365-3 | Peaches Prattlings

{October 22, 2015} Day 6…Porto…A Tower…Eurorail

No alarms…what? Ahhhh…we got up liesurely…I think 10am is respectable when you’ve been setting the alarm every day.

We got up, motivated and dropped our bags with the hotel, they were going to hold them for us until later, and headed out. Our first stop was the Church of St Catarina, which was around the corner from the hotel and we seemed to miss it every time we tried. The churches, and a lot of businesses close between 12/1230pm and 1530pm. Everyone needs a break, right? I’m glad we went, it was a beautiful church.

After the church, it was time for breakfast at a little place near the church where we enjoyed a snack, watched trees being planted and inhaled plumes of smoke.

[That’s EJS’ turtle she gave me to travel with, you’ll see her again]

Question…does everyone in Europe come out of the womb smoking? C’mon people, I’m eating here! Rant over.

After brunch we headed to the tower, I think I told you about it yesterday, the Tower of the Clergio. I am so proud of PSM, who is not too fond of heights, he made it to the top! On the way up there were some exhibits and we were able to get a great view of the church from above.

At the top of the tower, 75m and 240 steps, the view was amazing. Even the graffiti made it up there. At this point, PSM stayed put and I continued to the next level up. Wow.

The view was fantastic and one of the cool things was that they had plaques showing the different landmarks and where they were as well as comparing the height of the tower to other monuments around the world, like the Eiffel Tower, The Sears Tower, The Empire State Building, very cool.

When we got down to the bottom we realized we had worked up an appetite so…Brick for lunch. Nice healthier sandwiches, all of their sandwiches are served on boards.

After lunch we picked up some part cards, I wonder who they’re going to, wink, wink. PSM also bought a very cool hat, makes him look like a hip cat, not sure if he’s ever taking it off!

And then across the street to a park on top of a parking garage, how ingenious! It was fabulous, with blankets under some of the trees and wine crates with cushions to sit in the grass. They also had tables and chairs. We camped out under a tree.

The view of the street from the park

Where else can you be at a bar in a park and get a beer and a pot of hot tea? Love it!

After a while we decided to hop on the trolley and take it…well, wherever it went! We got off, walked around, mailed my postcards and realized it was time for dinner before the train.

We headed back to the hotel and collected our bags and looked for food. We went back to one if the places we had gone before, PSM was going to treat himself to a franceschina one last time. He was happy.

We headed to the train and hung out until it was time to go and here we are, in the train to Spain!
I’ll talk to you tomorrow from Spain!

Adeus, Portugal! Espana, alla vamos!

{October 21, 2015} Day 5…Porto..A walking tour…Wine tastings and more!

Another alarm? Seriously? I thought this was a vacation!

This one wasn’t too bad, 8:30am, for a very good reason, a walking tour! At 10am we were meeting our guide for a three hour tour, sounds ominous, like Gilligan’s Island, but no boat! We packed up our things as we were changing rooms, we couldn’t wait to see what this next one would be like!

We headed out towards the square to meet our tour guide and while we were waiting we had a bit of tea, coffee and pastries for breakfast, hmm..I think I could get used to this!

Our guide was there about 10:00 and the first thing we did was tour the bookstore two doors down. It would cost 3euros to get in, why? Because this was one of the oldest bookstores in Portugal and it was the inspiration for Hogwarts in Harry Potter, more specifically, the bookstore and when I tell you I get it, OMG! I got it! The first step in and my mouth dropped open!

One of the amazing things is that everything is made of plaster and painted to look like wood, it was astounding! We couldn’t believe it! Apparently JK Rowling spent a lot of time in there and it was one of the things that inspired her. It cost 3 euros because people would come in, look around, gawk, take photos and never buy anything. If you paid the entrance and decided to buy something, you got 3 euros off your purchase, easy enough!

