Daily Life

We started our day with a cappuccino, pastry and fresh squeezed orange juice.  I had the Tambo Chocolat (chocolate drum) and Elaine had the Bola Creme (Portuguese version of Bavarian cream).

After breakfast, we headed over to Elaine’s new apartment to do some measuring…her current place was temporary until she got her residency card and now she’s moving to a larger more permanent place. She moved into her new place today but has a lease on her current place until July 15 which is coincidentally the day I depart for Croatia. 

Just 3 doors down from her place is Manteigaria.  They make some of the best pasteis de nata I’ve ever tasted. I first found them in Lisbon and am excited they are in Porto as well.  Pasteis de Nata are little cups of happiness filled with custard. They were making some when we walked by so we stopped to watch the magic happen. Yes that is a picture of butter…they put A LOT of butter in them! 

Elaine’s new place is cute and comes furnished but doesn’t include dishes, pots and pans, sheets and towels and a few other necessities so we wanted to measure and figure out what all is needed. Days like today are things I really enjoy as  I was experiencing daily life and not just checking things to see off a list. It’s fun and interesting to see all the different appliances available here and how they compare to what we have at home. 

         

We logged 14,000 steps today wandering the streets getting me aquainted with her current and new neighborhoods.  It was a gorgeous day and everyone was out and about...locals and tourists hanging out in the parks and visiting one of the many little markets all around town.  For lunch, we stopped in the food court at one of the shopping centers.  Food courts here are fancier than those in the US and food is served on china with real utensils and glassware.  

A cake made of all marshmallows

One of the fun instagram shot spots around town.
Appropriate message for me so I had to get a pic!

Sardines are really big in Portugal and there are stores of nothing but them.  We stopped in one on the way back to the apartment and I picked up a can of sardines with pimentos (they call them peppers) and a can of bacalhau in olive oil (cod fish).  I can't eat sardines at home but I can here...definitely all in the preparation.  

We met a friend of Elaine's in the park for drinks with the Clarigos Tower as our backdrop.  Everyone in town must have had the same idea as the park was packed!

One of my most favorite things to do in other countries is to stroll up and down the aisles of grocery stores.  I absolutely love Nutella and when I saw these, I just couldn't resist!  They are delicious...so glad we don't have them at home as it would be too hard to resist them on a regular basis.

Dinner tonight was at an Italian restaurant around the corner and then back to our respective apartments.  It is always so nice to enjoy a leisurely two hour dinner and not have the server trying to rush you out the door.

Update on the luggage...apparently it is in Portugal but Delta tells me to call the airport to find out when it will be delivered and the airport tells me to call Delta becuase they can't access Delta information.  So when you start seeing me in the same outfits in pictures...don't judge!