Porto

Day 4 (Feb. 16) cont.: We finally found the bus to take us to Girona airport. Girona is way on the outskirts of... well I can't even say Barcelona, because it is nowhere near the city itself. For those of you familiar with California, it's like flying from San Francisco out of San Jose airport, or from LA out of Orange County. Only these dinky airports are so old-school you still have to walk out on the tarmac & everything. But anyway, we got there, and were in Porto by 8PM. Good thing we had randomly discovered that Porto is in the same time zone as London, not France & Spain!

So anyway, we braved the Portugeuse metro system and finally got to where we were supposed to be. Our hostel turned out to be gorgeous, but man was it tricky to find! First we had to walk up a cobbled hill (not easy for tiny Mere & her huge backpack, nor for my rolling suitcase which, having cost $30 in Chinatown, could potentially break any day now). Luckily every Portugeuse person we asked for directions was so forgiving of our lack of Portugeuse language abilities, and helped us out.

We finally found the hostel, and MAN! Probably the nicest hostel I have ever seen! Nice, clean rooms & bathrooms, HUGE kitchen and common area, rockin' TV/stereo system and a garden to die for (I imagine this place is very popular come summer time!). It was quiet that Saturday night, but we randomly met 2 other Americans (a couple from Seattle) who had just gotten in, and we instantly became a crew of American travellers. The reception lady, Maria, was so nice; at around 10 she locked up the reception area and she and her friend (from France, go figure) joined us Americans in the common area and shared some port wine. I am not a fan of port wine personally (it's like drinking syrup!) but we had fun sitting and chatting. I didn't last long though, after all the travelling and luggage-hauling and hills, and went to bed around midnight.

Day 5 (Feb. 17): We woke up to a sunny day and a beautiful view from our hostel window.

And here is the room we stayed in...

It was a Sunday, and just like France, almost everything was closed. But we Americans amused ourselves by walking around, admiring the architecture, and making our way down the hill to the river Duoro (Duono? I'll have to check). We saw one of the huge bridges that crosses the river (I guess there are 3 total), but our happy demeanors changed once we noticed a disturbing scene across the river. I won't go into details out of respect but I, being 26 years old and never having seen a dead body... well I will leave it at that. Rivers can be dangerous, I suppose. :-( I was a bit shaken up. To take our mind off things, we decided to check out the Museo do Vinho do Porto (Porto Wine Museum). Something we soon learned about Porto: almost everything museum-wise is FREE!!! We decided we would go port tasting the next day (despite my distaste for the stuff, I am a wine-lover, and when in Rom-- er, Porto...)

We headed back to the hostel just as some raindrops started to fall. We Americans joined forces and made dinner, and spent the evening hanging out with other hostelers.

Day 6 (Feb. 18): Off to a semi-slow start, the crew opted to lounge about and watch a movie on the hostel's rockin' media set-up. I, being restless, wandered around on my own to find a mailbox for my postcards. I also picked up a loaf of Portugeuse bread-- very interesting texture, not bad, but spongy. When I got back, the rest of the gang was just about ready to taste some port. We headed down the hill, across the river, taking pics along the way of the port-carrying gondola-esque boats

Like the museum, the port tour & tasting were free. We went to Croft, which is, according to our tour guide, the oldest port maker. The tour itself was like almost every other winery tour I've been on: lots of barrels, the smell of oak & fermentation, etc. But still, this was PORT, and therefore, cool. Here's the American crew...

I bought a bottle of white port, which my wine-connosieur fiance had never seen before (despite his protests of, "There is nothing you can get there that I can't get in the US." HA!!!!) :) I also bought an assortment of mini-ports, a gift for whoever I know that likes port (I am leaning towards giving it to Jess' friend Steve in Bulgaria, who I may visit during April vacation). And a final souvenier, Mere and I repeated our thievery that had first manifested during our stage in Reims at the champagne tasting: we stole a couple of tasting glasses! Shh, don't tell! ;)

Next stop: the market! Erin and Jared were intrigued by my & Mere's recent lesson in Spanish cooking, so we decided to try it out. We made enough paella to feed an army! As we were all leaving the next day, we left it in the fridge for the other hostel guests to help themselves to. We stayed up a bit longer, but ultimately called it an early night, as we were heading back to France the next day.

Last day (Feb. 19): Erin & Jared had to head out on an early flight, but we still managed to swap contact info. Sadly, I can't find the lil piece of paper with their email addresses on it, but I found Erin on Facebook and hopefully that will work! As Jess & I will be in Seattle sometime soon, I'd love to see them again!

Mere and I showered, packed, checked out and headed to the airport. Something amazing happened on the flight: it got in 15 minutes early! However, even more shocked than us were the airport people at Charles de Gaulle, who I am sure have never encountered a phenomenon as unheard of as an EARLY flight (or early ANYTHING for that matter!). Alas, we had to sit on the runway-- so much for the benefits of an early arrival! We got our bags and headed to Gare du Nord, realizing that we were not going to catch the 7:00 train to Troyes and would have to wait another hour.

By 8PM we were on the train, got to Troyes around 9:30, got to my place by 10. Mere had to endure another night on my cold, drafty floor as there were no more trains to Romilly until the next day. We slept in (aside from being awakened at 8AM by my dad, who said he had been trying to call for days and no answer... glad to know he's up to date on my overseas life!!!), got some take-out pizza, and Mere & her enormous backpack headed back to Romilly.

And now, I am in Troyes alone again, until the other assistants get back on Sunday. At least the weather was nice today!!!