Day 2 in Lisbon

Monday 26 January 

A leisurely morning at home sipping coffee and have a light breakfast of bread and cheese. We eventually roused ourselves and made our way the three blocks or so to the Praça Comercio and around the Lisbon waterfront. 

From there we walked under the Arch up rua do Augusta to rua do Santa Justa then past the non-functioning elevator to the Nespresso store to stock up on some pods for our morning coffee. We headed down to the Baixa-Chiado Metro stop to get our 24-hour Metro tickets and then home to collect our wits.

It's great that our AirBnB is very centrally located so its easy to be in and out as needed, particularly with the uncertain weather patterns.

rua do Augusta

Metro entrance off our street

We soon headed back out to explore more of our neighborhood, walking the 2 minutes back to the Metro, taking the Blue Line to Restaurdores. We had hoped to take the funicular up to the Bairro Alto but it was temporarily closed. So we strolled down to the Rossio train station (local lines to Sintra, etc.) and soaked in the various wonders of local architecture. 

example of a mural of tiles typically found in Metro stations

praça dos Restauradores

Rossio train station

And where else but in Lisbon can you find a shop dedicated to selling just tinned Sardines!

Along the way we stopped in at a lovely shop selling all sorts of sweets and snacks and picked up some caramelized pistachios, a bag of Marcona almonds, a few chocolates, and jellied fruits (think Chuckles candy but way better). 

lovely selection of caramelized nuts and various sweet treats

caramelization process

We then made our way to the Nat'elier de Nata to savor their Pastes de Nata, the local favorite sweet treat - basically a puff pastry custard filled tart. Susie had a traditional while I thoroughly enjoyed a Pistachio and Dubai chocolate version; all washed down with coffee for me and hot chocolate for the Tarte herself. 

Susie plans to return to this very same location Wednesday for her class in making these lovely bits of Portuguese cuisine while I hope to make my way out to the Prazeres cemetery.

Leaving the pastry shop we walked a block over to get on the no. 12 trolley, hoping to ride it around the city to do some simple sightseeing. We waited and waited - no No. 12 - and eventually found ourselves getting aboard the no. 15 tram for reasons that continue to confound both of us. We rode the tram for a short ways before alighting at the Praça Comércio and walked back to our apartment. 

But aha! Just short of our building we noted a trolley stop for both the no. 28 and 12 so we thought what the heck we'll wait for the 12 here. The no. 28 came, stopped and moved on, soon followed by the no. 12 which just whizzed right on by leaving several of us (clearly) tourists dumbfounded. We threw in the towel for the day and went home.

We relaxed at home before heading out for dinner at our pre-arranged Air BnB experience. 

About 6:30 pm we left the apartment and walked up to the Metro. We took the Green Line to Anjos and walked a block-and-a-half to our venue for dinner, the Ambiente Hostel at Avenida Almirante Reis 86. The elevator wasn't cooperating so we hiked up three flights to the Hostel spaces where we were met by our host Mateus. 

The eight other guests were already seated and we were soon in the thick of everyone sharing their travel experiences so far -- the woman sitting next to Susan was heading back home to Houston, having delayed her return a day or two due to the weather. The woman across from her was Australian, traveling solo, and the couple across from Susan and myself were from Seattle --  we soon learned this was a special trip for the two of them. They wanted a bit of an adventure before she delivers her first child in a couple of months.  

The dinner went well.  The food was lovely, portions perfect and the wines (a red and white) very nice.  But it was the round of conversations that truly made it special: shared concerns of course, but jokes too, all within an atmosphere of total strangers getting to know one another in a mere two-and-a-half hours! It was a wonderful evening. Period.

homemade corn bread with infused butter and Portuguese cheese for starter

roasted chestnut cream soup

codfish and potatoes

marinated pork tenderloin on a bed of puréed corn

rice pudding

A little before 10 pm we all said adeus and each headed off their own separate ways. One of the other guests, the woman from Australia, joined us on our rainy walk to the Metro. Upon reaching the entrance to the Green Line we discovered it had closed at 9:30 pm! A quick question for folks walking by us confirmed that the next entrance a block or so away was open. And so it was. The three us rode until our stop when we said goodbye to a new friend.  

Our Air BnB experiences have all been very positive and this trip was no exception. Tomorrow it's supposed to continue to rain, and we have timed tickets for the cloister at the Jeronimos Monastery. 

Update from Grand Rapids

Things have been pretty quiet in our corner of the planet this summer. 

We have kept a fairly low profile since returning from our swing through Northern Europe this past spring. Susie has given a couple of presentations at several of the local library branches and is scheduled to do three demos at the Forest Hills Adult Enrichment Center later this autumn. I'm on tap to do a travelogue of our 2022 trip at OLLI at Aquinas College in December.

