Anyone who travels knows that one has to be prepared for things to go wrong. I accept that. I say I’m ready. I acknowledge that I am not in control.
And then a plane is delayed.
Okay. Fine. I can deal. Just tell me when we will board.
But sometimes they don’t tell you for a while. So you sit. And wait.
This is what we did on our trip to Vermont. We had a flight scheduled at 6:20 in the morning. Ugh. But this was a more affordable flight and it would get us to our final destination at a fairly decent hour.
We got up before 3:00 AM so we could drive to the long term parking lot. We arrived in plenty of time, enjoyed a short moment in the United lounge, and headed to the gate, where we saw that people were already lined up to board. But then someone said something about a delay. Ah well.
Turned out that the Boston airport was only allowing a limited number of planes to land each hour, and that’s where we were headed. So we went and sat down. The next reported boarding time came and went. It took slightly more than two hours, but eventually we did get on that plane and headed to Boston.
The flight itself was uneventful. Getting a shuttle to the rental car place was fine. The car was gotten, and we headed out. But that was a bit of a challenge: following the guidance on the iPhone, which we never could manage to connect to get sound in the car, was just a bit unclear. But out we (eventually went), and then it was a ton of turns before we got out of Boston.
At some point I had a thought, “What if we can’t check in as late as we will arrive?” I’m so very glad that hit me, because I called and, sure enough, we were arriving too late. Thankfully they could tape our keys (my sister was traveling with us) to the door of the place.
Meanwhile, we had nearly 3 1/2 hours of driving to do. Or Dan did. I navigated a bit. And it was long and we were tired!
And then it was dinner. But could we find anything right off the road? Nope! Finally we resorted to getting to a somewhat nearby McDonalds. We don’t do fast food, but we had very little choice in the matter so whatever.
More driving and we did make it to our lodging very close to 11:00 pm Vermont time.
According to the booklet: Distance 13.1 km | 8.1 miles Elevation: +400 m | -405 m Altitude: 584 m to 788 m Climb: 1,315 ft
Breakfast at Quinta Manhãs D’Ouro wasn’t available until 8:30. It appears breakfasts might be later on this trip. Since we have no luggage transfer today we didn’t have to rush to get things packed, and we could sit around for a bit. (I’ve managed to play my Wordle game every day so my streak continues. The other games aren’t always getting played, but I do like keeping the streak going. News you can use … or maybe not.)
I realized (too late!) that I forgot to take a room photo when we arrived. Honestly, it’s nothing worth seeing, but I still like to do these so when I go back through our trips I can remember the places. This Quinta is nothing fancy, the room is small, and quite basic. (And the tile floor in the bathroom is mighty slippery after a shower!) But it’s a very quiet location, and those running it are friendly.
But oh the view!
Breakfast, dinner, and, if we opt for them, drinks, are on the main floor.
So after breakfast we got ourselves ready, including our rain coats because, surprise, surprise, it was raining. I opted to leave my rain pants at the Quinta though, since my weather app said the rain would subside and it wasn’t going to reappear until much later.
Our app with instructions for the walk said it was to start back in the village just below us, so off we went.
We tried to find the start point (where the pillory is … hmmm … not finding it!). We went one way. We went another. Pillory? What pillory?!
We finally just opted to start walking since the app will show us where we are in comparison to where we should be. But, well, um, wouldn’t you know we ended up right back by where we are staying!? We could have started from there, and would have if only we’d started the app sooner. Ah well. Reaching “our” place, though, the rain had increased enough that I decided to go back to our room (up a steep hill, mind you) to get my rain pants.
In case you don’t know, this is the rule: if you don’t bring it, you will need it, and if you do bring it, you won’t. Better to choose the latter, I believe. (And no, I never did use them!)
Getting back down the hill the rain had diminished so much we just walked on without wearing the rain pants. Initially we were on the same route we took when we passed the Quinta yesterday, but the we went up a dirt road. There was a good uphill. Not killer, but definitely uphill. We still had some rain at times, and also heard thunder.
We had some lovely views, and there was a flower I don’t think I’ve seen before (anyone? Maybe an allium of some sort?).
More views. A cemetery. A town (Vilarinho de São Romão). The rain had stopped when we neared that town.
Until we decided to stop for lunch! Go figure. This is one of our lunch bags, provided by Green Walks. We hand the bags to someone at wherever we are staying, and they hand them back full of our lunch. Handy, right? So we ate our sandwiches in the rain, and saved the rest for later because we didn’t want to continue to sit there with the rain coming down.
