photography
Foggy Morning
Foggy Day
First Stop: Coimbra
I’ve been to this one a few times, but not recently. I came here a lot on assignment, but I can easily count the number of times I visited on my own. Not many. And not for a long time. It looks exactly the same.
It’s safe to say it’s not one of my favorites in the country, even though I don’t have a specific reason for disliking it. I just can’t find one to love it. As far as I’m concerned, it’s a meh town.
We picked it for our stop because it’s about halfway to our final destination, and we found a cosy, and decently priced, apartment to spend the night.
It’s home to the oldest university in the country (1290), and has a TON of young people around, as expected. But it still manages to feel dated. It always feels old, a little seedy, a little dirty. Sorry if anyone reading this was born here, but this is my honest opinion. Maybe I just never spent enough time to let the city grow on me.
Anyway…
We left home after lunch time, and slowly made our way north. The little one slept for a while, about an hour, and we thank her for that. We arrived mid afternoon, dropped everything (amazing the amount of stuff a toddler needs in order to travel!), and walked for a little. The apartment is located downtown, so it’s busy.
Stopped at a cafe to grab a bite, but had to leave in a rush because we were attacked by a gang of filthy pigeons. tinyMovieStar made a mess with her slice of bread, and the pigeons took that, as they do, as an invitation to mad behavior.
Walked back to our place.
We’re so tired, and the little one still refuses to sleep. She’s crazy about sleeping out, and that’s something both her parents can easily understand.
Ordered delivery, will be here soon. Hopefully we’ll get some sleep, tomorrow we have a longer drive to our final destination, movieStar needs a covid test before we’re allowed in the hotel, and I’ll spend the afternoon and night working. Long day.
📍 Coimbra
Barber Time
Today I thought about barbers, and barbershops, and how I love to get a haircut whenever I’m in a new place.
Looked for the photos and realized I have missed a TON of opportunities!
I should have taken a photo at all of them, and I did not.
Shame on me!
Hump Day
Almost fully recovered, today was movieStar’s turn, her first shot. She got a ticket to Pfizer Team.
I stayed home with the tiny one, and were joined by our amazing babysitter, Mia. They are getting along brilliantly, which is great. Being a covid-baby is not easy, spending so much time with mom & dad, everyone else is a stranger. But these two are close to best friends already.
The line at the vaccination place was tiny today, so movieStar was in and out in no time, and we met her in the square, for a snack.
The little one is a (HUGE) fan of eggs, so she had that, scrambled, with a big bowl of chickpea soup. Add a slice of toast, and she’s in heaven.
We had time for a beer, and then she was getting sleepy, and so was mom, so we headed home.
They’re both sleeping now.
Tomorrow I was supposed to have an assignment, but it’s been postponed. Covid was the reason why jobs were being cancelled up to now, but the vaccine side-effects are now to blame! My colleague has a fever and she’s in no condition to work tomorrow.
Shame, but it is what it is. I certainly know how that feels!
In two days we’re leaving, going north, for a couple of days. It’ll be a weekend of fun, work, meeting friends, and having amazing food.
Great Sunday
What started as a day with a few hours of sleep missing, turned out to be pretty great in the end.
The morning was pretty normal, with a walk to the supermarket to stock up on a few missing items, and then lunch. Nothing to write home about.
Still, tinyMovieStar wouldn’t sleep, even though she should be falling apart. movieStar had a great idea: I had to go out for cigarettes, they would both tag along. We decided to do a whole afternoon out of it.
It would turn out much nicer than we expected.
We drove to the beach, at Guincho. We love driving there, sun was out, not many people on the road. Perfect. We hadn’t even considered going to the beach but, once we were close, we did. The weather was not perfect by then, turned cloudy and windy, but the little one couldn’t care less. She was beyond thrilled!
She’s been to the beach before, but acted like it was the first time, and the beach was THE BEST THING EVER! She’s a pretty happy girl, smiling all the time, but today she was over the top!
She couldn’t get enough of all the sand, playing with it, her feet and hands covered in it. She met another baby, talked to him, and promptly got back to the sand. And then some more.
It was getting darker, the clouds more menacing, and we were getting cold. It was time to go.
She was devastated! Crying, asking to be put on the ground again, more crying. We were driving away and the only thing that got her to stop was telling her we would stop by her grandfather on the way home.
And we did just that. The sun was shining again, my father-in-law commandeered two golf buggies, and we rode around the course. It’s a beautiful one. She was happy again, riding the buggy with mom and dad, looking at the ducks and birds that call the course their home.
She did not sleep on the way over. Not until after she had dinner. She was happy by then.
Today’s Spot
As far as cool locations in town go, this one is hard to beat.
Old Habits
Tea time. I just couldn’t let this one go without a photo.
Waiting
Sitting in the car, inside the garage, looking out. Waiting for tinyMovieStar’s sleep to end 😊
Sunset Sailing
A few more days and we’ll be sailing again.