Still no trips this week, but there was one nice event, namely a tapas outing with my department on Friday afternoon. The pictures from the week are arranged chronologically, starting Sunday morning and ending Saturday afternoon.
Main
Dogs facilitate social life of their owners:
Alternates:
Alternate 1
Another dog-walking picture, this one is all about light and shadow:
Alternate 2
I continued to test my new 45mm macro lens. The lemon tree in our garden yields two harvests per year. It is an incredible pleasure to just go downstairs to pick a ripe lemon, not sprayed with anything, when I need a lemon slice for my rum & Coke or gin & tonic:
Alternate 3
Close-up of my late mother’s favourite cactus:
Alternate 4
A close-up portrait of my faithful companion:
Alternate 5
Another portrait of Cheeta, with looser cropping:
Alternate 6
I have recently become fascinated by wall art. There is quite a bit of it around here, and much of it goes well beyond graffiti. Here is the wall of a nearby school:
Alternate 7
Same wall, another part:
Alternate 8
Another dog-walking picture, this time at night. People commonly chat when they meet while walking their dogs:
Alternate 9
Chatting with the girl inside the bar:
On Friday afternoon, my department held a tapeo. I made the decision to do this instead of having a Christmas party in December, when people’s agendas are full of holiday events. A tapeo is an organized walk from one tapas bar to another. The tapas to be ordered at each place are determined in advance, everybody pays €30 to participate, and only the treasurer is allowed to place orders for food (basic commodities like beer and wine may be ordered freely). This way, we ensure that the money lasts until the last tapas bar has been visited.
Alternate 10
We started at La Rotonda, a bar behind the Mercado Central. They set up a large table for us (we were 30 people) but it was a bit chilly, so people preferred to stand and move around:
Alternate 11
Beatrice holding Alexia’s baby. Alexia is still on maternity leave, but of course she did not want to miss out on such an important event:
Alternate 12
We moved on to a bar called Rias Baixas, which had wonderful food and friendly service. We stayed there for several hours. Here is Ursula, a Finnish colleague in my department:
Alternate 13
Esther and Caroline are both Dutch:
Alternate 14
The pretty lady sitting down is the partner of one of my employees. She is originally from Ecuador, her boyfriend is Danish:
Alternate 15
The hard-working lady in the kitchen has just prepared this delicious batch of chorizo:
Alternate 16
Finally, a view of one of the mountains around Alicante, taken from a shop parking lot on Saturday afternoon:
