Spanish Place Names Translated (Part 2)

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 The name Spain is derived from the Ancient Roman name for the area, Hispania. That's why people from the region are still called hispanic.

I wondered why technical articles referred to ancient Roman, when we normally just speak about the Romans. Were they a subsection of Romans, the earliest ones? Then I realised that recent, modern, and current inhabitants of Rome are called Romans. Rome is still there, still called Rome. So it just means the Roman Empire?

Checking Spelling

I thought better check on this. When I was a sub-editor I learned that you need to check on everything, even if you think it is obvious and well-known. Spellings, vary from the UK to the USA. 

Checking Capital Cities

Capital cities are not necessarily the largest cities or the ones with the biggest population. New York is not the capital of America. The capital is Washington DC. Capitals move. The same applies to the capital cities of US states. Also watch out for the capitals of Australia, Indonesia, Poland, and Russia. 

Capitals get moved, because of weather, sinking cities, to be more central, or to please populations who want the capital nearer where they live, especially with rival groups, to depopulate a crowded place or to populate an empty area and provide more work and space. So, the names and locations of capital cities, and smaller cities, will change.

Spanish Place Names in Spain and the USA

Spanish names have stayed and become so familiar that if you don't speak Spanish, you forget the origin. Some Spanish place names are well-known and obvious if you speak some Spanish, or after you have heard about them. 

The Spanish origin names can be grouped into various categories. Some are named after saints or people. Others are named after geographical features.

I have arranged them alphabetically, with the components separated.

Spanish - English Place Names

angeles - angels, as in the Californian city Los Angeles

el - the (add an accent on the letter e to make the word he) as in El Paso

el paso - the pass

grande - not grand ie important but large

los - the (plural, like these and those) as in Los Angeles

Los Angeles - the angels

paso - pass or place where you pass over a mountain or through a border

rio - river

rio grande - big river, or river which is long and wide. The order of the name reminds you that in Spanish the adjective comes after the noun. 

sacramento - sacrament

San Francisco - Saint Francis

Useful Websites About Capital Cities and place names

This post is being compiled. Come back later for more.

Phoning home for lost items - passports, bow ties and more

Problems
1 Passport left behind.
2 At the supermarket - do I need to buy nigella seed or cinnamon sticks or do we already have them?
3 We were overseas and our son phoned: 'Dad, I need a bow tie for my friend's wedding. Where would I find one.'

Answers
Number the drawers in your home or office from top down or bottom up or clockwise, or from the door or window.

Neater than handwriting, type out the labels and print them off in Italics or block capitals, large size for easy reading or tiny to be inconspicuous.

 You might like to make a border. Or underline and make the text bold.

DRAWER 1 
DRAWER 2

CUPBOARD ONE

CLOSET BEDROOM ONE
Evening jacket (black), evening shirt (white) and bow ties (black, blue and red).

This will also speed packing.

You can label drawers outside, inside or mentally.

Sort everything by size or colour.

In each drawer keep a list of what is inside.

Type out a list of what is where and tape it to the back of the door of a cupboard - or on the kitchen board.

Then when you want a passport, or the number of something, or the size of something, or the brand name to buy a replacement in the supermarket, the person back home can find it.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Two ways to take a panorama from a hotel or home balcony

Problem
Your eye sees the panorama. The camera sees just a small section.

Answers
1 The iphone has a panorama facility. Locate the panorama icon and hold it down whilst swinging the camera. You can get a 360 degrees view.

2 you can stitch together a series of stills which you have taken by moving your camera fractions of an inch, holding it steady on the edge of a balcony or wall or table or upright. (Do keep the camera securely fastened to yourself by a strap so you don't drop it over!)

The free softward available on line is called
hugin.

We did a sunset panorama of the whitle skyscrapers turned pink in the sunset. The hugin system made all the skyscrapers upright.

You could also do the same view at different times of day, morning, noon and evening. The contrast is interesting for you as a camera operator and as a display of contrasting pictures.

An interesting contrast would be something in the foreground such as a seasonal plant, so long as this remains in focus.

Foreground
If in doubt, try the photo once with the foreground item and once without. I like a picture with a table and two empty chairs and a vase of flowers or a bowl of fruit, or a pot plant.

You could add more interest with hobbies.
Cultural or artistic and creative items
Such as an artist's easel,
A magazine or book
Notebooks and pens

Sporty items: a bicycle, swimming or diving gear,

Local interest
Guidebooks, a book or local magazine,
 something local to the area such as a tile,
a decorative empty birdcage,

Personalise The Picture
Print a card with your name and hang it on the wall. No matter how small. That identified your photo (in case anybody ever wants to copy it. Even if nobody sees, you will know. It could be like the teeny picture of Hitchcock in his films (movies), and the tiny mouse carved by the carver in the north of England on everything he created. A challenge for the viewer is to blow up the picture and find the hidden card with your name, perhaps a tag on a basket of flower.

Clothing
a ranger's hat, climbing boots, skis, a surf board,

Food and drink
a diary, the novel you have written, a cocktail, local fruits, winter flowers, spring flowers, summer flowers, autumn flowers, seasonal items such as pumpkins, Halloween, Valentine's day, a Santa outfit, reindeer and sleigh.

Alternatively, add a seasonal border later.

Eliminate Clutter
However, you will probably find it hard to focus on the foreground. In that case, make a point of moving anything which could spoil the view.

Clean Up
In a hotel, you might need to clean the chairs and wash down the table and floor area.

You might want to take a second picture with focus on the foreground items and the backdrop as a backdrop.

Printing A Panorama
You can also print out a panorama as a long poster to brighten a boring bedroom or long living room or corridor wall.

Christmas and Birthday Gifts
You can roll it up and post it as a Christmas present. We took a panorama of a vineyard (Rioja, Northern Spain) with the vineyard owner on the top of a hill pointing out the landscape and river below to a visitor.

Making Use Of Spare Time
If you are stuck in a hotel room or at home waiting for visitors to come back from a conference or arrive off a plane, you can amuse yourself by filling the time with some photography.

Hotel Viewpoints
In Madeira our bedroom balcony gave a view partly spoiled by a crane. I walked along the corridor and found a deserted public balcony with a fabulous view. The moral is, check the public areas all around your building for alternative views.

Angela Lansbury
travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.