Christmas in Coimbra II

The random Thanksgiving post was posted last night, written in October I think. (Sorry, just forgot to post and didn't notice it!)

I spent the night of 24th tasting various sorts of Portuguese delacacies. I had bought one at a cafe and the rest came from the hostel's generosity. I still managed to stir-fry some vegetables. (Warning: always look at the bottom of containers that hold things like vinagre and olive oil when in hostels, there could just happen to be little fruit flies floating, like ten of them. Questionable).

The most elaborate Christmas dessert throughout Portugal is Bolo Rei. It's basically a bunt cake with nuts and the kind of dried fruit you never see in North America with cinnamon. Very sweet yet still very delicious. However, I prefer a much more simple dessert. It's about twice the size and shape of a thumb and is made out of sweet potato, sugar, and wheat flour. I'm not quite sure what it's called. Does it matter? It's a thick, filling dessert that you don't need too much of but still satisfies as a dessert (unlike a scone. How boring is a scone??)

After the tasting, I went to a bar with some of the girls in my dorm. I didn't think anything would be open, but I ordered my first Bacardi Pina Colada. It was nothing special. I prefer la Crema de Orujo.

To bed around 3:00, up at 10:30. I ate breakfast alone, but no worries, it's Portugal. I of course had a tv nearby. I went through the cycle three times looking for a Christmas morning ballet. (For some reason I have a feeling that's what I used to do in Cheyenne...). Of course, I found E.T. in German streamed from  Austria, BBC and English floods, and an American knock-off company of CNN discusing finance schools in the middle east and how to attract more girls. But no Christmas morning ballet. No Tchaikovsky, no Baryshnikov, no Nureyev (uh, Nureyev. keeper.). So that's what I'm doing at this moment, listening to a 1959 recording of The Nutcracker and deciding if I want to go back to Lisboa early to see the Russians perform it. I can always take day trips around central Portugal. There isn't a place up north I've been dying to see or anything, just Porto. If I do see The Nutcracker, then I'll have four days more to get there.

I've been thinking hard about this the past few days. Not only that, I've been checking the status of seat availability everyday since before I went to Madeira.

Christmas morning breakfast? cereal with honey, passion fruit juice, and a mango.

Everything is closed today, naturally. I should get out anyway. It's a beautiful day (even though it rained last night)!