Our first stop was a church, we were going to visit many churches and cathedrals. The Church of Carmel was beautiful, ornate and over the top in the Rococo style, the church next to it was The Church of the Carmelitas was in the Baroque style. Now, the kicker was, you couldn’t have two churches right next to each other, attached, as it were, so…in between the two churches was the most narrow house ever! And with the house, you could have the two churches next to each other!

Next was the old prison which is now the Museum of Photography. Can you believe it! Men were downstairs in one room, women were on the second level in one pretty big room and the wealthy had rooms upstairs, private with furniture, that they supplied and maid service, imagine that!

The mug shot was invented in Porto out of necessity as people would give false names when they would present in prison, so they started taking photos with numbers so they would be identified, three strike rule.

Next was a fabulous tower that we might climb tomorrow! This was on the former site where they would hang the prisoners! Next was the cathedral on the hill, Se do Porto, truly striking and something to behold from far and wide.

We walked along what was left of the wall of the city and I’m very proud of PSM, who is not fond of heights by any means, walk along the wall and not back out, there was only one side to the wall, the other side was a steep drop down!

Our guide was fabulous, so much knowledge and it turns out, one of the reasons is that he is a teacher of history! How lucky were we?

Now, it’s three hours later and time for lunch! We find a place to eat and PSM decides he is ready for something else to check off his list…Portuguese sausage and check it off he did, with a mini bottle of wine, he’s beginning to like this stuff!

After lunch we headed to the Ramos Pinto Winery for a tasting. We, yes, I said we, tasted a flight of wines. There were five port wines to taste. Two whites, White Porto and Lagrima Branco, and three reds, Ruby Porto, Adriana Reserva and Tawny 10 Anos. They brought over the five glasses and a booklet telling us how to view, taste and savor the wines.

PSM took it seriously and got into each one and began to have a serious appreciation. I, on the other hand, gave it my best shot and haven’t changed my mind about wine, but I do have a better understanding. We left that winery, got some roasted chestnuts and headed to another winery for a free tasting. Along the way, we stopped into an artists co-op that was fabulous! We bought a few things and that came with a single tasting, it was ok. Then on to another free tasting, this was for a shot of two different types of port wine.

Now, please don’t misunderstand, all this tasting at different places took several hours, spaced out nicely. But this is Europe after all and when in Rome…

After the last tasting, we headed up the funicular to the top of the steps and walked to the train station to inquire about tickets to our next destination! I completely forgot to tell you about two places we went!

The first was the train station, it used to be a convent!! It was absolutely beautiful, especially the tiles depicting different moments in history! The gardens became the area where the trains come in.

The other is the McDonald’s. At one time it was voted the most beautiful McDonald’s in the world! It was at one time a cafe and it was mandated to stay that way, can you imagine!

After that train station, we had to go back to the station we first arrived at, yesterday! Can you believe it! Because we needed the international agent, tell ya tomorrow!

Now, it’s about 8:00 and we’re a bit hungry, to say the least. We are going to try vegan in Portugal. This place was open about a year and I don’t know if authentic Portuguese food can be made vegan, but I was happy with my cheese dog! It was nice and they had a homemade hot sauce that made PSM happy. Too bad they don’t sell it!

Back towards the hotel and a stop for an after dinner wine, tea and some sweets and here we are!

Are you tired? I am, but no alarm! Wahoo!!

{October 20, 2015} Day 4…Eurorail…goodbye Lisbon…hello Porto!

Not again with the alarm!

This morning we were up at 6am because we were going to the train station to get on the Eurorail and headed to Porto, Portugal!

At 645am, we headed towards the train, got some breakfast before we got on and settled in for the three hour ride. It was nice, great scenery, relatively smooth ride and a nap thrown in sounds great!

Porto is the second largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porto,_Portugal. This is such a beautiful city! Right on the water, classic architecture, sculptures, town squares and home of amazing wineries and where port comes from, imagine that!