After lunch was another uphill walk, but then a huge downhill. I’m never jazzed about downhills. I know that means an uphill is in my future! We got to the village of Fermentões, and took some time to eat what look like pancakes at this spot with water and a bucket … perhaps a laundry spot? In any case, the pancakes were sweet and a nice thing to enjoy before another big climb.
On the climb we saw sheep, flowers, great views (eventually), and the ever-present broom (bright yellow flowers) that in our neck of the woods is considered an evil invasive species. It is ALL over the mountainsides here and I wonder what people here think of it. It’s really quite lovely, but it does seem to take over everything. Other flowers I’ve seen are lavender, some other yellow plant that I suspect is related to a pea plant (?), lupine (so far all yellow), your typical yellow daisy like flowers, and either heath or heather (I’ve never figured out the difference between those two). We’ve seen pine trees, eucalyptus trees, fruit trees, what we suspect might be nut trees (I was pretty sure I saw chestnut). There are berry plants of some sort (no blossoms or berries at this point), and obviously a ton of grapevines.
But I ramble … here have some photos!
We didn’t follow the app completely — it would have taken us back to the village below where we are staying and having seen it twice now we figured we could skip it, so back to our lodging we went. As we were getting quite close a car drove by and a man said, “Camino!” to us. Yes, there are signs that designate a Camino walks here. We’ve barely seen any walkers at all, though. Our Swiss friends from yesterday were nowhere to be seen. I’m guessing they are just too fast for us.
Getting back to our Quinta we came upstairs to get things taken care of, but eventually went downstairs to enjoy the remainder of a bottle of tinto vinho we bought yesterday. It was lovely to just relax and enjoy the view out the windows — one side showed puffy white clouds and sun and the other very dark clouds. We are learning that weather here is pretty crazy!
Next up was dinner, and it was very good. And relaxing. And I didn’t take a single photo so just trust me: we had a duck rice main after a dinner roll, sausage, olive appetizer. There was also salad, and a chocolate crepe for dessert, along with a decaf espresso. All very fine.
And I am all very tired!
Tomorrow we have our breakfast at 8:30 but our driver arrives at 9:00 to transport us to our starting spot so we will have to eat quickly, I suppose. I’m not sure if he is also the one who transports our luggage as that wasn’t mentioned in our booklet. So we will learn about that in the morning. I think tomorrow’s walk is an easier one, but it’s a long one. But again, we’ll know when we know.
It was another late start day. I woke at around 7, but Dan was asleep so I set my watch alarm for 8. When it woke me I thought Dan was still sleeping so I snoozed some more, only to wake up far too late (after 9:00!) to see Dan awake and reading. Ah well … we are on vacation so I suppose I can sleep in. (But I really hate losing time out and about.)
When we finally got moving we went first through Rossio Square with its crazy tile work that makes me want to step up when there is really no step.
Then on to the Rossio train station to see what we will do for an excursion we have planned for tomorrow.
It took us a bit of time to figure out the train ticket situation, but we did finally get that done, and then we went up to see “our” old place from 2023 and the restaurant we’ll return to after two years that was mere steps from our VRBO. First, though, there was this changing of the guard for who knows what reason: I think they are just in front of a museum, but who knows?
It was an easy walk from the station to “our place” and the restaurant and then we just rambled a bit. We went inside a church, and managed to get a glimpse of “pink street”, among other things.
With such a late start we soon decided we wanted to get lunch. We walked a while, and saw nothing inviting (but we did see a group of French guys who were already quite inebriated … go figure). Finallly I (foolishly?) suggested the Time Out Market. It’s really a tourist trap, and not a culinary delight as they might imply, but at least we knew we would find food.
Trouble is, we might not find a place to sit! And so it goes. People who do find a spot stay for eons, and no one thinks to look at two senior citizens who are on their last legs and offer to give up their chairs. Okay … maybe we look rather healthy. But still, I have gray hair and I’m old, doggone it! In any case, we ordered or chicken piri piri and stood at a table until, about when we were done, a woman next to us found a chair and brought it to me. (Dan never did get to sit.) The food was okay, but I think we could have done better a few streets down. We just didn’t know just where to go.
After lunch we went outside to check and see what was on my to-do list. There were two things I mentioned: the “LX Factory” and the Capela de Santo Amaro. Both were over two miles away, and Dan and I weren’t really sure we were up for that, so we were looking at other things, but finally decided (as it was raining, but only lightly) that we’d give the Capela a try. Thankfully the rain stopped and the shower was so light I wondered if I really needed to bring my umbrella at all.
