Party time in Portugal

I'm feeling out of sorts again today, unmotivated. I think a lot of it has to do with not only the reasons mentioned yesterday -- coming back from a long vacation, missing D., etc. -- but also the current turmoil over my thesis. I really can't get my head around a topic. It seems that everything I'm interested in writing about has already been covered, or really involves areas in which I have little expertise. (It doesn't help that the library is all but closed these days, shut down by -- surprise, surprise -- ongoing IT work that has crippled the computer systems.) I'm not really juiced by anything. I'd asked a friend for some input and advice but haven't heard a peep, so I'm a bit bummed by that too.

Maybe putting up some happy pictures of our wonderful holiday (it seems like so long ago now) will help. Yeah, that's the ticket.

These shots were taken December 31, the day we arrived in the old(er) town Albufeira, after moving from Praja Oura (Oura beach). This first one is the main town square.


One of the many intricately tiled houses in the town:

This is the old town before the festivities really kicked off...

...and after:



The view from our hotel balcony (the one in the old town):



This next one is taken from near the top of a hill a few minutes' walk from the hotel, and just around the corner from the Tres Coroas restaurant where we wined and dined sumptuously prior to taking in the fireworks. You can see the pier from which they launched one of the sets of fireworks; there were many, as it happens. You could see fireworks all the way down the coast, as far as Faro way off in the distance. There were some further up the hill and behind us, too.

At the far left of the picture you can see the stage, set right on the beach, where -- gasp! -- Mel C ("out of the Spice Girls") performed as the evening's headliner. Surprisingly she didn't suck, much (she is allegedly the one who can sing), and she's got a more rock-oriented sound than you'd expect, but we didn't stay for longer than 3 or 4 numbers. We were more entertained by all the people running into the ocean during her set.


That's all for today. I'm going off to read more, and ponder.