Parking in Lisbon

 Last day.

Probably should start with EE’s birthday dinner at the Michelin star restaurant.  And food porn for the thumbnail.

It was quite the show.  I will dump all the pictures with a brief description.  We got the 5-course tasting menu and there were surprises — as they called them.  The other 3 had the wine pairing that went with them and the sommelier was quite good about telling about the wine, where it came from, and why it paired with what they were about to get. No, Michael, I did not ask for nor, was I offered buttered noodles. :)

Here goes:

(I forgot to “feed my phone” for the opener, a smoky soup)

This is obviously prawns with a side chicken sandwich (the “bread” is chicken skin)

This is a cannelloni whose shell is made from tiger prawn. 

This is lobster with lobster sauce with the little dabs being chestnut puree.

This is cuddlefish.  In the foam somewhere. 

We had a choice of sea bass or octopus for main course — the olds took the sea bass.

The kids got the octopus.

First dessert (I was happy to hear we were doing multiple desserts) was coconut cream with olive oil ice cream and some kind of Japanese citrus fruit in the little buds.

The final dessert was chocolates with truffle and roasted rice ice cream.  

And then they brought these candies as a finish — orange, strawberry and pistachio. 

As you can see, it was quite the experience, with multiple waiters and a plethora of different plates and utensils.  The food was good (I was told; I don’t eat lobster 🤢, so a couple things I didn’t eat).  My favorite was the chicken sandwich, though I loved the sea bass.  I liked the first dessert more than the one with chocolate!!!

I am still recovering from the sticker shock, even though I “knew” — I am pretty sure the bill was more than EVERY other dinner on the trip put together! 

But we’ll never forget having cuddle fish foam in Lisbon. :)

To start the day, the apartment had nothing to make coffee with — there was pieces of a press, but without the glass decanter! 🤦

So, we waited till we got into the city to get “breakfast” and coffee (I know Michael would object to this because he wouldn’t speak until coffee passed his lips).  We made it into the spot where the Hop on Hop off buses were parked and tried to park ourselves.  We found a spot and went to pay and realized it was only two hours.  😡

By the time we made our way back to the traffic circle we started at, we had killed a good twenty minutes.  We ended up parking underground right under the buses.  

Then we waited on a bus to go…about another half hour!

Then we got dropped off at the restaurant stop, but couldn’t find a restaurant.  M said at one point “this doesn’t feel like our day.”  The cafe we ate in was the worst meal of the trip.  Between language issues and it being, literally, a one-person kitchen with maybe one burner…and this was in the center of things in Lisbon!

Then we went to the wrong side of the square to “hop on”…then almost missed the next one as Ee had gone for coffee for K and M.  

Geez. 

We finally ended up at the castle, which, as you can see, has great views. 

The story du jour is from the hop on bus; we circled back to the starting spot — #1 on our maps — and were told to jump to a second bus that was leaving in 5 minutes.  We had to scan our tickets again. This flummoxed the people in front of us.  The one woman sat down in front of us, complaining about having to re-check, searching for the ticket.  She and the driver went back and forth, him telling her it’s a liability issue, and she digging out receipt after receipt without coming up with the right one.  “I just checked in on the last bus”…and she even jumped off in the parking lot, leaving her purse with us!!! Looking for it.  Nope. 

The driver tossed her off at stop 3.  A nightmare we’ve all had. ):

We stopped and saw the pantheon, which is an impressive building, and made our way home. 

And that’s us done in Lisbon.  

It’s been a great trip.  Thanks for reading.  I think our next blog-worthy trip is to Montreal with M & B — the old road show back on the road. 

Happy winter!

Morning addendum:

First, the Abbott and Costello routine of weight and redistribution before going to the airport. Then they didn’t weigh either Ee nor K’s bag 😀 but M got a talking to about being a kilo over. 😂

On the ride over, repeated 3 things that recurred on drives: I missed a turn; the car warned about going too fast; I hit a speed bump faster than I should (see 2 😂). We survived and the check in agent gave me a clean receipt. 👍🏼

At the gate, K and I got pulled out for a random security check. NBD but added to the fun. 

-1 (C) at home. Joy joy. 

Till next time.