The sun was out, but it would be too cold for me to actually enjoy being out on the water like this guy.
Instead of heading straight home, we stopped off to see the brotherhood building where tonight's procession was set to finish. We were a bit surprised to see people already staking out spots when the procession wasn't due to arrive for about 6 and a half hours.
By 7pm, the cross street was starting to really fill up still a couple of hours before the arrival of the procession.
By 9:00, I had gone out for the last time, and we did the rest of the viewing from our balcony. The crowd slowly filled up our street with people facing the cross street trying to get a view of the procession. Early on, a few cars made it all the way to the end before realizing the grave error and taking nearly half an hour to coordinate a reversal back to the previous crossing alley to escape the madness. We were able to hear the band, the chanting and singing, and of course the fireworks. We didn't have an unobstructed view of the paseo - but it was probably better than the folks on the ground below our window. By 10:45, everything had passed our street and the procession was working its way forward. According to the published schedule, it should be all over by 1 am - by then we hope to be tucked in to bed.
As I write this, the cafes are starting to put out tables (it is 11pm) - I guess all of those people who were standing in crowds watching will need some place to eat dinner.
I suppose those of you in the US will be setting your clocks back tonight - it is a little sad for me - it is like you are all suddenly one hour further away again. But, hopefully you will all enjoy the extra hour of sleep.
