No breeze today

Can’t load pics in. Remember to do this later and see if it works.

Slept like the dead.  Another lovely fresh breakfast here at the hotel and then off to explore.  And it was so freaking hot. Over 90 with zero breeze.  Headed to the Aqueduct by way of the fancy part of town - Louis Vuitton, Saint Laurent etc.  Kind of like a prettier, park like Rodeo drive. Which reminds me - people dress nicer here, even the children and teens. No lululemon, athletic wear out and about, except to actually workout. People look nice and comfortable, but well put together. Glad I had on tennis shoes with traction but all the locals were wearing slim flip flops, Birks or similar.  Apparently experienced on these beautiful stone walk ways and streets! 

The Aqueduct was amazing to see in person.  After we passed through the popular part of town it was quite quiet walking there.  We went into the museum (which we didn’t even know there) we thought we’d just go look at the beauty of this engineering feat from the mid 1700’s.  Very cool information and we were able to walk on the top of the aqueduct itself and inside where the water flowed.  It survived the earthquake b/c of its iron (rebar) cores and also b/c it was not built in a straight line. They lost only a few skylights and very minor damage. It was another hot day with barely a breeze so we enjoyed the breeze at the top of the aqueduct looking over the homes and lives of the people who live there.  One side of the freeway was what seemed like lower income housing and then crossing over the freeway was what looked like a gentrification in process Some had pools, albeit small ones, with tiny but nice yards.  

Headed back thru Principal Real neighborhood which had children playing, small boutiques and small restaurants.  Kirk found a sushi place and we were sweaty, starving and ready for a beer as we were over 5 miles in at this point.  Our server was born in NY and spoke perfect English but had been living here since he was 7, and thought I was Portuguese.  People keep thinking I’m local, asking me directions and giving me menu’s in Portuguese. It was yummy and we headed back to the hotel.  We needed some down time and felt we had seen so much.

The air con felt GLORIOUS! And I was finally calmed down from the train ticket mistake.  Which i thought i wrote about but something is weird w blogger. The internets were wrong about train tickets. I spent hours researching tickets and literally every site said we can basically show up so I didn’t book our tickets to Porto b/c of it and I wasn’t sure how we’d feel the day before about getting out early or late. Apparently Sunday is the MAJOR fucking exception. Well we were almost out of luck . Kirk found the last 2 tickets on the 3:30 train. The entire freaking day was sold out.  I was so upset and Kirk handled it a bit better at the moment. We could figure something out but I was so mad at myself for not just booking a ticket months ago as my gut suggested.  So we’ll get to Porto but later.  Oh well. Something will go wrong over the month.

After a nice, cool rest we headed out to get some money b/c our dinner and Fado show was cash only.  We headed back up the hill (let’s be real, it’s all hills!) and found our little Fado place.  Duque da Rua. It was probably 12ft wide and 50 ft long, bar at the back and small table w low stools.  I had booked this months ago and it was all through email. We sat at a long table with a small group of German maxiofacial drs in their late 20’s and early 30’s, and another much older :) couple from Michigan who were also lovely. The Germans were hilarious, kind and interesting. And liked to party!  We ordered food (tapas, small plates, sandwiches) and really only got half of what we ordered and some things that we didn’t but it was all delicious.  Their prosciutto is much better here than Italy, to me. We ordered a bottle of wine and the Fado began.  First a middle aged man who was quite good, then a red haired older woman who was also amazing.  But then a dear man who looked like everyone’s Italian or Portuguese grandpa came out of a side door and stunned us all. Towards the end our server, a younger women, also got up to sing.  Unbelievable.  We just had the best time and 2 bottles of wine . The server was shocked when we ordered another bottle. We were cashing out and apparently I lost the ability to count!  Kirk saved the day and we headed back to the hotel for another drink.  But not before we passed a GinGinha sign that had us laughing our asses off.