Portugal+Ashley=weight gain

We landed in Portugal yesterday at 7:30 am. They are an hour ahead of Spain. My time clock is so confused right now. We find the hostel but can't check in until 3:00. I felt awful. I hardly slept the night before due to the extremely loud people of our hostel and the warmer weather. With that being said, I took a little nap on the hostel couch while Brian and Julie explored. "Are you crazy?" you ask. Napping is for babies. Well let me tell you. I was about to eat people alive so sleep was needed.

We did a walking tour of la Alfama and I got toasted. The sun is much stronger by the coast. It was a 2.5 hour walk and the town is all one steep hill. It was "bom" or good :). We were going to do a nice dinner last night, but we signed up to do the meal at the hostel. The hostel mom cooks a meal every night that includes a starter, main dish, and a dessert for only €8. We heard she was excellent so we thought, "Why not eat authentic food and meet new people?"

We showered and dressed then ate. The starter was chickpea soup with spinach. I licked the bowl. The main dish was codfish with cream which is what we would call a casserole. I was a big girl and ate the fish with a smile. Dessert was a mango mousse that was so rich I couldn't finish it. The mom was so sweet and cute. She was older and rounder, and said that if she ever went to New York she would eat a hot dog every day. Our dinner crowd was fun! It was a pessimist from Seattle, a car salesman from St. Louis, a tax lawyer from Paris, two college students from cincinatti, the girl who works there from Madeira, the guy who works there, and the mom. Good conversation with new friends!
After dinner we hung out in the common room. Max played songs on the guitar and we sang and got to know each other better. A girl from Germany walked in with a girl from austria. Doris, the Austrian, looks just like Blake lively. I mean, whoa. The German, Lea (pronounced like princess Leia), is beautiful and 19. She has been traveling for a year and has only been home for Christmas. Could you imagine??? Sometimes she will go two or three months without contacting her parents at all. She had such an interesting story. I wish I could've recorded that for my kids to let them know that being cultured and knowing three languages is the norm in the rest of the world.
We got up this morning, had breakfast, then hopped the tram to Belem. We saw jeronimo's monastery and the Tower of Belem. The tower was awesome! For those that have gone, were the tiny, winding stairs in the tower not the scariest thing? I was going down, people were coming up...tiny europeans + ashley = almost squashed Europeans. Then we went to a piece of Heaven on earth: Pasteis de Belem. It's the size of a tart. It has the flakiest (I'm for real) shell and it's filled with the best custard known to man. They bring them out warm, and you sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on top. I had three. I wanted more. I wanted to cry when I left because it felt like I was losing a friend. Oh flaky, yummy friend--I miss you already.
Right now it's 4:24, and I'm laying in bed instead of doing another walking tour. So tired and I can hardly type this. who even knows if I'm making sense.

Peace and blessings!


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