We arrived and got our bearings straight on the Metro and found our hotel, dropped our bags and went in search of lunch. PSM had this gastronomic wonder that is a popular item here, called a franceschina. It’s a combination of bread, ham, pork slice, covered in cheese and hot sauce with a fried egg/sunny side up, on top and served with French fries, omg!

I had nothing so extravagant, I had eggs with rice. We are getting better about ordering in Portuguese, it’s cool and exciting!

After lunch, we checked into the hotel then went for a walk about. We found some beautiful squares, buildings, architecture and the information office where we booked a walking tour for the morning and hopped in a cab to head down to the water for a winery tour and tasting.

The cab dropped us off and we wandered. Got our tickets for the tour, then went on a boat your of the river [no problem on this boat! ].

After the cruise we headed to the winery for the tour and tasting and yes, I tasted and no, I did not like it, but I did it. Just like the Jamison in Ireland.

After the tasting we took the cable car or tram up to the bridge so we could walk across and watch the sunset from up there. Stunning!

After the sunset we walked in search of food and finding our options limited by the fact that a lot of places were closing or only open for drinks and pastries, away we went.

In the Metro and back towards the hotel we ate at the restaurant next to the one we ate lunch at, go figure! PSM got his sardines and I had soup and salad, I’m happy.

Back to the hotel with the round bed, one blog post will be dedicated to our hotel rooms, wow. Another will be just tiles and another, the graffiti of Portugal, it’s amazing and abundant.

I hope you had a great day!

Boa noite!

{October 18, 2015} Day 2…Lisbon…ready…set…run!

First…I’m going to scream! I wrote a fabulous post which has disappeared! Argh! Here we go trying again.

Day 2 of our vacation stayed way too early, 630 am to be exact, because PSM is very supportive of my craziness participating in the Rock-n-Roll Lisbon Half Marathon. Who does two half marathons in a week? Yup, you’re truly!

The shuttles from Oriente Metro station for the Vasco de Gama bridge left between 630 and 930am. Oriente is a train station for Metro and Euro rail on one side and mall on the other side of the street.

We took the shuttle over the bridge and half way back towards the start.

We walked by a bunch is port-o-potties and stand alone urinals on the way to the start. [I don’t think I’ve seen those before].

The hard part was waiting almost an hour to start. Then it was very cool to run over the bridge and see all the people in front and behind on the bridge.

I have to admit, I didn’t run as much of the race as I did last week, time difference and flying yesterday could have something to do with it, but I’m happy with my time, 3:39:40, I only added 10 minutes to my time from last week, not too bad, huh?

The cool thing about the race was that since I did one in two countries I got a World Tour medal, go me!

After the run, back to the hotel for a cold bath, hot shower and then an unexpected nap, heaven. We were woken up by the hotel delivering a complimentary cheese, fruit and port tray, nice. We munched while we planned our next moves.

Now it was time for dinner and we were still a little early, Portuguese time, it was only about 745, 9pm is about normal. We went to the Metro and headed down to the waterfront near the docks and wandered around admiring the architecture whole looking for a place to eat.

Eventually we found Rosa de Lancastre, a medieval restaurant. They even have a contemporary medieval chef, whatever that is!

I ordered the Calde Verde, cabbage soup, considered one of the seven culinary wonders is Portugal. It was tasty and then I found…two slices of sausage, hmmm…

When in Rome…

Then PSM’s board of smoked meats arrived and I was curious, especially since he doesn’t eat that either. I had a little taste, that was enough.

After dinner we were offered Ginji, their cherry liquor, I pulled out am the stops tonight!

On the way back to the Metro, we stopped in a little bakery and had Pastéis de Nata, Portuguese custard tarts, another thing Lisbon is known for. Y U M!!

More beautiful architecture, love the gargoyles!

I love all the tiles on the buildings and some of the them remind me of tiles in my parents house, made me smile more.

Back to the hotel to write to you and rest up, tomorrow is a new day in Portugal, I can’t wait to see what the day holds, how about you?

