The Daily Diary of a Wandering Restaurateur
Feliz Natal
Merry Christmas to all! After enjoying sunny skies through the beginning of the trip, today was again overcast and
cool. Given the holiday, we didn't expect to find much open until late afternoon, which made this a perfect lazy day to
sleep in, have a leisurely breakfast, do a little reading, run a load of laundry and catch up on the trip reports. It's
nice to have those options and enough time to take advantage of them. This is why it's known as slow travel.
We've rarely found a clothes dryer in Europe, so most of what we bring is quick-drying. All it takes is an hour or two
hanging on the drying rack or a few minutes over a radiator if there's one to be had. Anyway, having access to a washing
machine does mean we can travel lighter ... and that's always a good thing.
The apartment is in a mostly residential area near the river. I'm sure the neighborhood looks more inviting when the sun is shining brightly and all the trees are in full leaf, but it works for us. For perspective, the last three shots were taken from our front balcony. The yellow sign marks a rather fully-stocked mini market. Of course it was closed today, but yesterday I stocked up the apartment for our stay ... or at least until the 26th. We weren't sure what restaurants would be open today and didn't want to chance having nothing to eat on Christmas. Once again we beat the buzzer -- the market was closing as I left last night!
Our apartment is spacious if marginally stocked. We have everything we need equipment-wise but there was almost nothing in the cupboard aside from a little coffee and a few tea bags. Fortunately, the market is close for paper towels, soap and such. It would really have been nice to have some elevated place in the bedroom to put the suitcases or at least some drawers we could unpack into. Right now everything sits on the floor and the clutter is annoying ... but we'll live.
We had thought we'd wander about in the afternoon, but then the rain started. Frankly a good book in a warm apartment sounded like a much better alternative to slogging around in the wet ... and so it was!
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