Welcome to Arnold Adventure Tours!!!

Before I start on the day, I want to tell one small story from yesterday….. I was doing some housecleaning and walked out to recycle our bottles and throw away the trash, having the key in the same hand as the trash.  Since my hands were full, I popped open the trash dumpster lid and quickly tossed the bag into it.  Just as I released it, I realized that the apartment key had hung on the handle of the bag, dragging it out of my hands and into the dumpster.  Fortunately, it was a smallish dumpster and was fairly full so it landed where I could get to it with a slight reach, but it did send my heart to racing!!!

Today we welcomed Roy and Diane to the Arnold Adventure Tour family!!  Roy and Diane are repeat customers….having been on two previous trips….Oxford, England and Rome, Italy!!!  

Before Michael headed to work, he wanted to fill up the car but we found that we had to wait in a line to get to the pumps.  Amazingly, a passenger bus (a BIG bus) pulled in behind us and waited patiently for our little car to fill up with Diesel!!

I dropped Michael off at CIBIO and headed the 20 minutes to the airport, arriving a bit early.  I found an interesting magazine cover…..

I am afraid that this is the basic feeling over here.

While I waited, I made a welcome sign…..

…and before I knew it, they had arrived…..

As I stood at the Arrival Gate, I contemplated the enjoyment of arriving on an airplane!!   People come out looking excited to see family and friends, scared of what new things they might encounter, or down-right bored that they are once again in the Porto airport!!!!  

Even the little man at the Arrival gate is happily waving …

After a lunch and short rest time, they were ready to set out and see Vila do Conde….rain included!!!

We started just walking down residential streets, enjoying the door knockers that we found…..

I loved the bright colors in these shutters……

…and this scroll work ……

However, some of the buildings were quite dilapidated…..

….although looking inside was quite riveting……

It is easy to imagine how beautiful the place would be…..with a lot of work!!!

The rain came and went as we walked, but it was a wonderful time…..

As we moved into a more modern neighborhood, we admired the houses and courtyards…..

I am not sure what this beautiful succulent plant is, but it is magnificent….

We doubled back to our local Cafe for tea, coffee and yummy goodies…..

We decided that this cat had the right idea that it was nicer looking out from a warm dry room……

….so we trekked around the corner to our abode!!!

When Michael finished teaching at 6:00, he joined us for a nice meal and a relaxing evening!!