So off we went. On not lovely roads. As I mentioned to Dan, he hadn’t gotten his camera out once! But on we plodded, until I noticed, to my left, the LX Factory. Go figure! So we walked in. It’s a bunch of places to eat and shops, and very cool looking. But we weren’t hungry and we aren’t into shopping, so we decided we might return for a snack later and continued on to the Capela.
And the Capela (yes, I’m bilingual, if not more … hah! Capela=Chapel) was really rather cool. I’ll just let it speak for itself in photos.
When we left raindrops began to fall. And fall. And fall. Plus there was wind. We walked back down to the LX spot, but decided, since we weren’t into drinking alcohol, that there really was nothing there for us, so we opted to walk back to the hotel.
That rain was really annoying by this point, and the wind wanted to mess with my umbrella. But we plodded on and eventually we got back to the hotel for a very brief rest.
Soon it was time to head to dinner. I had been looking forward to our return so it was such fun to arrive and tell a server how we had enjoyed it so much two years ago. Back then both our meals were served outside, but since — can you guess? — it had started to rain again on our walk that certainly wasn’t going to happen today. We went inside, were seated, and proceeded to enjoy an absolutely delicious meal, with excellent service. If you ever go to Portugal, be sure and try and find Oficina do Duque. It is well worth it!
On our way home we stopped by a Ginginha spot we knew from 2023, and we enjoyed our little “medicinal” (!) treat.
It’s a cherry liqueur and surely it must be good for us. They can be served in a chocolate cup if ordered that way, and that’s what we did. Unfortunately this place doesn’t serve it with a cherry if requested, and I missed that. I guess that means we have to visit another one before we head out of Lisbon … right?
Then back to the hotel. I enjoyed a shower after spending far too much time trying to figure out how to get hot water. I think we need a universal law regarding showers. Yes?
Tomorrow we have another adventure. I suppose I should sleep now.
Oh … a bit of an aside: adjusting to the time change has been surprisingly easy this time. I have no clue why, but I’m not complaining!
We headed to the airport on the early side. Okay, the too early side! But since we thought we might hit traffic we had opted for our departure time. So be it.
We checked luggage, rapidly went through security, and headed to the Polaris lounge where we made our dinner reservations. It took a while to get in, but eventually we got there. Dinner was … well … it was fine, but nothing to rave about. The portions are pretty tiny, which was fine since we knew our flight would also have a meal. From there we went back to some seats and sat. And sat. And sat. (Below is Dan, being a good boy with his alcohol free beer. And yeah, that’s my wine.)
We haven’t flown Lufthansa for a long haul flight in eons, and back when we did it certainly wasn’t in business class. So here we are, lay flat seats, fancy devices (there’s a tablet you can pull out of it’s holder plus a usual monitor in front of you), a blanket, pillow, and even a mattress pad. (And it has now occurred to me that on United you are putting your head down on a seat where so many others have slept and I wonder how carefully they clean things.) Oh … and important news … we can heat our seats. Go figure.
Prior to take-off I noticed we had a plane camera, so I did take some videos. I love it!
Dan was served dinner before I was. It took them quite a while to get to me, in fact. I guess they like him more. Understandable! I opted for a green and white asparagus appetizer, which came with a small salad and a dinner roll. Since we’d had drinks at the lounge and one small drink after boarding it was sparkling water for me.
Then it was sleep time. It was a restless legs sleep, but eventually I managed to doze off. Upon waking I saw that Dan was already upright and reading. Event it was “breakfast” time (despite the fact that it was dinner time in the country we were flying over and soon to land in. I figured an omelette could be for any meal, so I opted for that, although I really couldn’t finish it. These flights usually feed us more than I can handle, and having a lounge before and after a flight means we could eat even more.
After a bit under 11 hours we landed
… hello Munich! Or, really, hello Munich airport because that’s as much as we would see.
Then we had to head to another gate, which required a shuttle ride. A woman who had been on our first flight chatted with us a bit. Turns out she is from Los Gatos and she and Dan have a friend in common. Gotta love our small world.
From the shuttle we verified our next gate, and then went to spend an hour in the Senator’s Lounge. For this year — and possibly only this year! — we are Star Alliance Gold members which gets us into these lovely, quiet spots. Food is available, but having eaten so much I opted for a cappuccino (yes, I know the Italians would shake their heads if they saw me do that in the early evening!) and water (planes really cause dehydration).
