What? Thursday already??
Trip Start
Nov 26, 2009
1
7
Trip End
Dec 05, 2009
Lisbon, Estremadura, Portugal
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Dan stayed at the first coffee shop with The Financial Times while I headed back to the Hotel to check e-mail (this is really a cool way to work -- early morning and early evening).
Once work-fixed, we bought our daily Metro passes and headed off for the district by the River where the Aquarium is located and a large mall carrying the name: Vasco de Gama. As we moved from one Metro line to another, we walked right into a patisserie-coffee shop where I was able to truly start my day right with my favorite little airy cinnamon sugar dusted cream-puff type pastry (although it has no filling). How will I ever manage again without these delightful little airy morsels starting my day when we get back to Denver?? With that tucked away along with another coffee with hot milk, we got on the last line of the Metro for the river-front.
What a beautiful part of the city. This last Metro line is new and the surrounding buildings had been designed for a World Expo in 1998. They whole area looks as beautifully fresh and scrubbed as if it was yesterday.
Our first stop was the Vasco de Gama mall. We walked all 3 floors and I had a great time buying a cute baby overall outfit for Carter and a few fresh pregnancy items for Adie. What fun to have them to shop for! We had bought some souvenir items yesterday in Obidos but these were a bit more personal. I have seen some stunning red purses that I would love for myself but can't justify the translation from euros to US dollars -- this trip has been gift enough (although I still have one more day to resist . . . if I can)!
We ended up sharing a lunch in the food court -- some grilled pork Brazilian platter with rice and salad that Dan succesfully pantomined on our behalf. He only got one set of a fork and knife and laughed that there was no way they were going to put up with one more question from him. I do appreciate his willingness to jump into the most foreign of exchanges with an attitude of adventure and fun. He is great traveling company.
We then sauntered along the riverfront to the Aquarium. The path took us along some great water-inspired art work that I'm sure was not given its best justice on film. The Aquarium was truly knock-your-socks-off-AWESOME! I've been to many aquariums but this was by far the most magnificent of all. I think we were there for over 2 hours and we were both disappointed when we left. It was a free-standing structure that was built on posts in the river and had a center huge lagoon that had to be at least a half mile wide with misc. environments around the perimeter. They were all so well done. They grew their own coral and the entire exhibit was incredibly clean. It was a wonderful experience.
We took our time moving back to the Metro and headed back to the Old Town area in hopes of finding a restaurant where we could hear some spontaneous Fado (a sort-of Portuguese rendition of the Blues). We did find a couple of restaurants that featured such music but none of the musicians were starting until 9:00 which was a bit too late for us. We ended up taking a bus to the Cafe Suisse where we had the locally famous comfort food of cod-fish in a custard-type baked casserole topped with ripe olives dotting the surface. We also shared a green salad with tuna, boiled eggs, tomatoes and onion -- rather like a modified salad nicoise. Dan wanted to try one more patisserie on our way back to the hotel and chose Nationale Patisserie d'Lisbon that had been in business since 1829. We brought 3 pastries back to the hotel and just finished diving into this dessert a few minutes ago.
With all this talk of food and pastries, you'd think we'd both be busting our britches but truth be known -- my jeans are fitting a bit looser and we both feel justified with the tremendous amount of distance and strenuous walking we have been doing -- up and down steep streets while gripping the cobblestone surfaces.
We haven't yet made our plans for tomorrow. The Fado Museum perhaps? The Contemporary Art Museum which is a free exhibit by the same local multi-millionaire that developed the park around the winery that we visited yesterday? All I can tell you for sure is that it will involve food and pastries. I've told Dan that I MUST have grilled octopus again before we leave this city -- it is my new favorite local fare (OK that and the hollow fluffy cinnamon-sugar-dusted pastries)!!
'Til then . . .
Ann and Dan