The one dark side to the summer was hearing of Lena's death in Vermont. She and Susie were good friends and spent many an hour handcrafting when not working together in the Rutland ER. Susie flew to Vermont for the funeral and on her way back to Burlington to catch a plane home stopped for lunch in Warren, VT with Dick and Dorothy who just happened to be in the area celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary!

Early August was spent preparing for and enjoying the "holidays" as we call them: Susie's birthday on 2 August, our anniversary on 6 August and Bern's 95th birthday on the 9th, the last event to include celebrations at Pilgrim Manor, her church and a family get-together at Clear Lake. Dick and Dorothy drove out from MA and helped us make Bern's day truly memorable.

Lastly, there was a small reunion of several VH cousins here in Grand Rapids. The California and Chicago contingents were in town and after dropping by to see their aunt at Pilgrim Manor joined several local cousins for dinner at Maru on Cherry Street. Lots of catching up to do among these folks who have known each other all their lives. A shared meal is always better when sharing memories and that night was exceptional in the recollections of years past. . . 

Be well and be safe!

Eaglecrest offices and condos

Reed's Lake in East Grand Rapids, home of the rich and sketchy

fishing by the not-so-sketchy in Reed's Lake, East Grand Rapids

a street in Paris (just this past June!)

Comstock Park branch of the Kent district Library

Cranes and geese coexisting, our summer neighbors in Eaglecrest

Susie, Dick and Dorothy outside a pub in Warren, Vermont

Susie and her baked goods for her mom's 95th celebration at Beckwith Hills Church

Dorothy, Dick, Bern, Susie and yours truly

Barb DeKorne and Ben Schaap at Clear Lake

Melissa Loaney

Dick and cousin Brenda

Steve Schaap, Dorothy, Susie and Dave DeKorne

Dave and Barb DeKorne and Susie

father and son

Me, Clark, Susie, Mark and Tess, Scott, Jen, Sharon, Lisa and Brenda outside Maru

Jen, Lisa and Sharon

Scott, Jen, Brenda, Lisa and Sharon

Cousins: Susie, Tess, Jen, Brenda, Lisa and Sharon

It can be cheaper eating in Paris than Grand Rapids, Michigan

At one point early on in our latest trip to Paris I had a revelation.  When I received the dinner bill at Iovines on rue de Bretagne I figured it came to about $72. Since the meal consisted of fairly basic components that we had eaten many times in the USA I thought it would be interesting to do a cost comparison with a place that served similar food. I chose Licari’s, a pizza place in Grand Rapids where we have eaten from time to time. This is not a scientific study and I urge you to try this for yourself.

Here’s what I learned.

• Licari: 2 cocktails, medium pizza, bottle of pinot noir = $74
• Iovine: 2 cocktails, similar size pizza and a bottle of Valpolicella = $72

While both meals appear to be comparable the US version doesn’t take into account the tip. And at 20% that adds another $14 to the Licari bill.

Therefore, eating a similar meal in Grand Rapids costs $88 to the Paris version of $72.

This comparison doesn’t take into account those attributes that can’t be quantified:

• location (Paris vs Grand Rapids), eating in a bistro-like setting versus a large, loud room with TV monitors everywhere;
• the quality of the service; the wait staff at Iovines spoke Italian and were clearly professional while the manager at Licari’s didn’t even know what a digestivo was.

Of course there are many places in Paris where it would cost several body parts to eat a meal. And there are many other restaurants where the service is lousy and the food mediocre.

But it is has been our great, good fortune over the years to have successfully steered away from such dens of culinary iniquity. In fact, we have found many other places like Iovines which simply reaffirms our belief that American food is no cheaper than eating in Paris and often more so since you’re often getting a lower quality of service.

Father's Day 2017

Sunday was Father's Day here in the USA, and we made the most of gorgeous weather right here in West Michigan. Before heading out to Clear Lake to be with the Ten Have-Chapman and Galloway clans, we stopped by Woodlawn Cemetery to pay our respects to a pair of special fathers. We made our way to visit Tunis VandenBerg and say hi.

Afterwards Bernice and Susan visited Emo Van Halsema, Bernice's father and Susie's grandfather, to pay their respects as well.

From the cemetery we made our way to US 131 and headed north to 10 Mile Road and Clear Lake for an afternoon of warm conversation, good food and lots of stories.

While there's always plenty of good conversation to be found outside on the deck, around the table or inside serving food, one of the more interesting events of the evening occurred late in the evening. After dinner was winding down Matt Makowski spent a half hour or so asking his wife Lisa's grandfather John Ten Have, the patriarch of the group, about his early life. Catching only snippets of the dialogue, Matt's genuine interest in the stories of days long gone but whose impact is ever-present in many around the table was fascinating to watch.

Bernice and her niece Jennifer

the setup

Gordon and Bernice

Scott, in between grill duties

the boys: Brenton Smith, Joe and Garrett Ten Have-Chapman

Lisa Makoswki

Maria, Zach and Susie