National Theater Entrance

Here is one final photo of the National Theater, showing its ornate front entrance.  Money from Costa Rican coffee exports enabled such an ornate building to be constructed in the 1890's in a city of less than 20,000 people at the time.

I mentioned that President Obama spoke here last May, so I will share a little additional political news.  Costa Rica voted in favor of a U.N. resolution to condemn the Russian annexation of Crimea.

This is a subject of particular importance to Costa Rica because it does not have a military and relies instead upon international law for protection from its aggressive and militaristic neighbor to the north, Nicaragua.

Nicaragua voted against the U.N. resolution that declared Russia's annexation of Crimea to be a violation of inernational law.  This has caused concern within Costa RIca because Costa Rica has submittted to the World Court Nicaragua's incursions into Costa Rica.  Cosgta Rica hopesnatoi to resolve such matters through inyernational law because Costa Rica renounced the use of military means to resolve disputes more than 60 years ago.

This week we are showing photos of the Sydney Opera House  on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

National Theater Statuary, and a mistake in composition

This is a view of some of the statuary, both contemporary and classical, in front of the National Theater.  The statue against the building is of Beethoven.

I took this photo too quickly.  I poked my cameral through the iron fence and snapped the photo.  I violated one of the cardinal rules of photographic composition.  I neglected to check the edges and corners before taking my photo.

If I had done so, I would have noticed the modern building and light pole at the left edge.  If I had just moved a couple of steps to the left, I could have taken the photo with only the Theater in the background of the front statue, without the distraction of the modern building in the background.  Compounding this error, if I had moved to the left I also could have aligned the two statues so they would be closer to one another.

Thank you for being my therapist by reading this as I vent my feelings upon looking at this photo.

This week we are showing photos of the Perito Moreno Glacier in Patagonia, Argentina, on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

The National Theater from inside the rail

This is a closer view of Costa Rica's National Theater.  It was constructed in the 1890's when the population of San Jose was just under 20,000 people.  Quite an ambitious achievement for so small a city!

The interior is very ornate.  It is used for the symphony and other artistic performances.  When President Obama visited Costa Rica in May last year, his address to a gathering of Central American economic leaders was held in the National Theater.

This week we are showing photos of the Perito Moreno Glacier in Patagonia, Argentina, on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

The National Theater

Costa Rica's National Theater in downtown San Jose is a point of pride.  It is an architectural copy of the Paris Opera House.

I will show photos from downtown San Jose in the coming weeks.

This week we are showing photos of the Perito Moreno Glacier in Patagonia, Argentina, on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.