Re: [Leica] Spain

["Alan Hull" <hull@telia.com>]

From Frank Filippone 
> Can anyone tell me if tripods are allowed in general, specifically on
the street and especially in and around the churches and national
historic monuments?????
- -------------------------------------

Many years ago I went walkabout in Spain as part of a military scheme
where they would pay the expenses if it was considered a useful part of
training.   One day while passing through Madrid I decided to take some
photos of the Goya paintings in the Prado Art Gallery.  My camera then
was a Pentacon SLR and it had a mirror that must have come from a
dressing table because the vibration was dreadful.  I had no tripod so
I bought a broom from a local shop (inventing (?) the monopod).  I made
my way up to the Goya hall but unfortunately there was a crowd of
schoolchildren there with a few teachers so I hung back near the door
to wait for them to move on. 

I carried the camera, along with spare socks etc, in an army haversack
made of webbing which along with my disreputable dusty appearance and
the broom must have made me look like the cleaner because one of the
children broke away from the group and handed me some paper wrappings
and orange peel.  The teachers were looking at me with a big proud
smile on their faces which caused me a lot of embarassment because I
didn't know what to do, so I stuffed the wrappings in my haversack. 
Bloody hell, the whole class then lined up with their assorted garbage
which I crammed into what space was left around my camera and socks.  I
was absolutely mortified.  Beam me up Spock ... please.

When the kids had moved on I noticed an attendant looking at me rather
quizically so I gave a few cursory sweeps on the floor and left the
Gallery asap.  Even now I am curious as to why I continued to accept
their lunch left-overs instead of telling them to get lost.  Perhaps it
was the language thing.

Alan