Our first few meals over here we noticed that the restaurants would provide on-table appetizers upon sitting down, that mostly consisted of a tuna pate with bread basket or some cheese and crackers. Thinking it was similar practice to the USA, like a bread basket and oil/vinegar, we would consume what was provided.
We noticed this was a theme everywhere we went, as well as most menus had a "couvert" line item on their menu. It wasn't until we went to a "nicer" restaurant for dinner one night that they brought out an assortment of codfish-cakes and crab-cakes that we had an additional 11 Euro charge on our bill - $15 USD.
Couvert in the Portuguese culture, are appetizers that are brought to your table in advance of you ordering, as a convenience to you. You have the option to eat them or not and if you choose not to eat them, they will take them away with no charge. If you DO decide to eat them, than you will be charged per person the "couvert" charge.
Friday, November 8, 2013
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
Just a few more "norms"
As time continues to pass over here, we are getting more settled in and comfortable with our surroundings. As we continue to discover more of what the city has to offer, we also are learning more about the culture. I wish I could depict this experience more elaborately and true to its offerings, because each day is truly an adventure and something like we've never experienced before.
Anyway, here are some of the past couple weeks main observations:
Patience is a virtue - Right? Or so my mother has always said. Well this culture tests your patience. Getting in and out of anywhere quickly is not an option. Running into the store to grab milk in 5 minutes will take 20 - no matter what. They move slow...like real slow. And they like to talk...so plan on standing behind the person in the check out line for 5 minutes while they discuss the weather. Eating out is always an experience. Once you sit down, plan on waiting 10 minutes until anyone greets you, takes your drink order and then god knows how long until your meal will arrive. You almost need to go out to lunch an hour before you are really hungry because that's how long it will take to get your food. I guess it's nice when you are not on a schedule or have anywhere to be. (Story of my life :))
Parking - Their parking garages and spots are designed to fit as many vehicles in one small space as possible, leaving no room to fully extend your doors, let alone barely fit through. Thank goodness for the camera sensor because pulling in and out of parking spots is a talent. The ironic thing about the small spaces, is you would think that everyone would have cars filled with dings. I guess they all really respect one another, because people gracefully get in and out of these tiny spots without hitting the car beside them. Good thing I am seldomly behind the wheel!
Homeless Help - Downtown and along some of the higher traffic areas the homeless will help save parking spots and guide you in them. They don't do this out of the kindness of their hearts, they expect some change in return. Initially I thought this was very bizarre, as there would be lots of open spots and you would see these disheveled men pointing at an open space and trying to get you to park there. After asking around, I guess it's common and you give them some change as a token in return.
Castanhas - Among the "Ola" ice cream stands that are scattered throughout the main drag of Avenue do Brazil, so are a handful of street vendors selling nuts. I always thought they were selling garlic, as that's what I gathered from the image on the stands sign, but after we decided to explore what they were all about, we came to find out they were chestnuts. Even after eating them, we still weren't sure what type of nut they were. I took a picture of the sign, so I could google what it read and it reads - "Hot chestnuts and good". Hilarious. They were pretty decent tasting and a healthy little afternoon snack.
Chestnuts in the Portuguese culture are cultivated for its edible seeds and wood. Once the seeds are planted they can take anywhere between 5 and 20+ years before the nuts are made.
Milk - I know I have mentioned before that their milk is NOT sold in the refrigerated section of the stores, rather their normal shelves, but furthermore skim milk does not exist. Their version of skim milk is probably more comparable to our 1.5% milk. So a big glass of milk with dinner, bowl of cereal, or just because (like the gallon a week Andy would drink back in KC)...will have to wait until we get home!!
Salted Fish - Sunday afternoon we were invited to Andre and Carla's for lunch. They have been so amazing to us since we've moved here and are so welcoming of us into their home. We were very excited to spend the day with them and knew Annabelle would have a blast playing with their kids. They served salted sea bass for lunch, which was very tasty, but could not get over the way it was cooked or served. This dish is commonly prepared in the home and at restaurants...as shown below :)
Parking lot...picture doesn't do it justice, but the car in the middle is TINY and fills the spot.
