Happy New Year!!!

 

 What a celebration! What a party! What a fun time we had ringing in the New Year in Porto's main square with the rest of the city. It was comfortable, not too crowded, very happy and friendly with multi-generational families together in small groups, babies in strollers bundled up, kids dancing with their parents to keep warm. Bottles of bubbly and confetti crackers in hand, they gathered along Avenida dos Aliados, now closed to vehicular traffic, lining the sidewalks, sitting on stoops and planters alike, vying for the best view of the stage at one end, the clock tower at the other.
On stage, Pedro Abrunhosa, a seemingly well-known Portuguese performer, sang songs that everyone knew the words to, that everyone danced along to, that got the crowd moving and excited for what was to come. Nearer to midnight, the street lights dimmed, the music swelled and all eyes turned to the clock tower.

 
The stroke of midnight, and the coming of the new year, was announced not by chimes, but by the popping of fireworks, of confetti crackers and of a thousand Champagne corks. Bubbly flowed, toasts were made, and raisins eaten while making wishes for the coming 12 months. And all the while, the fireworks continued to sparkle overhead, lighting up the entire square(at one point, they even lit up a nearby building, but that's a story for another time).
Families danced, and hugged, and the happy atmosphere continued all the way up the hill, through the alleys leading from Aliados, to Torre dos Clerigos, up to the university where another party was just beginning. It followed us even as we returned to the relative quiet of our hostel, what with everyone being out for the celebrations. Once home, we sent our messages of happiness and good wishes to those who had not yet arrived in 2016, and those who already were. We lay quiet on our bed, listening to the party continue on outside, where the happiness spread throughout the city of Porto for the rest of the night.