{"id":1324,"date":"2015-01-07T07:05:05","date_gmt":"2015-01-07T06:05:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/?page_id=1324"},"modified":"2015-01-20T15:00:47","modified_gmt":"2015-01-20T14:00:47","slug":"week-1-welcoming-the-new-year-in-alicante","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/?page_id=1324","title":{"rendered":"Week 01: welcoming the New Year in Alicante"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Of course, the focal point of the first week of the year (or the last week of the previous year, if you will) is New Year&#8217;s Eve. This year, because both children were here, my wife decided to have a big party, and a lot of effort was spent on decorating the downstairs den. But the results were very nice. Other than the party, we enjoyed the good weather in Alicante, sunny and a bit cold, with temperatures around 16-17C in the afternoon.<\/p>\n<p><strong>1_1<\/strong><br \/>\nLike me, Moses appreciates good beer, so I had bought two bottles of Westvleteren, the Holy Grail of Beer, in preparation for his visit. A couple of days before New Year&#8217;s Eve we finally performed the Ritual of the Sacred Hops:<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"uploads\/2015\/1_1.jpg\" alt=\"R000949\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>1_2<\/strong><br \/>\nA snap during a walk in the centre of Alicante. A man reads his newspaper inside a bakery\/coffee shop:<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"uploads\/2015\/1_2.jpg\" alt=\"L1011970\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>1_3<\/strong><br \/>\nOutside a clothing store in the centre:<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"uploads\/2015\/1_3.jpg\" alt=\"L1011972\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>1_4<\/strong><br \/>\nThe Christmas season was still in full swing, because the culmination of Spanish Christmas is not Christmas Day, but Three King&#8217;s Day on January 6th, which is when Spanish children get their presents. There are many small traditions, one of which is that special pastries, <em>polvorones<\/em>, are offered to customers in shops, along with sweet wine. Most shops have a bottle of wine and the pastries on the counter, here in Apedales, my local bicycle shop, which adds the additional touch of using a <em>porr\u00c3\u00b3n<\/em> for the wine:<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"uploads\/2015\/1_4.jpg\" alt=\"R000953\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>1_5<\/strong><br \/>\nAs usual, I was out cycling every day, enjoying sights like this:<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"uploads\/2015\/1_5.jpg\" alt=\"R000956\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>1_6<\/strong><br \/>\nDecember 31st has arrived, and our den, usually occupied by my bicycles and various odds and ends, has been transformed:<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"uploads\/2015\/1_6.jpg\" alt=\"R000964\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>1_7<\/strong><br \/>\nWe dressed up for the party:<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"uploads\/2015\/1_7.jpg\" alt=\"R000960\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>1_8<\/strong><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"uploads\/2015\/1_8.jpg\" alt=\"R000970\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>1_9<\/strong><br \/>\nFinally, the guests are here and the party starts:<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"uploads\/2015\/1_9.jpg\" alt=\"R000971\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>1_10<\/strong><br \/>\nThe women pose:<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"uploads\/2015\/1_10.jpg\" alt=\"R000984\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>1_11<\/strong><br \/>\nThe men take pictures:<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"uploads\/2015\/1_11.jpg\" alt=\"R000985\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>1_12<\/strong><br \/>\nWhen the clock strikes midnight, everyone eats a grape for each stroke of the bell. The twelve grapes are put on a stick for easy retrieval. Obviously, to minimize the risk of choking, seedless grapes are used:<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"uploads\/2015\/1_12.jpg\" alt=\"R000990\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>1_13<\/strong><br \/>\n2015 is here:<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"uploads\/2015\/1_13.jpg\" alt=\"R000996\" \/><\/p>\n<p>On Sunday afternoon we went for a walk in the city.<\/p>\n<p><strong>1_14<\/strong><br \/>\nFor some reason, someone put knitted warmers on this railing on the Esplanada. No idea what or who is behind this:<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"uploads\/2015\/1_14.jpg\" alt=\"DSF5545\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>1_15<\/strong><br \/>\nWe went to the Valor shop for some hot chocolate:<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"uploads\/2015\/1_15.jpg\" alt=\"DSF5549\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>1_16<\/strong><br \/>\nMoses also bought a selection to take back to Buffalo:<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"uploads\/2015\/1_16.jpg\" alt=\"DSF5552\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>1_17<\/strong><br \/>\nEnjoying the sunshine on the Plaza Puerta del Mar:<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"uploads\/2015\/1_17.jpg\" alt=\"DSF5556\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Of course, the focal point of the first week of the year (or the last week of the previous year, if you will) is New Year&#8217;s Eve. This year, because both children were here, my wife decided to have a big party, and a lot of effort was spent on decorating the downstairs den. But [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":1321,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1324"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1324"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1324\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1332,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1324\/revisions\/1332"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}