Anyway, here are some of the past couple weeks main observations:
Patience is a virtue - Right? Or so my mother has always said. Well this culture tests your patience. Getting in and out of anywhere quickly is not an option. Running into the store to grab milk in 5 minutes will take 20 - no matter what. They move slow...like real slow. And they like to talk...so plan on standing behind the person in the check out line for 5 minutes while they discuss the weather. Eating out is always an experience. Once you sit down, plan on waiting 10 minutes until anyone greets you, takes your drink order and then god knows how long until your meal will arrive. You almost need to go out to lunch an hour before you are really hungry because that's how long it will take to get your food. I guess it's nice when you are not on a schedule or have anywhere to be. (Story of my life :))
Parking - Their parking garages and spots are designed to fit as many vehicles in one small space as possible, leaving no room to fully extend your doors, let alone barely fit through. Thank goodness for the camera sensor because pulling in and out of parking spots is a talent. The ironic thing about the small spaces, is you would think that everyone would have cars filled with dings. I guess they all really respect one another, because people gracefully get in and out of these tiny spots without hitting the car beside them. Good thing I am seldomly behind the wheel!
Homeless Help - Downtown and along some of the higher traffic areas the homeless will help save parking spots and guide you in them. They don't do this out of the kindness of their hearts, they expect some change in return. Initially I thought this was very bizarre, as there would be lots of open spots and you would see these disheveled men pointing at an open space and trying to get you to park there. After asking around, I guess it's common and you give them some change as a token in return.
Castanhas - Among the "Ola" ice cream stands that are scattered throughout the main drag of Avenue do Brazil, so are a handful of street vendors selling nuts. I always thought they were selling garlic, as that's what I gathered from the image on the stands sign, but after we decided to explore what they were all about, we came to find out they were chestnuts. Even after eating them, we still weren't sure what type of nut they were. I took a picture of the sign, so I could google what it read and it reads - "Hot chestnuts and good". Hilarious. They were pretty decent tasting and a healthy little afternoon snack.
Chestnuts in the Portuguese culture are cultivated for its edible seeds and wood. Once the seeds are planted they can take anywhere between 5 and 20+ years before the nuts are made.
Milk - I know I have mentioned before that their milk is NOT sold in the refrigerated section of the stores, rather their normal shelves, but furthermore skim milk does not exist. Their version of skim milk is probably more comparable to our 1.5% milk. So a big glass of milk with dinner, bowl of cereal, or just because (like the gallon a week Andy would drink back in KC)...will have to wait until we get home!!
Salted Fish - Sunday afternoon we were invited to Andre and Carla's for lunch. They have been so amazing to us since we've moved here and are so welcoming of us into their home. We were very excited to spend the day with them and knew Annabelle would have a blast playing with their kids. They served salted sea bass for lunch, which was very tasty, but could not get over the way it was cooked or served. This dish is commonly prepared in the home and at restaurants...as shown below :)
Parking lot...picture doesn't do it justice, but the car in the middle is TINY and fills the spot.
Sunday, November 3, 2013
Photo Shoot
So I had this really great idea that I would take Annabelle down to the beach and conduct a little photo shoot. I thought it would be great if I could get some new pictures of her down by the water and we were going to have our first sunny day in weeks. So I pulled out some cute outfits, got her to agree to wear a bow and off we went. The sun was shining, the surfers were out and I thought it was meant to be. I was snapping away trying to get her to smile, which she does NOT do on command anymore. I swear she thinks everyone else is funny but her mom. So we were playing and taking some pictures and just warming up when this wave came...and well, our photo shoot then ended :(
Jaoquim aka Bob
Our security guards are truly great. Jaoquim, who is our daily guard, is so wonderful and sweet to Annabelle. The culture naturally loves children, but he is a father of two boys of his own, so has that fatherly side to him. While I still have my guard up and don't trust anyone 100%, he is always super polite and sweet to her. On rainy days, which we have plenty, we will walk up to the gate and he will let her roll around in his chair and run around with her. Being one of the only tenants in the complex currently, I think he too looks forward to the interaction with us. Numerous times a day we head out for our walks and he always greets us at the gate and talks to Annabelle. His English is not the best, but he tries. I thought him "see yah" so he always ends our conversations with "see yah". He calls Andy "Mr. Andy" and Annabelle his "little princess". Knowing Annabelle would not be able to say "Jaoquim", as I have tried to teach her, I told her his name was "Bob". Now she greets him with "Hi Bob" and leaves him with "See yah Bob". Not sure why I choose Bob, but it works, so will go with it.
Oh and I think he kind of looks like Pitbull...right?
I was acting like I was taking a picture of the sky, but think he knew that I was being creepy and taking a picture of him...
I was acting like I was taking a picture of the sky, but think he knew that I was being creepy and taking a picture of him...
