Guents dy Rincon @ Praça do Comércio on Dec. 31, 2011

Happy New Year 2012!

2011 was a great year, filled with adventure, excitement, and change. December 31, 2011 was a beautiful day filled with sunshine and crisp air. I went down to Praça do Comércio to sun myself before the night’s festivities and I was greeted by none other than Guents dy Rincon. What a surprise!

NYE 2012 Marathon through downtown

The music was interrupted shortly thereafter by a huge New Year’s Eve marathon through the downtown of Lisbon. Good thing I was on the city side of the street and not the river side of the street, or else I would have been stuck there for almost a half hour!

Well now we go onto the New Year’s Eve celebration here in Lisbon and it was lots of fun, with good friends, food, and holiday cheer. And sweet potato soup. And fondue. And something called “Divine Cod Fish”!!!

Fondue and Sweet Potato Soup and Divine Codfish

The Bacalhau Divinal was made by Bretannia. Translated it means “Divine Cod Fish”. I think it’s made with cream (of course) and bread crumbs. It’s the mostly eaten thing on my plate and in the clear casserole dish.

Sandra, Stefi, Bretannia, Luca

Smile! There was so much food here. Fondue with beef and turkey, sweet potato soup, Divine Cod Fish, mangoes, a bunch of other fruit, prosciutto and mushrooms from Italy, sausage, chips, beer, wine…wow!

Lots of Food!

Time to get the grub on…

Almost New Years! With Moet & Friends

We started getting closer and closer to midnight and we switched the TV to Casa de Segredos (bad Portuguese reality TV) to get the final countdown. Stefi brought out the Moet & Chandon for the toast. Raspberries in the glasses. Classy!

Sparklers!

10…9…8…7…

Sparklers 2

6…5…4…3…

Sparklers 3

2…1…

Happy New Year 2012!

Dancing with Mia

After the stroke of midnight we started playing some music and dancing. The dog Mia was dancing too. We had heard about some parties going on in Avenida da Liberdade so we all suited up in our cold weather gear and headed out. When we got there the street was already packed with hundreds of revelers. It was pretty cool because each kiosk on Avenida da Liberdade had it’s own DJ station and music so it was like several small outdoor clubs every few hundred yards.

NYE 2012 Party on Avenida da Liberdade

Groovin’ out to some tunes on NYE 2012.

Restauradores NYE 2012

After the party on Avenida da Liberdade we wandered towards Restauradores to another club for an after hours celebration. What a night! I wish you all a very happy and prosperous 2012! Please post your NYE stories in the comments below!