Wednesday 11 December 2013

Hlavné Námestie Christmas Market, Bratislava

Via Flickr:
Quick shot from Bratislava's main square (Hlavné Námestie). I'd hugely recommend its Christmas market. Cheap flights to Vienna generally stop in Bratislava, and it was whilst killing a couple of hours for our flight home that we discovered Bratislava's market. This year we went back and just stayed in Bratislava, and it's a massive favourite over Vienna.

If you enjoy wearing shirts at weekends and "being seen", then I'd suggest Vienna will suit you better. If, however, you like rough and ready over chic commercial, Bratislava might deliver for you.

The market feels much more local, with a much more local crowd in attendance. Everything is cosier and more compact, cramped, lively, rustic and fun. There's a stage with folk dancing, and angels wearing homemade cardboard wings; cut out of supermarket wine boxes and dressed up in cooking foil. All in, it's much more loveable and authentic feeling than the more visited alternatives.

In terms of the shot, there's some in camera banding or noise top left. The 5D MKiii seems to struggle with lowlight blues and it's a pain to fix!

I hope everyone is well. Busy times both at work and weekends have kept me off Flickr for a week or so. It meant I missed the "black" protest to upcoming changes; something I'd like to have been part of. Having been subjected to the (at times compulsory) beta, I can't express without alternating fits of depression and rage quite how horrific, quite how ridiculous, quite how ill thought out the proposed new UI is. I've seen plenty of Flickr tweaks and updates before and, whilst many seemed irrelevant or imperfect, there were none that genuinely vexed or detracted. There's been some big positives recently, like the excellent Flickr app. This new proposed change is utterly barbaric, diminishing "descriptions" and "comments" to a claustrophobic little side bar that stifles and disincentivises any meaningful interaction. If you haven't signed the petition yet, I'd urge you to do so.

Have a fantastic week in any event.