So much was written about and around Steemfest, hard to add anything to what you've probably already read...

Day 1

With my friend @schererf and @bellastella I arrived quite late to the opening drinks. Seeing so many faces we knew from Steemfest in Amsterdam was uplifting and boosting. Seeing so many new ones was just great, too. No camera, no pics but the best story of the evening:

@surfermarly was explaining to a gathered group, how to take "the first step" in surfing. Pushing each of the listeners lightly, to find out which of their feet is the leading foot. @basilmarples , without even knowing what marly was doing entered the line and when pushed let himself fall to the floor like a log hit by lighning.
The faces ... GOSH the faces... a mix of disbelief, confusion, horror turning into amusement, laughter, fun rage. This was just PRICELESS. I wish someone would have taken that on camera. And this is my best memory of the first day.
The critical voice: The bar closed down at midnight and we had drunken ALL the beer around 11 PM. Probably that saved the next day, but still...

Day 2 + Day 3

What a ride between interesting talks, discussions, food, discussions again and finally getting drunk with more talk, dancing and pool... I won't talk much here and instead let some images do the job. Most has been said already and most has been shared with live streams and long posts anyway.

USA talking to Russia ;-)

The less fun about these days was people more than last year behaved like blowfishs around more powerful steemians. At least that was my impression. Puffin up and showing their best feathers as soon as an influencer approached. This disturbed me a little bit, but probably this is only normal human behaviour.

"The secret spot", yet another perfect location found by Roeland...

After talking to some of the devs and other people with interesting projects, I am much more positive than I was during the difficult time just before Steemfest². I see (again) the possibilities more clearly and now I am sure that steem and the platforms around are a thing for and by people.

If you want to change something:

Do it! Connect! Work hard! Talk about it, write about it.

One of my personal highlights was meeting Jeff Berwick @dollarvigilante and telling him a big thank you for bringing me to Steemit. (And also pitching my own project, I hope he doesn't mind and I also hope, he remembers ... more about the project in another post, soon)

Day 4

Workshop day at the LX-Factory. So much to see, so many great motives... just a glimpse here:

Jesus has some work to do...

So	much
to see	everywhere

Is that your doing @opheliafu ?

We ended the day with a real life Beersaturday. I am not sure, but I think to remember that we came back around 5 in the morning... do I have to tell more?

the last pic before everything turned "blurry"

Day 5

A tour around Lisbon. After so much talk and beer, I had really to get into recreational mode for a while and decided to have a tour with @bellastella and @schererf before joining the Closing Dinner.

Castello View	Sunset (no hangover edition)
The inside	more of that

The closing Dinner itself in the Lisbon Green House was an Event of its own. Roeland at his best! More great talks, great food, great surroundings and more beer.

Happy people	Happy talks
more of that	the (sad) way home

TL&DR

It was great, wish I could have talked to more people, wished I did not have to choose so much between interesting stuff taking place at the same time. I am much more positive now.
We need some more critical voices without ostracizing them. We need more beer the next time ;-)
thx @roelandp

*all pics are mine, taken with LUMIX G70 / 12-60 mm

THX for reading! THX for being there! THX Steemit and Roeland for making this possible ... and finally THX for STEEM financing that great trip!

yours

@pollux.one