Andy Visits London, again!

After spending a weekend with Andy in Liverpool, we headed back to London. We got back to London Sunday afternoon and had plans to have a proper Sunday roast that evening. We booked at a pub near Hampstead Heath for the first dinner seating. Even though we had an early dinner seating, the pub had already run out of Sunday roasts! Apparently the weather was really nice in London on Sunday and a lot of people stopped in the pub for a late lunch - eating up all the meat! Despite not being able to enjoy a Sunday roast, we had a hearty pub meal and our waiter let us have our wine for free.

Andy jetted off to Rome early Monday morning and returned Thursday afternoon. He enjoyed Rome - and survived the earthquakes. 

We met Andy Thursday evening for dinner in Chinatown. Andy must be good luck for us because that waiter also gave us a free bottle of wine for making us switch tables twice. Before heading home, we took Andy by our local, the Sir Richard Steele, and met some interesting locals who were a bit too much into American politics.  

On Friday, Andy explored London and met up with some friends from St. Louis, Julie & Todd, when they arrived from Paris. We met up with Andy that evening for dinner at Dishoom in Shoreditch. Dishoom is our favorite Indian restaurant in London so we tend to go when we have visitors in town if they are in the mood for Indian. After dinner we grabbed a nightcap pint at a nearby pub and then headed home for the evening.

On Saturday, we walked around Hampstead and grabbed lunch. We then headed to meet Julie & Todd at the Tower of London. Andy joined them for the tour and we headed to the Tate Modern. The top of the Tate Modern has been converted to a viewing terrace and has a great view of the London skyline - for free! Liverpool was playing that afternoon so we all met back up at a pub to watch the match. Liverpool won so the boys were happy. After the match, we grabbed some pizza and met back up with Julie & Todd for one last pint with them in London.

Andy headed back to St. Louis early Sunday morning. Thanks for visiting again Andy!

Liverpool, England

Our friend Andy from St. Louis came to visit (again!) with plans to see another Liverpool match at Anfield. When he was in town last, Andy and Shane did a day to trip to Liverpool just for the match. This time, they decided to spend the weekend in Liverpool and I joined along for the fun.

Andy arrived in town Friday morning. He dropped his things at our flat and then headed to Camden Town Brewery to try their beer and grab some lunch. The brewery was purchased by AB, where Andy works, so he had to check it out!

We met up with Andy that evening at the train station and headed for Liverpool. Andy picked up some beers at the brewery, and Shane and Andy grabbed some sandwiches in the station, so were able to enjoy a nice dinner on the train. We were all pretty exhausted when we got in so we checked into the airbnb and headed to bed.

The next morning, we headed to the docks with plans to go to the Beatles museum. The line was insane so we opted for exploring the city on our own instead. We walked along the docks and then meandered around the city center so Shane and Andy could do some shopping ... at the Liverpool FC store. We all, myself included, purchased kits (jerseys). Happy with our purchases, we headed to the Cavern Club (rebuilt) for a pint and to check-out the replica of where the Beatles played 272 times!

We quickly grabbed some lunch and then headed our separate ways. Shane and Andy to the match and I on a Beatles tour around Liverpool. On my Beatles tour I got to see where Ringo, George, John and Paul all grew-up as well as Penny Lane, Strawberry Fields and the Eleanor Rigby grave. It was a quick tour, a lot of hop-on and hop-off to snap a few pics but Beatles music was playing the whole time and as we drove down Penny Lane, our guide pointed out the things mentioned in the song.

(childhood home of Paul)

Shane and Andy thoroughly enjoyed the match - Liverpool won - and they enjoyed being able to take their time to hang around Anfield and not feel as rushed as they did on at their first experience.

I met up with Shane and Andy after the match for a pub dinner at the Philaharmonic Pub. We all thought the pub was extremely neat and appreciated its high ceilings, chandliers, fireplaces and mis-matched chairs.

On Sunday we were determined to make it to the Beatles museum. Knowing better, we bought tickets online to ensure we could skip the queue. We all enjoyed the Beatles tour, myself probably the most as I did not know much about the Beatles prior.

After the Beatles museum, we collected our bags and were off to catch the train back to London! It was a quick weekend but fun to experience a new city.  

Porto, Portugal

We took a train from Lisbon to Porto and arrived in Porto around noon on Sunday. Our airbnb was being cleaned when we arrived so we dropped our bags and headed out to grab some lunch. Our airbnb host recommended that we try Porto's local sandwich, the francesinha. The francesinha is essentially meat, typically steak and ham, in-between bread or in a bread roll, covered in cheese and a spicy sauce. Shane enjoyed it, I was not as much of a fan - the sauce was too odd for me.

