Gummy Bears and El Oso (something different for Saturday)

I had the idea to start a new series of posts on Saturdays that would be a surprise look at something a bit different.  I suppose my daily blog topics have always been rather unpredictable, so it really isn't anything new!  I take many photos of things that catch my eye.  These are fun to share and can be a great source of inspiration. 

This is a gummy bear made up of gummy bears.  We saw it in a candy shop window in Madrid.  When we lived in Germany and England, gummy bears were a popular treat for our boys.  I think they are readily available in the US now - back then they were a special treat.

I enjoy looking at the shops in other countries.  Some seem very similar to the the stores at home while others are quite unique.  Shop window displays can be a great source of inspiration.

I noticed the sign above the bears and translated it (roughly).  It says that these bears are photographed more than the Bear and the Strawberry Tree.

El Oso y el Madroño (the Bear and the Strawberry Tree) are part of the coat of arms of the City of Madrid.  This rendition of the coat of arms was inlaid in the sidewalk.

There is a large statue of the Bear and the Strawberry Tree in the Puerta del Sol, in the center of Madrid. In this photo you can also see the huge Christmas tree structure that was beautiful when lit up at night but rather odd looking in the daytime (if you missed the night time photos see THIS POST) . 

Here is one of the tile signs for the Puerta del Sol - I like to take photos of signs to use as titles for scrapbook pages.

The statue of the Bear and the Strawberry Tree was put up in 1967.  It is about four meters tall and weighs twenty tons (made of stone and bronze).

The sign in the store was correct - I did take more photos of the gummy bear bears than I did of the statue!


Thanks to everyone who wrote or left a comment about the significance of the girl in the "O" - I realize that I wasn't particularly clear in my writing.   I do know what a cameo is - I have several that I wear from time to time.  I understand the play on words the company used in naming the larger machine.  

I was trying to say that using the girly profile with the ponytail protruding from the edge of the circle formed by the "O" was not a choice I would have made.  For one thing, I wonder how male crafters feel about the image.  Most of the graphics used by the Silhouette company have a streamlined and simple feel and the Barbie profile just looks odd to me.  It's not a big deal - they could put flying purple people eaters on the machine and box.  As long as the machines continue to work as well as they have so far I really don't care that much what it looks like!

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Christmas Lights in Madrid

When we went to visit our son and daughter-in-law after Thanksgiving, we spent the first couple of days in Madrid.  They live in a smaller city south of Madrid and came up on the train to meet us.  The holiday lights were up and there were some displays that were different than the lights I have typically seen here in the US.  I thought I'd share some of my photos so you could get a look at the unusual displays.

Each of the streets leading up to the main plaza had a different style of lighted decorations.  These colorful balls of light were interesting.  I wondered why the third  one was half red and half green instead of solid green...

The scale of the decorations was very large.  In the day time you could see how they were constructed.

 

At night the structures disappear and all you see is an amazing light show.  The streets were very crowded at about ten o'clock at night - it was dinner time!

The snowflakes on the large department store building moved in interesting patterns.

When we walked to the plaza in the daytime, this tree looked rather odd.  It was extremely tall and had a path below that you could walk through.

At night, the plaza was full of people and the lighted tree was a big attraction, with long lines of people waiting to go through the tree.

Along the main street near our hotel there were cityscapes repeated every half block or so.  They continued down the street as far as we could see.

This starry blue sky was very twinkly.  It was in an area a little bit away from the main lights - I think it was on some sort of government building like a library.

The most unusual display was the "ceiling" of lights over another plaza where there was a Christmas market going on.  In this daytime shot you can see the wires and cables that suspend the lights.  They are round discs in different colors and patterns and they are hovering over the plaza like flying saucers!

It's hard to describe the feeling that we had walking under this ceiling of light.  The effect was magical and a bit surreal.  In the photo directly above you can get a feel of the size of the plaza.  (just click on any photo to see it larger)  There were so many of the lighted discs.  It must have been quite an engineering puzzle to get them suspended so they could float above the crowds.

This was yet another type of light along one of the streets that led to the plaza.  I thought it was interesting that they had so many different designs.  I wonder if there was a competition or challenge given to some designers to come up with unique patterns for each street.

The tall Christmas tree was an interesting combination of green circles in various sizes and red stars and hearts.

When we came back through the plaza after our dinner the crowds were mostly gone and we were able to walk right in to the tree.  I tried to get a shot straight up the center of the tree.  The effect was very interesting as you could see all of the segments tapering to the tip of the tree.

This was my favorite photo of the evening - the newlyweds with one of the hearts behind them!

I hope you enjoyed the lights.  It is interesting to see how different cities and countries decorate for the holidays.  I liked the bold graphic designs which were very different than the typical New England window candles and white twinkly lights.  The designs are also great inspiration for some card or page layouts - I hope to be able to create a few items inspired by the lights.

We're in the final countdown now - I am determined to have everything wrapped before Christmas Eve!  I did see the questions about the dimensions of the lollipop tree and I will try to empty it to take a photo and also take the measurements and post them tomorrow.  Thanks for the suggestions on where to get the tootsie pops.  I could always change to a different type of lollipop.  I have seen bags of the tootsie pops but I was hoping to find the huge boxes I used to get at Costco.


Have a great day and don't forget to check to see what new crafty items are added to Blitsy later this morning.

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