{October 16, 2015} Up…up…and away…

We go!

This post is coming in super early, especially by my track record, because…

PSM and I are on a plane…

We won’t land for our connecting flight until 9am local time…

I cannot believe it! We are going to…

Portugal!!! (With a wee layover in Paris, sigh)

Three glorious weeks we are going to be traveling in Europe! Can you believe it! We start in Portugal and leave from Budapest, I know, rough life we lead!

And you know I’ll be telling you everything we’re doing while we’re there, so keep checking in with my posts, like you always do! I cannot wait to share everything with you!

Have a great weekend! See you in Portugal! !

{October 15, 2015} Getting in the groove

When I write I have to be in the groove, find my mojo.

That would be why there are some days I don’t post until the wee hours of the morning! Some days it comes to me, others, its excruciating!

I can tell you it’s no different for me writing resumes, dating profiles, training documentation. You name it, whatever it is, the inspiration sometimes hits after everyone has gone to bed, up I stay!

It’s the same way when I write for work. If I have clear direction, I can run with, sometimes, but if I don’t, I have to wait for the muse or inspiration t strike and I can sit and stare at a blank screen for a long time, which is not as much fun as you may think!

Today, I was on that roll, it was awesome! It started yesterday and if the system had been working properly, I could have worked until 10 or 11pm or later, I love those times!

You’re in the zone, you know what you’re doing and what you want to do and you hit it and there’s no stopping you!

{October 14, 2015} Good service, good memories

Tonight was a pleasure.

I think I told you about the restaurant Papaya, http://papayarestaurant.biz/, the last time I was in Buffalo. It’s a great Asian Fusion restaurant and I think I went there at least 4 or 5 times the last time. The first time I went it was recommended by the manager at the Hyatt Buffalo having vegetarian options, definitely down with that!

The first time I went it was on my own and I sat at the bar and really enjoyed it, so I shared it with the team and we went a few times. When we started sitting at a table, we ended up with a fabulous server. She is funny and smart, great with suggestions when you order something, very descriptive and entertaining when talking about the menu and specials. Her husband is a chef at their sister restaurant.

She’s passionate about what she does, great to banter with. I think the last time I was there, I had her doing different things every time she came to the table, singing, dancing, something, she was a great sport about it.

When we got there tonight, I couldn’t remember her name, but I described her and they put us in her section. I asked if she remembered me and she did, where I sat and I mentioned her husband and she was touched that I remembered, she also remembered singing and dancing when she came to the table.

She was just as fabulous as I remembered! When we left I gave her a hug, she kissed me on the cheek and we left. If you get a chance to get to Papaya, make sure you ask for Chris. FABULOUS! Well worth it!

{October 13, 2015} Roller bag…look out!!!!

It was a runaway roller bag.

I got on the escalator down to my gate and all of a sudden it tipped over and it was heading face first towards the woman below on the escalator. AAACK!

Everyone was staring in horror and helplessness. It’s like you’re watching things happen in slow-motion. Luckily, the woman it was heading for was quick, she turned around and stopped the bag from going any further and hurting anyone, thank you!!

I love the wheels that rotate, they’re great, I don’t have to pull, I can push or slide, I can spin, I can send it sliding down the gangway, it keeps me entertained.

But apparently, it can be a hazard, take that as a warning!

{October 12, 2015} That is one hungry cat…

Poor Peanut…

My little girl, Peanut, is hungry. I think I’ve told you that since I had Peanut fixed, she has put on some weight. Ok, let’s face it, she got fat. Now, there is nothing wrong with fat cats, figuratively and literally, but sometimes, it’s not healthy. Before I had her fixed, she was sleek, since then, she still has the same size small head and her body has expanded, poor thing.

I used to fill the food bowl when it was empty because cats normally cats only eat until they’re full and there is usually food left in the bowl. I would give them about half a pint [the small Chinese food container for reference] in the morning and between the two of them, it would be enough for a day and a half, sometimes two days. Not anymore.