After getting our fill of the sandwich we headed across the Douro River to Vila Nova de Gaia to sample some port wine. We crossed on foot via the famous Ponte Luis I Bridge - at the time of construction, the Ponte Luis I's span of 172 meters made it the longest arch span bridge in the world.

Even though storms were moving in, we found a place on the river, under an umbrella, to sample some port wine and take in the view of Porto. We had tried some port wine in Lisbon but had to try it again from the area of which it is known. As I wasn't the biggest fan of the port we tasted in Lisbon, I opted for a cocktail with a port wine base. Shane was the true port taster, opting for the port wine in its true form.

 After our tasting, we headed back to Porto to tour the Church of Sao Francisco before dinner. The church is known for its Baroque interior. Pictures were not allowed inside the church but it's entire wood interior had been painted gold - it was beautiful.

When we were done with the church, we headed to dinner at a small restaurant on the river. The restaurant was quaint and cozy; perfect for a rainy evening. The food was fantastic with the exception of the cod chips which was fried cod skin, not the fish finger type appetizer Shane was expecting.

The next morning, we grabbed breakfast and then met up with a Porto walking tour. Our tour guide was a native to the region, who grew-up 20 miles south of Porto, so had lots of knowledge to share. Our favorite part of the tour was walking through the old town near the river. The people that live in the old town have lived their for generations, some of which still don't have modern amenities such as indoor plumbing! To renovate is quite expensive because the builders would be hard-pressed or unable to get to the location as the streets are extremely narrow.

After our tour, we had a lunch at the Majestic Cafe which is rumored to be where J.K. Rowling may

have done some of her Harry Potter writing. She did live in Porto, and the Majestic Cafe was known to be a place that she quite fancied, so the locals of Porto have claimed the Majestic Cafe as a contributing factor to the birth of Harry Potter.

We shopped around for a bit and left Porto that evening. Despite the weather not being the best, we learned whilst there that it does rain frequently, we thoroughly enjoyed getting to explore the city.

Lisbon, Portugal

For our one year anniversary, we planned a trip to Portugal with the plan to split time between Lisbon and Porto.

We arrived in Lisbon mid-day Friday, grabbed a quick snack and then checked in to our airbnb. We stayed in the Alfama neighborhood which is known as Lisbon's historic old town. We quickly learned how historic and old our neighborhood was as our cab driver was unable to drop us off at our accommodations due to the narrowness of the streets.

After dropping our things at the flat, we set-off to stroll through the Baixa neighborhood before joining up with our food tour that we had booked for the afternoon/evening. To get anywhere in Lisbon from the neighborhood in which we were staying, you had to go up and cross over the castle hill. Lisbon is extremely hilly and the Baixa neighborhood is located at the bottom of the hills. The Baixa neighborhood had to be totally rebuilt after the giant earthquake in 1755 which destroyed almost the whole city. When they rebuilt the neighborhood, it was modernized; wide streets. After strolling through the Baixa neighborhood, we met up with our food tour.

Our food tour was our favorite thing about Lisbon - it was a AMAZING! Our tour guide was a local resident who took us through seven different food stops. We learned on our food tour that locals love canned fish and port wine. We thought we would disagree but one of our food stops had sardine bruschetta - it was our favorite! The port wine we did not fancy as much - fun to try but not our favorite.

After the food tour we regrouped a bit at our airbnb before heading out that night to experience some Fado music. Fado means "fate" in Portuguese and is the equivalent of their blues music. When the Portuguese sailors would depart for journeys, their wives would sing Fado in their absence. The neighborhood in which we were staying is known for its Fado, so we were in the best spot to experience the nightlife.  The only issue for us was that the Portuguese, similar to the Spanish, don't start their night until 10-11pm ... a bit late for the likes of Shane and I. Lucky for us, we stumbled upon a basement tavern Fado spot that started the music at 9:30pm; a bit more aligned with our time frame.

The next day we set out to explore the Bairro Alto neighborhood which is located on the opposite side of the main city centre. To get to the Bairro Alto neighborhood, we crossed over from Alfama to the Baixa neighborhood and then took a tram up to Bairro Alto. After walking through the neighborhood, we hopped on the famous Tram 28 which travels through the entire city. The tram was great. Really interesting to see the streets that the tram was designed to go through and how narrow they were - at certain times we felt as if we were going to hit buildings!

That evening we grabbed a cocktail at a rooftop bar overlooking Lisbon and then had dinner at a local seafood restaurant. I had read how popular the seafood restaurant was from various reviews online (including from Anthony Bourdain) and luckily Shane made us a booking. Despite us having a booking, we still had to stand in a queue outside! But the wait was worth it, the seafood was amazing!

The next morning, we were off on train to Porto!