The Grand Parade

Once again, there were showers on the day of the Grand Parade. This is such a big event though, that a shower doesn't count. Only a full blown storm would result in it being cancelled.

We scurried into town and managed to park, then raced through the streets to find a good viewing spot. The town seemed rather empty, although there were certainly some people around. Then, we spotted our neighbour. She told us, that the start had been delayed by 1/2 hour, because of the weather. We live too far away to hear the town tannoy, so didn't know about the delay! She suggested that we sit with her, as there were lots of vacant places, but we politely declined. We didn't want to spend the whole parade in one place, and also, we would have had to pay for the seat!

We strolled down, and tucked ourselves in a nice spot, with a view up the high street. We were just opposite all of the princesses and near to a decent bar! As the crowds got thicker and the chairs filled, I was highly amused by a couple trying to show 2 folding chairs into the space where we were standing. They did their best to shove us aside, but we stood (quite) firm. Did they thing we'd been saving the place for them?

Thankfully, a light shower just before the start didn't last long, and everyone was able to put away their umbrellas. The storm clouds held off and it ended up being a nice evening.

The parade itself was the usual affair. We spotted the people we knew, despite their outlandish costumes and were even able to view from a couple of different places. At the end, the two floats with the pricesses came by, and we saw Marta throwing confetti.

Once it finished, we caught up with several spanish people we knew, and were introduced to a few more. We only saw a couple of english people during the whole event, so we have no idea where they were all viewing from. The parade itself it actually quite long, so there are lots of good spots. Maybe one year, we will actually go and have a look at the end part, to see everyone enjoying them selves as they complete the march. It must be quite a relief for some of them, to remove their headdresses!