry that the midday light was not the best one to appreciate them.

The Palacio de Sobrellano, with many neo-Gothic elements, built for the first Marquis of Comillas, who actually never saw it finished as he died before the end of the Works, in 1888. Its architect was Joan Martorell.

The Capricho de Gaudí, nowadays a prestigious restaurant, designed by Antonio or Antoni Gaudí for Máximo Díaz de Quijano, a relative of the Marquis of Comillas

The Puerta de los Pájaros, by Gaudí, from 1900.

The Universidad Pontificia de Comillas, designed by  Joan Martorell and Lluís Domènech i Montaner