Day 2 of Our Kid-Free Trip: Porto, Portugal

The weather was beautiful!  I did still wear my rain coat around because there was a pattern of sunshine followed by a sudden, albeit brief, downpour and it was very windy.  We started the day with a breakfast of ham and cheese croissants.  The croissants were very different from the ones that we've had in other European countries.  They were yellowish and had a thin glaze of some kind.  They tasted softer than other croissants, melt-in-your-mouth like other croissants, but with a hint of sweetness to it.  This cafe on the river also had a white chocolate filled croissant that I had hoped to come back and get the next day, but we weren't ever able to come back to this specific place during our stay.  If I ever make it back there, the first one my list of things to do will be to hunt down a white chocolate croissant.

The second thing will be to taste more kinds of Port.  We went on two tours of Port Wine manufacturers, but there were many more that we could have done.  The tours are some what repetitious because they have to tell you about Port and how it is made, etc.  However, they have some differences in the history of each company an different capacities for production and storage, etc.  At the end of each tour we got a full sampling of the three different kinds of Port wine, red, white, and rose'.   I am pretty sure that I like them all.

We were on the other side of the river where the tours are and in between the two, we had lunch at a really good hole in the wall place.  They were packed and we had to share a table with a man and his son.  In Port, they just bring you an appetizer without you ordering it, but you can refuse it if you like.  Usually the appetizer is olives and crusty bread slices and cheeses.  I mistakenly ordered lasagna.  I say mistakenly, not because it was bad (It was really delicious!) but because I should have chosen the local specialty, a crazy drunken sandwich called a Francesinha.  Brian got it, but I was waiting to go to a restaurant that had been recommended to us as having the best Francesinha.  However, we were sadly disappointed to find that the restaurant was closed when we got there for lunch the next day.  The drunken sandwich I had at our last minute restaurant choice on Sunday was much more paprika-y than I prefer.  I like the browner sauces are my favorite and that is what this restaurant had.  I know because Brian got it and I was able to taste it.  

I touched the hundred year aged Port.  These bottles were severely dusty and give real meaning to the country song, Dust on the Bottle.

We found the painted or textured tiles on the buildings to be a highlight of the city without a doubt.  The blue and white is the most popular for a good reason.  It is just stunning.

We found a church that was decorated in these blue and white painted tiles that we ended up going to the next morning.

We went to peak in the famous library that inspired JK Rowling for her Hogwart's library, but you have to pay to get in and its really only worth it if you plan to buy a book there because your ticket gets you the amount you paid for the ticket off of your book.  I didn't plan to buy any books and just didn't think it was worth it.  Not to far from there is a hopping place that we decided to check out.  It turned out to be a decked out sardine store.  Each tin of sardines had a year on it and had the famous people born during that year, as well as any well-known or not so well-known events.

Next door was drawing a lot of attention too.  We went in and inquired what the lady in the window was making.  It was a fried cod dumpling filled with sheep's cheese.  They looked delicious, but I don't generally like fish or any seafood.  I tasted Brian's and it was pretty awful.  Brian liked it, but it was too fishy tasting for me. 

That night I wasn't even hungry for dinner and so I ordered a side salad.  Brian got the octopus that he'd been wanting.  I tasted it, but nope!  It still had on it's tiny sucker charms. 

Leaving the Kids Behind for this One: Fatima, Portugal

My parents still had a few weeks with us so Brian and I decided to do a very quick trip to Portugal, just the two of us while we had willing babysitters.  Though it was a short trip, it was the longest we've ever left the children.  We left the house Friday at 4am and didn't get back until dinnertime on Monday.  In addition, we've never flown to another country without the kids so this was a new experience for us after over 13 years of parenting.

Our flight was early on Friday, but guess what?!  I was able to NAP on the plane!  I brought a short homeschooling book and read nearly the entire book on the flight as well.  So relaxing!  

When we arrived in Porto, Portugal, we caught a shuttle immediately to the car rental and rented a car for 4 Euros!  I don't even know what that was about, but I do know that if we'd brought the kids it would've been a lot more.  Travelling kid-free is so cheap!  Score one point for kid-free travel.  Brian got behind the wheel and drove me straight to Fatima.  We spent the rest of the day there getting back just in time to return the rental.  The rest of the trip would be in Porto and we would need only a metro and our legs for transportation from then on.

I hope you don't get sick of me in all the pictures.  Brian kept making me stand in them since he had no children to force to be in the pictures.  Strike one for travelling kid-free since it means not having children to be in all the pictures and then I have to do it.  

Notice that I am wearing my rain coat in all the pictures.  That is because it was rainy and foggy the whole day.  The basilica was where we headed first to see the tombs of two of the children of Fatima.  Then we went to the Rosary followed by Mass at the Chapel of the Apparition built in the exact place where our Lady appeared.  It has only three walls and is somewhat exposed to the elements though it is covered.

We tried to go to the museum to see St. JP II's bullet inside the crown, but we were first told to come back at 1400, so we went to have lunch.  Then we came back at 14:20 and the nun said to come back at 1500.  This time we were only 5 minutes late and we were allowed to go in.  The nun didn't speak much English, and it was not clear why the opening time kept changing until we got down there.  It was a partially guided tour and began with a short film.  

After the museum, we made a few stops in the shops to buy some gifts and then began the two hour drive back to the rental car facility.  We then had to catch a shuttle back to the airport, take the metro to the office to get our apartment key and then back to the metro to go to our apartment.  We had a late dinner and the day was done.

St. Wendel Pilgrimage

And here we are right back at it.  Our church was doing a day trip pilgrimage to St. Wendel beginning with a Mass, a tour of the church, and an Easter market for a conclusion.  It just so happened to drop into some crazy cold single digit temps the night before.  It was windy and so terribly cold.

Drewy loves to find St. Andrew with his funny "X" shaped cross.

During the tour we learned that St. Wendel's body had been moved to this church behind the altar, and up higher so that people began walking under his tomb and touching it as they said a prayer.  Here is Hannah walking under his relics/tomb. 

The Easter market was too cold to even bother taking off my gloves to take pictures.  We had several friends there and so the kids were much happier in the frigid temps than they would've been otherwise.  Alas, even good company couldn't keep us out for long.  After a brat and a hot drink, we took a quick look around lingering a little bit longer in the flea market section, and then we were done.  We had to drag my die hard husband away, but it wasn't nearly as hard as it usually is to get him to call it quits early so he must've been feeling it too.  I found this very cool framed picture.  It says, "Our dear Lady of Perpetual Help" in German.  

Belleau Wood/ Ainse-Marne American Cemetery (a Stop on our Way Home)

As I think I've said before, you can't just drive home!  You have to stop and see something on your way, or at least we do.  This time it was an American Marine cemetery and battle field.  We didn't really get out and explore the battlefield, but we did take a walk around the cemetery and stop in the chapel.  This battle was where the Marines got their nickname Jarheads from.  

As we were leaving, the two men that worked there that directed us and gave us information as we entered offered to take a group photo for us.  They were so kind and seemed very glad to have visitors.  I was very impressed with how well the grounds are taken care of.

And that wrapped up our trip to Normandy.  You'd think we'd totally chill the next day, being a Saturday and all, but nope.  We got right back at it!