Finally, back to a gate we went. This time for just a short hop, really. Stay tuned for the final destination!
(I’m quickly posting this, despite not having time to really make sure things are done properly: we have about 15 minutes so it’s either now or when we get to our hotel, and I’d rather it be now!)
Hearing from your credit card company that someone has used your card (in other words, the number was stolen somehow) only three days before a trip can be rather distressing. Especially when it’s the card you use due to getting miles and “pqp” from your airline. Being told that they will expedite the card to you is better. Hearing from your first hotel, telling you your credit card was refused and if you don’t replay and either provide a new number or get that credit card to work your stay will be canceled is more than distressing. Hearing back from them after you write, and having them tell you that under the circumstances you can pay upon arrival is a great relief.
But this is also why we travel with more than one card. In fact between the two of us we have five cards we could use.
We also have our debit cards through a company that will give back the fee we are charged when we take cash out. Having just read about all the tourists who were traveling and hadn’t thought to have cash on hand since most places accept cards and were pretty stranded during the power outage, we were also reminded to be sure and have at least some cash on hand.
Today I also heard from one of the train companies. Turns out one segment of a scheduled train is a no-go and for that part of the trip we will be placed on a bus.
I have been telling myself to be ready for these kinds of issues. They are bound to pop up, after all.
I think all of this is actually good for me: a reminder that I am really not in control, control freak that I am!
In other news: all bedding has been changed, the house has been dusted and vacuumed, bathrooms have been cleaned … and now I wait until we’ve both had our showers so I can get the towels washed and dried. I even, with all of this, managed to get a short walk in with my sister (a MUCH needed walk, and I’m glad to get to do this with her before we head out).
And here … have a photo of my travel PacSafe Purse. It’s cute. In case you can’t tell. It’s also pretty theft proof if I am smart about using it correctly.
Yes, I’m here. Yes, I’ve not blogged for a while. No, that doesn’t mean I haven’t been planning trips.
You read that correctly … trips. Three, in fact. We have our walking holiday, a wedding trip, and a visit in a city here in the United States with my brother Greg and sister-in-law Jan, who will be coming in from Germany for a trip here. So tons of planning is going on, and lots of possibility for confusion.
Thanks to my spreadsheets, though, everything is clearly on the page. So it might not be clear in my brain, but I can check those spreadsheets easily. Much has been taken care of with two of the three trips.
Flights and trains? Well, sort of tricky sometimes. Spain and Belgium trains still aren’t available. I wrote to Renfe and they said they still didn’t know when my trains would be available because they are waiting for the permits. Belgium made it clear it’s not worth trying until a month before. Flights in the states are ones I wait a bit on: too early and you pay a lot. Too late and you pay a lot. So timing … it’s tricky, but I check in occasionally to see how things are going.
Oh, and one more trip that may or may not include me is on the calendar as well. I’m still waiting to see what my work schedule will be, but Dan has a reunion to attend!
Fun times here on the Emerson-Mitchell planet!
Here, have a photo from a time in Florence (or shall I say Firenze?) quite some time ago.
Our flight was a bit bumpy (the pilot had warned us before we even took off), but otherwise uneventful. Toward the end he told the flight attendants to go to their jump seats and told us the final service wasn’t going to happen. That really was no biggie since I’d already decided I would tell them I didn’t want anything.
And so we landed. Got outside. And met up with my sister. (THANK YOU, Carolyn, for picking us up!)
Once home I did my typical unpacking. Has to be done immediately or I don’t rest well. Things got put away, and then mail was opened. I don’t open everything, but I open personal mail and packages, and that meant mostly Christmas cards (and even one birthday card), a book about Maria Callas (sent for free so I can read and review), and a few other things.
Dan wasn’t feeling great, so he hit the hay early. I’ve now managed to stay up until 10:35 our time and, to be honest, it does not feel like it’s 1:35 AM, which is what it would be in NYC. So I guess that’s a good thing. Maybe I’ll adjust easily.
So it’s over ‘n out for our wonderful adventure.
I guess it’s time to plan the next. 😊
Many thanks to readers who went along on our journey!
This morning it was the typical Hotel Belleclaire morning: wake, dress, go down and get coffees and the pastry of our choice (and going wild by adding orange juice to the mix). Then back upstairs for showers and sitting around until nearly noon. We just didn’t have the energy to do much at all.
