To Galeota: Yes, this is different...

[cgrindahl]

but to my mind, the deficiences in this image add to its effectiveness in conveying what I point toward in my note. It was taken quickly as I scanned the setting for possibilities. I'd wanted to catch a pedestrian moving past the restaurant but was concerned the focus be on the restaurant and not the passerby. So I was moving my lens about shooting a variety of images, all in low light. This was f/3.5 at 1/60th and ISO 400. The blown out white in the signs is very different from the managed brightness of the one I posted yesterday. That was much more serene than this what I'd call "jagged" scene.

I saddens me that so many around the world are seduced by the glitz of American culture. To my mind it is all surface, with little substance. It seems materialism is the new religion that is seducing us all. Fast food is a symptom of a more serious disease, a fundamental anomie that affects us in every aspect of life. Sadly, Europe is not immune from the disease...