A bit of ball picspam

Mostly for you, mundungus42  -- doesn't Eeps look lovely?

The first one is a bit dark, but in the background of the other two one gets a bit of an impression of the place.
There were some quite horrible dresses, and very few tasteful ones. Tuxedo wasn't compulsory and worn by maybe 70% of the men. Piccies were taken while there was still ballroom dancing going on; free style started a little after midnight. I'd danced only one waltz with my lovely landlord, so I wasn't as flushed yet as I was 2 hrs later.
And yes, the glass you see in my hand contains whisky. The problem is, if I drink red wine, my teeth turn blue. If I drink white wine and don't eat much, my stomach is unhappy. So whisky was the best option, esp. as it was served with lots of ice and thus watered down considerably, plus I was drinking enormous amounts of water. Maybe slightly tipsy, but that evaporated once the real dancing began.

Considering that this isn't Vienna but Skopje, one has to say that the organizers did a great job: First there was a Polonaise of debutant(e)s from a dancing school, then of course the speeches, and then it was "everybody on the dance floor!" (my personal highlight being the US ambassador trying to dance a waltz to the Radetzkymarsch). Around midnight, a professional couple from Bosnia did an excellent tango show, and after that there was a bit of ballet. Not bad at all, and they managed to create a very festive, exciting atmosphere. And, as I said, after midnight the whole thing became more of a disco-party event, which was great, too.

Unfortunately we somehow didn't think to take pictures of the whole table, so I can't show you my gorgeous landlord. We'll have to wait till next year for that...