Nearing noon we got ready to take the train up to Brandon and Lia’s. But first lunch at LPQ (do others call it that, or is that just Dan?), and a stop at the wine store to pick up some bubbly.
Our train ride was longer than expected. We sat for a while at a couple of stations and then quite a while longer at another. Thankfully our time was flexible. I don’t know how those who deal with the subway daily deal with delays like this if they have set schedules, but I am assuming they have to allow for incidents and leave earlier than is usually (?) necessary.
Finally we arrived at Brandon and Lia’s place. And the elevator wasn’t working. So up from L to floor 6 we went. (Even so my watch isn’t happy with what little I did today!)
We first dropped by the place where they are living, but then went to their own space and opened the champagne. I just really wanted to toast to new beginnings and all. There is so much to be done still, but if anyone had seen what it was like after the fire they’d notice a huge change for the better. Still, it’s going to take time.
This is the entrance and lobby … undamaged.
This is their place:
Eventually we went to an appliance store. Unfortunately we couldn’t go to the one that would have had more appliances and, even more importantly, more affordable and smaller appliances. But still, it was good to see things and for Lia and Brandon to get clearer ideas about what they want.
Back to their place we did more research on appliances. (Anyone know what a “speed oven” is?) Planning a kitchen in a small space can be fun but also a challenge.
Next up was a getting a car and going to a restaurant Brandon had read about. We arrived and as we started to go in Meghan and Jameson arrived as well. It was an Albanian restaurant, and the food was really great.
As I write this I’m thinking I might need to get new clothes … or start walking faster and for a longer time. I’m sure I’ve gained a lot of weight on this trip.
After dinner Dan and I said our goodbyes to all and headed back to the hotel. Tomorrow we pack, hang for a while, and then go to EWR and head home. I’m sorry the trip has come to a close, but it’s time to go home. I guess. Maybe.
Learning to take my time getting up and going isn’t easy, but since I knew dinner would probably be at 8:00 it made sense to be slow this morning. I didn’t bother with the coffee in the room: it is some sort of instant stuff and I’m just not interested in that. Dan, though, had his decaf.
Eventually we went out, with the intention of getting to the Palacio de la Aljafería.
Right outside our door is the Plaza de Justicia, which caused us to stop and take some photos. We saw several tour groups there as well.
Then we walked down the street and, well how ‘bout that?! … a market. Now we do love markets so we had no choice but to go inside. Tons of stands, with a lot of them selling fish, poultry, and meat. I took a few photos, but wasn’t sure how much they like people to do that after being told in Seville that I should stop.
From there we continued our walk. Seeing this area, the opposite direction of what we did yesterday, I wasn’t as disappointed and decided our two days here won’t be a total bust.
And then we reached our destination. For 1€ each we could enter. Turns out much of the place was so destroyed that it’s been modernized. I didn’t take photos of the clearly very new walls if I could avoid it. I was surprised they repaired it as they did, but perhaps they have no choice.
A Goya exhibit was also there. If I’m understanding what I read online, the Goya Museum might be closed, so I’m thinking this is at the castle for people who do want to see Goya now. (**I later learned this is quite incorrect: the Goya Museum is open!)
Just a small piece of a Goya picture. Just because.
More from the palace.
When we finished with the palace we simply walked across the street for our tapas and water. We were quite satisfied for a whopping price of about $11.50. Yes, that’s for two of us.
Next up was a slow ramble back to our hotel.
We did the obligatory rest time — not that we needed it, of course. Or, um, maybe we did. I slept for 20 minutes.
I had put together a map of five restaurants that might work, so when we went out again we decided to check those out. We went down a close alleyway and took some photos, and then I realized that maybe we first wanted to do the churro and chocolate thing, since the churro place that was the highest rated opened at 5:00 and it was getting close to that time. So off we went. When we reached it, at not quite 5:00, it was already hopping. I guess time is flexible here. We went in and watched what the people were doing to try and figure out how to go about it. Fortunately a woman asked us something in Spanish, we said we only spoke English, and she explained that she was asking if we were at the end of the line and that that is what we were to do. Then, when I said what we wanted to order, she helped me with that as well, so when the time came for us to place our order I almost got it right! “Dos chocolate.” And then something that meant half a dozen churros (don’t worry, they are skinny and small things.) They were quite yummy, and a great way to tide us over until our later dinner.