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
First Protest
I thought this part of the trip warranted its own post. Saturday we walked about 5 miles, though it seemed like 10, to Park Guell. Park Guell was designed by Antonio Gaudi and is filled with beautiful stone sculptures, filled with little colorful tiles. The intricacies of the designs are so beautiful and the landscaping and gardens make it a really neat site. When we arrived there was a large group of people holding signs and chanting, obviously in spanish, which we couldn't understand. After we got our tickets we had to wait 30 minutes to enter the park, as it was full, so decided to check out the protesters a little more. Next thing I know I see Andy with Annabelle on his shoulders in the middle of the protesters bouncing her up and down. Then the roars got louder and they all started storming through the gates of the park, of which Andy followed. They then marched up the stairs and were dancing and filling the parks main stairway/focal point, chanting and grooving to this beat. All the while Andy and Annabelle were in the middle, partaking in their first ever protest.
The protest was against the park for charging entrance fees, as they said "Gaudi wanted a free park". It was a very peaceful protest and so glad we were able to see the park and experience such a thing.
The protest was against the park for charging entrance fees, as they said "Gaudi wanted a free park". It was a very peaceful protest and so glad we were able to see the park and experience such a thing.
Barcelona
Well, well this is going to be a long one, so brace yourself. This past weekend we took our first intra-Euro trip to Barcelona. From start to finish the weekend was truly amazing. We LOVED the city and besides it being exactly what we needed to get us through to the holidays, we had an incredible time. Annabelle was such a trooper and made the trip that much more enjoyable.
We left super early Friday morning and left behind torrential downpours. The only hiccup of the trip was our departure flight. When booking our travel we booked our outbound on RyanAir because we needed the early flight time. Well they aren't known for being the most accommodating airline, in fact they nickel and dime you for everything! You even pay for toilet paper and ketchup:) After we checked in we went down to our gate where we quickly boarded, but boarding consisted of standing outside under the hanger for about 20 minutes. Once the plane was ready for its passengers, we had to walk, or should I say run, about 200 meters out onto the runway in the pouring rain to board our plane with luggage, stroller and Annabelle in tow. Needless to say we all looked like we just got out of the shower and the plane smelled of wet dog. I don't think we'll be flying RyanAir much in our future.
Once we arrived in Barcelona we had to take a train to the metro to then our hotel. Not being "city folks" public transportation doesn't come as second hand to us. We were able to navigate around the train and metro stations pretty smoothly, but Andy got one hell of a workout carrying the BOB stroller and our luggage up and down a bazillion flights of stairs. I think they missed the memo on escalators over here. We did take the metro the wrong direction initially but realized it after the first stop, so only had about a 15 minute detour. We met up with Abbey and Eric immediately at our hotel and it was so amazing to see them. We stayed at a cute little B&B and our rooms were right next to one another, so it worked out perfectly. Our first stop was La Sagrada Familia and we quickly realized once we approached that the line was never ending. After hearing it was going to be a 4+ hour wait, we decided to capture some pics, take in the picturesque view and proceed on with the day. We sat in a cute little courtyard area and dined on some wine and tapas. We were serenaded with music and entertained by various dance groups. Of course they all ask you for money after their "show". We spent most of the day winding on and off of La Rambla, shopping, eating and stopping for frequent drinks. We ended our day down at the water, where we ate dinner at a quaint restaurant that was known to have the best "paella" in town. Andy and Eric weren't as impressed, as they said they had to work too hard for their food :) Our bottle of wine that we choose came out and was silver with KState purple polka-dots, I think it was a sign. Seeing that Abbey and I met 12 years ago in good ole' Manhattan Kansas, we never thought we'd be living aboard, let alone spending a weekend together in Barcelona. Annabelle did such a great job sticking with us throughout dinner and feel asleep as soon as we got her in the stroller for our long haul back. She did manage to spill an entire glass of wine all over Eric's mustard color pants at Happy Hour, but thanks to some magical wine remover, it came off. With Annabelle asleep after dinner, it allowed us to stop and get beers along the way and take in the city. Abbey and I sang "La Bamba" the entire way home on La Rambla and Andy and Eric tried to ignore us at all costs.
Saturday morning we woke up and had breakfast at the B&B served by Gracelia. We then decided to walk to Park Guell, which ended up being far further than any of us anticipated. With Starbucks in hand it made the long trek much more enjoyable. We even stopped at an outdoor futbol (soccer) field where there was numerous games going on, kiddos all under the age of 10 or so. Park Guell was super cool and well worth the walk. Details and photos of the park adventure in its separate blog post. We spent the rest of the day walking around, eating, drinking and letting Annabelle run wild. The girl has an obsession with chasing birds, so found ourselves constantly running after her telling her to not get too close. Saturday night we dined at an adorable Italian restaurant down from our hotel where they had the big futbol game on. It was fun to watch the game in that atmosphere and had the best pizza of our life! We ended the night meeting back up with Abbey and Eric at our hotel for some night caps and soaking in every last minute we could with friends.
