Back home...well Paris!

I am back in Paris and my Portugal trip blog is up! Give me a few days and Greece/Turkey will be up! I had an amazing time. I make my trek back home to the US on April 24th. See you soon. Toodles

Lisbon, Portugal Day 3

Today we woke up at 9:30 and layed around for a while. We eventually left the house at 11. We drove to Cascias which was about a 45 min drive to another town just outside of Lisbon. We made a pitstop before getting there to the famous pastry shop called Pasteis de Belem. They make a bunch of pastries but the specialty are the mini custard pies. I bought one for Asima. It was a madhouse there. (when i took the bus tour-there was a line out the door) We also walked the mini market. Portugal is known for the tiles they put together on walls to make a collage. I almost bought one from a 16th century building but it was 150 euros...so i didn't :)




Then we continued on our journey to Cascias. It was a cute town for shopping, walking, touristy stuff, drinking tea and most of all beach! We did it all! I fell asleep on my back a little too long and I got a little toasty! Ooops. Eventually one of Maria's friends, Teresa met up with us for some tea. It was nice because she spoke english. Then around 6 pm we headed back to Lisbon.







We relaxed til 8 and then went to the mall to a chain restaurant called Portugalia for some traditional Portuguese food! I had a sirloin with a fried egg on top. Interesting to say the least. Lots of protein!!!! Then we came home and at 10 pm I crashed. THANK YOU MARIA! I had a blast :) You are the best!!! What a great vacation!!!!!

Lisbon, Portugal Day 2

On Saturday we woke up around 9:30 and Maria insisted she go to the gym...so of course I went with her (although not too happy of a camper about it until after i went...duh!) We got home and showered and got all pretty because today was the day she was taking me to the restaurant she worked at for almost 2 years called Eleven. It's the ONLY 1 star Michelin restaurant in Lisbon. The chef is Joachim Koerper. She is friends with everyone there! We met Maria's daughter there around 2ish for lunch. I had the menu which consisted of 3 courses, plus an amuse bouche amongst other tastings. I thought the meal was ok...but not outstanding. Maria actually agreed with me and was perplexed as to why? She said it's normally not like this. Anyway, it was a beautiful atmosphere.

After lunch, Maria and her daughter went to a fish and wine expo and i took the bus tour of Lisbon. It was an hr and 40min and it was really pretty. We then all met up at 7 pm in the main square where we started.

Then we dropped Maria (daughter) off and went to the Casino to walk around and have a cup of tea. As we were drinking our tea we decided to go home and change for the night and come right back to eat at the second best restaurant in Lisbon called Pragma. Now this meal was OUTSTANDING! Maria knows the sommelier, so that was part of the reason we went there, but the other part was because of the talk it had. And this was worth the money and the time! I, specifically, had 9 courses and Maria had 5. Everything was perfect! I wanted more ;) I took pictures of everything of course. As we left the casino Maria said to me someone called me a model (i had to throw that in my blog! hahaha). We then picked up her friend Nuno. We went to another set of "Docas" because the first place we went to said it was going to be 180 euro cover....i mean WHAT?!! So the docks had a bunch of bars. First we went to a karaoke bar. Pretty lame...but MUCH better than the second one we went to which was 70,80, 90s music. OLD people. hahaha. But it was funny to watch nuno and maria laugh! We had a good time. We were in bed by 3 am.

Lisbon, Portugal Day 1

What an amazing vacation! I am SOOOO glad I went. Starting on Friday April 4th, I left for the airport at 12 and as usual with me, my flight was delayed. So i got into town about an hr late. When I arrived I had to change shirts since I spilled on mine. But it was ok, because I put on a tank top and I was already wearing flip flops! It was GORGEOUS there! It was almost 80 degrees (compared to the 50 degrees in paris). Anyway, Maria was waiting for me in her convertible :) We first drove around Lisbon so she could show me the town. Then eventually we went home to Maria's apartment to drop off my stuff.










Then right off the bat we went to the mall. It's SO close to her house so we walked around. I didn't buy anything. We have the same things in Paris, but i still wanted to see. We did buy a few groceries. We then went back to her house and I cooked dinner for myself. Maria eats at 9 or 10 pm...but 1) i was still an hr later (b/c of Paris time) and 2) i had eaten lunch early so I was starving. So around 7ish I ate dinner. Then we waited for her daughter at 9:15 to arrive home. We all then proceeded to go to Las Docas (the docks) where Maria (the daughter) split off from us and Maria Laura (my friend) and I went out so she could eat. I had a diet coke and we caught up! It was so good seeing her! Around midnight I got sleepy. It was a beautiful night so we walked the docks a bit and then left shortly after. I got to bed around 12:30ish.