The best day we had so far. Nothing was planned and we met great people, taking our time and really enjoying the real Midnight in Paris. The sequel should really be Midnight in Lisbon.We woke up late, wrote some, put some pictures up on the blog, and planned a little more about our Portugal trip. We didn’t have anything planned for the day, just to drink a bottle or two of wine somewhere and then go to dinner, and take our time doing so. We made our lunch, which is now an everyday occurrence. Go to a store, get something cheap and eat while walking to the next place. We found a wine shop near where we were going to eat that night and decided to go in, despite the upscale look. We found the price to be anywhere from 2 – 40 euro. We met the shop owner and she proceeded to tell us all about the regions of Portuguese wine and about all the tastes. She offered for us to taste multiple wines and talked about life in Portugal. She talked about how she lives, doesn’t make a lot, but she lives good because Portugal is affordable. She talked about how this is the most important. To not live lavishly but to be happy living, and if that is with people who don’t make a lot of money then that is great. It was awesome because we had nowhere to be and were not rushed to end the conversation and say bye. We just stayed sampled some wine and talked for a good 45 minutes.

After getting two wines that happened to be outstanding for 5.5 euro we walked back to a park that overlooked the city. Walking through another park to get there we found a guy selling books he published out of his van, called Tell a Story. We spent about another 45 minutes just talking to him about traveling and portuguese poets and life. Talked about traveling and Portugal and how the people are so nice. It was refreshing discussion and enjoyable to talk about his passion of opening up his small publishing company.

After all that we had about 2 hours to spare before dinner so we went to the park overlooking a section of the city and sat down and opened the wine. After one glass or so our senses heightened and we heard trumpet in the distance and walked over to it. We found these three guys playing some great stuff. So we sat by them and had our wine and listened to some great music for a while. Everything seemed to change when we took our time. We appreciated everything so much more and had a great time just sitting around. I could have listened to them play for another two hours, but our stomachs were talking to us. It seems like there is a lot of live music and good music all around Lisbon.

Afterwards we sat at a “nicer meal” where I got a gorgonzola cheese topped bread portuguese sausage for 7 euro. Kate splurged and got curry for 11. I think the best days are when you are not rushed to do anything. Taking your time and doing the simple things with more meaning is really refreshing.

– W