We started to look for the dinner places, got to one, and realized that we needed to find our way to the bridge that allows us to see the river and church to take some photos. So off we went. First we ended up in a plaza with a museum and church.
Then it was the bridge. And it was quite lovely.
Eventually lights on the bridge came on as well. Beautiful!
After spending time with cameras (Dan with his Fuji, me with the iPhone) we went back on our dinner surveying, first heading through the Christmas market.
Four restaurants and very cold hands later we settled on La Flor di Lis. I attempted to make a 7:00 reservation but the darn thing wasn’t working so we just walked back to see if we could get in. We were told we could be seated as long as we were done by 8:30. No problem! And dinner was lovely. At one point Dan looked two tables over and noticed the couple we met yesterday, Sharon and Bill. What a coincidence! We didn’t really chat, but it was fun to see them.
Just a few shots from the restaurant since I forgot, at first, to use the camera:
Then it was a quick walk to the hotel and, for me, a shower to be sure I can sleep. Or at least so I can hope to sleep.
The view from our room at night:
Tomorrow is our final full day here. I think it will be church visits and, most likely, at least one museum visit. Zaragoza has turned out to be a very fun city, and one that not as many tourists go to.
I’d say we got up a bit late, but since we have been pretty consistent getting up and moving around 9:00 I guess that’s our normal time at this point! We had our coffee in the room, got ready to go outside, and headed down the stairs.
Our first task of the day was to see how the trek to the train station would be, both for time and, because we have our roller cases, what the road surface was like.
On the way to the station we spotted a Protestant church:
Turns out getting to the station should be a very easy, maybe ten minute max trip. We checked out the station too, although we don’t yet know the track we’ll be on. (I like to know as much as possible as soon as possible, but track numbers don’t appear until shortly before the train arrives.) Our upcoming ride is the longest one we will have, mostly due to the number of stops, I think.
After that we wandered more, as we are wont to do. From the train station we sort of exited the old part of town for a bit. If we had more time in the city I suspect we’d have investigated more of this since there is some interesting architecture in Montpellier.
Eventually we went back into the center, and ended up at a small pop up art exhibit. There we enjoyed coffee and a small snack since we’d not yet eaten.
We knew we wanted to see the Montpellier Cathedral so we went in that general direction, enjoying a variety of sights on the way.
Across from the cathedral is the university, but we didn’t really see any of that.
Unfortunately the cathedral itself was only open for mass since it’s Sunday, but as we walked by we could hear the organ. It wasn’t mass time, so I could only guess that perhaps the organist was practicing. Whatever the musician was playing sounded somewhat modern to my ear, but who knows? I’m not familiar at all with solo organ works. I really wish we could have gone in to listen. From outside it sounded quite powerful. The cathedral itself is quite impressive from the outside, but there aren’t that many places where one can get photos and one side is really inaccessible.
We then ambled around and ended up in the Jardin des Plantes. It was fun to wander, and I’m especially fond of gardens where everything is labeled. I am betting the gardens is amazing in late spring and summer. But even now I really enjoyed it.
Then it was time to head to lunch. Of course that does take us a while, what with finding more things to photograph! Dan realized his battery was running low so we knew we’d have to go back to the hotel to recharge it, but we both knew, too, that we would also need recharging!
Lunch itself was nice and relaxing. And warm for a time, as the sun was shining in on us, as you can see (not a great photo, but in that sun it was the best we could do!) for much of the meal.
(You might shake your head at my goofy food photos, but it does help me remember the day so I try to take them when I remember.)
Then it was back to our hotel. Which is when I starter writing this (as is typical each day). No nap this time, though: I’m hoping I’ll sleep more soundly if I don’t nap.
Once we were ready to go out in search of dinner we donned our incredibly fashionable jackets (NOT) and went out. It really wasn’t terrifically cold, but I’d rather be too warm than too cold, so there you go.
As is typical, we walked a lot to find the right spot for dinner. We didn’t do much photographing (I’m not sure if Dan did any), but of course with an iPhone it’s easy to snap a few things.
We ended up about as close to our hotel as possible at, maybe, the most mediocre restaurant we’ve been at. And yes, I could have done better than to order fish ‘n chips at a restaurant in France! But we just weren’t in the mood to wait until more places opened, and we really just needed to get some food and head back so we could make sure we were mostly packed and ready for tomorrow’s 9:33 train. (This means, for us, that we want to leave here by around 8:30. Not early, I realize, for most folks, but considering how relaxed we’ve been on this trip it’ll probably feel early to us!)
