The GCW Tour, Spain & Morocco: San Fermin, Day 2, Part 3

Every night San Fermin "ends," insofar as anything here ends, with a fireworks show over the old city walls. The niece and I headed back into the old town for dinner and fireworks at about 8:00. 

Out of fear of theft* and convenience, we've been traveling very light during San Fermin, which means Dave has been left behind. I wish we'd him tonight as there were a great many minions working the crowd. It would've been fun to get a photo of Dave with a minion. Maybe tonight.

Neither the niece nor I were quite up for dinner with a hundred of our closest drunk friends, so we started looking for some quieter options and were the recipients of a San Fermin miracle: about a block off the main drag, and a few blocks from the central square, we found Bar Oslo. The sign on the door said open, but the blinds were drawn and everything about it said closed. When we went in, the place was completely empty save for the bartender. But they were open and had food, so we made some random selections and were surprised with some pretty good bar food, and the best octopus I've ever had. Way better than eating a pre-fab sandwich while standing in the square with the drunks.

But to prove we're not completely anti-social, we did get some frozen yogurt with Nutella which we ate in the square.**

Following the crowd we made our way to the old city walls for the fireworks. We got a nice spot with a clear view and had just fifteen minutes to wait. It was a really nice show. Most everything went up in the air, giving pretty good views from most everywhere, and it went on for nearly half an hour. There was one point where it looked like a tree exploded and about a dozen fireworks went off at once, and while I assumed this was not intentional, the show continued. One of the more entertaining moments came when an ambulance, sirens wailing, came down the street and all the people who were sitting in the street watching had to scramble to get out of the way. 

And then it was over, and the fun really began. 


* I've so far seen one instance of the pickpocket dance which is performed as follows: the dancer shouts, "Fuck!," and then runs toward his friends while patting down all the pockets in his cargo shorts in a panic hoping that he's just not noticing his wallet rather than it having been stolen. The patting continues when the dancer reaches his friends and begins explaining that he's been robbed. 
** This seemed to prompt an interaction with the world's dumbest mime. I've got my camera strapped to my left arm, and am holding it against my chest with two fingers of my left hand while holding my yogurt cup with the other three, holding a spoon with my right hand trying to eat the yogurt before it melts and turns into a huge mess. The mine, seeing me, approaches and sticks his hand out for me to shake. Yeah, like that's gonna happen.