Overall Barcelona is WAY more Americanized than Porto, so the multiple English speaking conversations we had were so refreshing. While the culture seems very kind, they do not cater to children like Porto does. Had to change Annabelle on the bathroom floors the entire weekend, as no where had changing tables. We have a new found love of churros! We got to eat guacamole and it has never tasted so good. The architecture and cobblestone roads make you want to constantly be snapping photos. You can walk around with beers in your hand, so beautiful weather, great company and cold beverages makes for a pretty fabulous weekend! If time allows we most definitely will go back to Barcelona and further enjoy everything the city has to offer!
Day 1:
A friend...I kept wanting to squeeze her all weekend long. How amazing it was to be with her!
La Sagrada Familia -
Lunch with this cutie pie:
La Boqueria: Huge outdoor public market right off La Rambla that is filled with fresh produce, seafood, meat, wine, desserts...
Courtyard where we ate lunch Friday.
We left super early Friday morning and left behind torrential downpours. The only hiccup of the trip was our departure flight. When booking our travel we booked our outbound on RyanAir because we needed the early flight time. Well they aren't known for being the most accommodating airline, in fact they nickel and dime you for everything! You even pay for toilet paper and ketchup:) After we checked in we went down to our gate where we quickly boarded, but boarding consisted of standing outside under the hanger for about 20 minutes. Once the plane was ready for its passengers, we had to walk, or should I say run, about 200 meters out onto the runway in the pouring rain to board our plane with luggage, stroller and Annabelle in tow. Needless to say we all looked like we just got out of the shower and the plane smelled of wet dog. I don't think we'll be flying RyanAir much in our future.
Once we arrived in Barcelona we had to take a train to the metro to then our hotel. Not being "city folks" public transportation doesn't come as second hand to us. We were able to navigate around the train and metro stations pretty smoothly, but Andy got one hell of a workout carrying the BOB stroller and our luggage up and down a bazillion flights of stairs. I think they missed the memo on escalators over here. We did take the metro the wrong direction initially but realized it after the first stop, so only had about a 15 minute detour. We met up with Abbey and Eric immediately at our hotel and it was so amazing to see them. We stayed at a cute little B&B and our rooms were right next to one another, so it worked out perfectly. Our first stop was La Sagrada Familia and we quickly realized once we approached that the line was never ending. After hearing it was going to be a 4+ hour wait, we decided to capture some pics, take in the picturesque view and proceed on with the day. We sat in a cute little courtyard area and dined on some wine and tapas. We were serenaded with music and entertained by various dance groups. Of course they all ask you for money after their "show". We spent most of the day winding on and off of La Rambla, shopping, eating and stopping for frequent drinks. We ended our day down at the water, where we ate dinner at a quaint restaurant that was known to have the best "paella" in town. Andy and Eric weren't as impressed, as they said they had to work too hard for their food :) Our bottle of wine that we choose came out and was silver with KState purple polka-dots, I think it was a sign. Seeing that Abbey and I met 12 years ago in good ole' Manhattan Kansas, we never thought we'd be living aboard, let alone spending a weekend together in Barcelona. Annabelle did such a great job sticking with us throughout dinner and feel asleep as soon as we got her in the stroller for our long haul back. She did manage to spill an entire glass of wine all over Eric's mustard color pants at Happy Hour, but thanks to some magical wine remover, it came off. With Annabelle asleep after dinner, it allowed us to stop and get beers along the way and take in the city. Abbey and I sang "La Bamba" the entire way home on La Rambla and Andy and Eric tried to ignore us at all costs.
Saturday morning we woke up and had breakfast at the B&B served by Gracelia. We then decided to walk to Park Guell, which ended up being far further than any of us anticipated. With Starbucks in hand it made the long trek much more enjoyable. We even stopped at an outdoor futbol (soccer) field where there was numerous games going on, kiddos all under the age of 10 or so. Park Guell was super cool and well worth the walk. Details and photos of the park adventure in its separate blog post. We spent the rest of the day walking around, eating, drinking and letting Annabelle run wild. The girl has an obsession with chasing birds, so found ourselves constantly running after her telling her to not get too close. Saturday night we dined at an adorable Italian restaurant down from our hotel where they had the big futbol game on. It was fun to watch the game in that atmosphere and had the best pizza of our life! We ended the night meeting back up with Abbey and Eric at our hotel for some night caps and soaking in every last minute we could with friends.
