A Monday in Portugal…..

On Monday, Wayne and Kathie needed to be in Porto at 7:45 to catch a river cruise down the Douro River.   We drove them early that morning, enjoying that there was NO traffic on the roads. 

There was also NO people in the city area, except for the ones taking the cruise.  It was a great time to take photos…..

We said goodbye to Wayne and Kathie……

….and set our GPS to head Home.  The only problem was that it sent us down a SUPER, SUPER narrow road……

….that had a 10 kilometer per hour speed limit, and a speed detection device at the end of the road……

It was an exciting start to our Monday morning!!!

Michael started teaching his course this week and needed to be at work all day, so  I dropped him off and headed to the Laundromat again.   It was quite busy but I noticed that most people were bringing in their washed clothes and simply using the dryers.   I imagine that this is a common occurrence  in an area that rains so much!!

I had used one of the dryers and had another load ready to go into the next open dryer.  Just as one was being emptied, another woman rushed in and put her stuff in.  I didn’t say anything but noticed that the young man sitting next to me looked at me in a puzzled manner.   When his load was dry, he blocked the dryer so that I could get to it next…..so sweet!!!

I got home and spent some time doing accounting work and then looked up to see that the sun was shining…..WHAT WAS I DOING INSIDE?????  I grabbed my purse and camera and headed out for a few minutes. 

I started my portfolio of cool door photos with this beauty…..

I laughed when I passed this “yard art”……

….a reminder that I need to be REALLY careful when I am driving!!!

Many shops close during the “siesta” period between Noon and and 2, so I  passed a lot of these signs……

I did a quick run to the store as I picked Michael up.  One fun thing that I found was at the Bread dispenser.   I had shown previously that you use a paddle to move the bread out of a storage bin and into a basket.   Then you pick it up and put it in a bag using these gloves……

I picked Michael up at work at 6:00 and we happily returned to our “steak” place for dinner.  Tonight we ordered the “Picanha Beef on Stone”, the signature dish of the restaurant, but first we had the appetizers…..melon with Prosciutto, Black Olives and Bread Rolls. 

Our server, Luis, brought out our cooking utensil…..

…..and then brought out the marinated meat and showed us how to cook it properly……

We asked Luis what the marinating sauce was and he told us that the cook doesn’t even tell him!!!!

We enjoyed the meat with potatoes, and rice with black beans…..

This restaurant is so accommodating and pays particular attention to the details, including placing the table cloth over my jacket so that spits from the grill wouldn’t hit it!!!

It was a great meal to end a wonderful day!!!!