Bonfire Night

the glow ...

or, otherwise known as Guy Fawkes night was this Saturday and is an annual celebration to celebrate "a failed conspiracy by a group of provincial English Catholics to assassinate the Protestant King James I of England and VI of Scotland and replace him with a Catholic head of state."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Fawkes_Night

So, for me, this essentially boils down to a huge bonfire, hot mulled wine, and arguably the best fireworks display I have ever seen.  I took the tube down to Battersea Park, the center of the festivities, to meet some friends at the Prince Albert pub.  After a few cocktails, we were off to the park (with thousands of other people) to see the lighting of the bonfire.  This baby was three stories of flaming pallets.  Huge and warm, which we really needed at that moment.  It was crispy!  The spiced wine did help that a bit too!
I've been smelling this at random locations past few weeks and was happy to finally have me a sip.  Tasty.


Once the bonfire simmered down, the mother of all firework displays set off.  Uh-mazing.  Really, it was.  Color coordinated, orchestrated to (bizarre at times) music, and huge.  As is said in Portuguese, Valeu!