Overall Barcelona is WAY more Americanized than Porto, so the multiple English speaking conversations we had were so refreshing. While the culture seems very kind, they do not cater to children like Porto does. Had to change Annabelle on the bathroom floors the entire weekend, as no where had changing tables. We have a new found love of churros! We got to eat guacamole and it has never tasted so good. The architecture and cobblestone roads make you want to constantly be snapping photos. You can walk around with beers in your hand, so beautiful weather, great company and cold beverages makes for a pretty fabulous weekend! If time allows we most definitely will go back to Barcelona and further enjoy everything the city has to offer!
Day 1:
La Sagrada Familia -
Yep, chasing the birds.
Abbey and I getting down on some churros (spanish donut, deep fried, rolled in sugar pastry that you dip into a cup of thick, hot chocolate)
Square off La Rambla, filled with restaurants lining the perimeter and open area with palm trees and fountains in the middle.
Down by the harbor.
Day 2:
We had to go back so we could get a picture with Annabelle awake in front of La Sagrada Familia.
Starbucks - it tasted AMAZING!!! Although I must say it wasn't 100% like the Starbucks back at home.
La Pedrera, also known as Casa Mila - another one of Gaudi's inspired buildings. Was a controversial design at the time (early 1900's) for the bold forms and wrought iron.
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
FC Porto Futbol
Sunday night we had the opportunity to go to our first ever European Futbol game. I think I was more excited than Andy seeing that I played soccer growing up and have always wanted to go to a European game. I think it was one of the coolest things I have ever seen. We were both pretty tired coming off our Barcelona weekend, but we got showered up and thought we'd leave extra early so we could check out the stadium. We got tickets from a guy Andy works with who owns a box, so had a parking pass and a map of exactly where to go. Once we got to the stadium premise, you could feel the excitement in the air. There were people walking from all different side streets dressed in their FC Porto gear.
As we entered the tunnel that took us around the stadium to our garage we immediately came to a stand still. Seeing that we are still unsure of the "normalicies" here, we sat and sat and sat. As time went on people started to get really frustrated and started honking their horns. This went on for about a good 30 minutes and we literally did NOT move. Talk about slightly clasterphobic in a tunnel. As mentioned we were not sure if this was the norm seeing that futbol is such a HUGE part of the culture here.
Kickoff came and went and we still were poking along. Finally after getting to our tunnel we hurried inside and got into the box 15 minutes late. The stadium was roaring and you could feel the energy. FC Porto was playing Sporting Lisbon, so it was a huge rival game. A few highlights of the experience and photos below.
- The reason why we had to wait to get in the parking garage was because the Lisbon fans had blocked all the entrances to the garages so the Porto fans could not get into the game. There were police vehicles EVERYWHERE and they had to majorly intervene to get the fans out of the way so the Porto fans could proceed with parking. Pretty hilarious that they thought of doing this and made thousands of people late to the game.
- We had the luxury of sitting in a box, so our parking ticket was for one spot specifically which was right underneath the box, so we literally parked and walked up a few flights of stairs to the box. Nice way to experience the game.
- They do not drink during the games, or have food/drinks in the boxes. But they do smoke. Yuck.
- FC Porto has a section that is filled with over 1,000+ fans that do not sit the entire game, rather wave flags and chant profanities at the other team.
- They serve a sit-down dinner at halftime where you have a designated table that you sit at. They have a large buffet style meal with wait staff that serves drinks during the 20 minute half. People literally run down at half, chow-down and then scurry back up to their box. This is special to the club level.
- You do not have to go through any type of security to enter the stadium. No purse checks, nothing?? Not sure if that was only for our level, but would think it would be standard stadium guidelines regardless where you sit?
- You do not have to go through any type of security to enter the stadium. No purse checks, nothing?? Not sure if that was only for our level, but would think it would be standard stadium guidelines regardless where you sit?
- Sporting Lisbon's fans were loud. Like really loud. When they scored their only goal of the game, they went crazy and shot off road flares in the middle of their sections. They were super loud and filled the air with smoke. I'm sure the Porto police had had it with them at this point. We found their loyalty very entertaining between the blocking of the parking garages to the road flares in the stadium.
Here is a video of a few captions I took throughout the game when Porto scored and Lisbon scored. The crowd was INTENSE! Sorry it gets a little rocky at the end.
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