Porto tues and wed

My new hotel room is a little shabbier, no mini bar, no little side room, the tv is high in the ceiling. But the breakfast makes up for it and then some. cheese, 4 different meats, crossaints, crepes, bread (toast, hard bread, biscotti), 5 different little sweet breads, egg and ham quiche, cereals (blah), tomatoes, rice in pudding, strawberries in wine, apples. And let me tell you- I ate it all. All around me the english and portugese had their coffee as they daintily ate their one or two sweetbreads of choice. (though I did see them keep going back, they went in stages). I had my plate piled high like I was at a luthern potluck and crumbs were spread around me. Oh I didn´t have the plain bread and two of the sweetbreads. I decided to stop the maddness of trying to get all my needed nutrition for the day in one sitting.

I walked to the serralves art museum today. (all the books tell you to take a bus, but it´s only a 2mile walk). I was walking throught the nicer neighborhoods today. I only bought a ticket to the surrounding serralves gated park. It was pretty. Not awe inspiring, but it was relaxing and nice not have to be completly on my guard. I love cities, I love all they offer, but it does get a little exhausting to have to stay aware and alert. I then walked to the ocean, got a pizza pastry and walked by the ocean wall. A seagull kept hovering directly by me and and giving me the eye (ok, while I havn´t been fabricating the other stuff, but I guess the bird may have just been flying. but I didn´t trust him.) I walked to a nearby park and it was ugly. more gravel walkways than grass. I took a tram mostly into town and it stopped a lot sooner than I thought it would so I was stuck by the river with the same isolated stairs and walkways as my choices for getting up the cliff. I took a funicular up instead. everyone on it was acting like they were on the coolest roller coaster in the world. I would have loved to scamper up stairs, but I was just wary of them. So dark and narrow and isolated. But the cool thing is I got on it without having to pay for it because I still had my tram card and it worked for it. I walked back to the city center. I was proud of myself, I did everything I had planned to do. Well, I didn´t get a banana and chocolate icecream cone as planned. But I´ve discovered that pears and broccoli here are local and they taste AMAZING. and who needs a ice cream cone when you can eat the tastiest portugese pear in the world for like 25 cents? twentyfive cents. Any pear I´ve ever had compared to this one was complete cardboard. And the portugese broccoli is even good. almost sweet.

Ok need to finalize my choices for getting to madrid by thursday.

hope everyone has a great easter.


WED
Last night I was doing good. In bed by 10, almost asleep by 10:30. But then the noise I had been ignoring grew louder and louder. People were chanting and shouting outside my hotel room. The kind of songs you´d sing at a football game or a strike or a revolt against the city. The noise grew to the point that I got up, put on pants and got my moneybelt out of my bag and put it under my pillow just in case I had to flee a burning city. I looked out my window where I could just see a small amount of street, expecting to see 200 heads of hair but couldn´t see anything. The women in the apartment across from me came out and looked over her balcony and didn´t look too concerned so I didn´t put on my boots. I did however decide if fleeing with my backpack was worth it. or if I should just escape with my passport and money and not be an obvious target. Just then 3 guys under my window started chanting, arms raised and the crowd I couldn´t see joined in, somehow even louder than before.

I went downstairs and asked the deskguy what was going on.
But I did pick up "Oh well.... the students, they just had dinner. It shouldn´t last...long."
"Oh ok. thanks."
Wait. What? Just had dinner? Graduation. Won a game? Planning to break windows and destroy the town I could understand. but dinner? I go outside and cautiously peak outside, curious to see what 300 riot chanting, dinner eating Porto students look like. There´s only 20 of them. Shouting in a group, some of them dancing. I go back upstairs and am met by a tired german. "Do they do this every night" "Well, I was here last night and it didn´t happen. The desk guy said they just had dinner and it shouldn´t last long." Yeah. Doesn´t make sense.
The dinner celebration lasted till about 11 :30, and then the hotel slept.

Am about to walk to the bus that goes to Lisbon.

Then will immediatly go to the train station and reserve the train to Madrid for that night. Hopefully it´s not all booked up. *fingers crossed* Another night train.... but this time I´m equipped with knowledge, digestive buiscuits, gas water (that´s what they call carbonated water here. Isn´t that great?) with a screw off cap, and clean socks. And i didn´t realize it, but the hostel room I booked for madrid is an ALL girls room. So lots of new things await me. After a couple days alone in a hostel room and 4 days in a hotel room, it will nice to be in the house environment again. snoring and all. the hotel room had just as much noise
love michelle