Now, I feed them in the morning and then the next morning and so on. When I get in in the afternoons, I give them a few treats and they enjoy that.

Now, since I only feed them once a day, sometimes, the bowl is empty at the end of the day and today is one of those days. The food bowl is empty and Peanut is pacing around the bowl hoping something magically appears, she was even pulling back the mat under the food, probably hoping to find a morsel, poor little bit.

Hopefully some time with professionals will help, I’ll keep you posted.

Meow.

{October 11, 2015} Bittersweet

Today was bittersweet, there were good memories and sad moments.

Today the family was together, me, GES, ACS, dad, La La, MGD and EJS. Like I said the family was together, the only one missing was PSM. We are all at the house out on Long Island and the reason we were there was to clear out what we wanted and identify what would be shipped because my dad sold the summer house.

When I was about 10 and GES was about 6, our parents were looking for a summer house and while we were at camp day bought one. We were with them looking at the houses that they were interested in, my favorite had a hammock in the middle of the house but that’s not the house they bought, darn it. The house they bought was nice, it was a ranch, with 3 bedrooms, a back porch and the original owners had enclosed the garage and build up the flooring so that it was one big family room.

The house is about a block and a half from the marina and about a 10 minute drive to the beach. We could bicycle to the library and the grocery store and the beach. What could be better? Not much.

We spent our summers, a few of them in summer camp and then at the summer house and other years just at the summer house, it was awesome, our days consisted of biking to the beach biking to the library biking to the beach. I know it sounds rough but we muddled through.

This house was fabulous, I remember the year my mom and dad made renovations and took the back porch, which was separate, opened it up, connected it to the kitchen, there were skylights a great open space and they even added a deck off some of the bedrooms added sliding doors that open onto the back deck.

One of the coolest things about the house, is that from the outside, it looks like almost any other house, very unassuming but when you opened the front door and walked in it was an oasis.

It had a nice big backyard, and outdoor shower that we built which was the best ever because you had sides on it to keep you covered and you had an open ceiling so you could shower under the sky it was amazing especially after going to the beach then you didn’t have to track stand in the house. Ingenious.

The house was furnished from the Salvation Army and yard sales and things that came from the other house and it was fabulous. It was warm and cozy and open and breezy and perfect. Before the renovation GES and I shared the back bedroom and mom and dad had the front room. After the renovation they installed a bathroom in the larger back bedroom so now the house had two bathrooms, hallelujah.

There were so many weekends during the summer that we had friends come and stay, either families and friends from school or home. We had a little 14 foot motorboat that my parents bought at a yard sale, to start out, it was the only thing I could drive without a license at 11 years old, and as we got older dad bought bigger boat, which are a lot of fun.

When we would go to the beach we would either bicycle, drive the car, or the boat, there were a few beaches that you could only get to by boat, which was fabulous. There are even some restaurants that we could go to just by boat.

It was a fabulous place, a great refuge, a place to refuel, recharge and rejuvenate. Summers on the beach we’re amazing, I remember moving to Atlanta and being landlocked, it was a little disconcerting. When I was in college, I worked in Westhampton Beach common for all the rich folks. It was quite the experience.

After college I move to Georgia but I still came back every year for a few days or a week especially for my dad’s birthday. As the years went on it got tougher and tougher to come out, and admittedly I haven’t been able to come out over the last few years due to work and that was disappointing. Sorry daddy.

As time went on, dad also started going out to the house a little less because he was on the road going somewhere traveling visiting just being fabulous. And so as time marches on things change and it was time to sell the house. So that brings us to where we are today, clearing out items picking things that we want smiling and laughing at memories being nostalgia . even a little teary eyed.

But, our memories live on, and one great thing is that all the items that I took today, are going to furnish my new apartment in Boston. So for that thank you very much daddy it is most appreciated.

Smiles all around, fabulous.

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