Escaping the Cold Weather in Portugal

We love Berlin.  Don't get us wrong.  There is always something to do, a new restaurant to try, or an event taking place. That being said, it's cold and the sun don't shine. Ever.  We've had visitors who came for a week and didn't see the sun the entire time they were here.  We knew that by January, we'd be in need of some sunshine and warm weather and, since Portugal had been on my to-see list, it seemed like the perfect escape!

We arrived in Porto late Thursday night after a somewhat uncomfortable plane ride for me. As I get bigger, the middle seat just gets smaller and smaller. It didn't help that the person sitting in the aisle seat fell asleep before the plane took off and woke up as we were landing.  This pregnant girl has to pee! I'll definitely be sitting in the aisle next time....

Anyways, we made it to Porto without a hitch and were ready to hit the town the next day. Mike had been to Porto before briefly, but it was all new to me.  I'm sure we looked like such tourists because we were both giddy with excitement over the sunshine and 55 degree weather.  Don't get me wrong, I still had on a scarf and jacket, but compared to the 25 degrees it was when we left Berlin, this felt like summer time.

And Porto?  It's wonderful!  It's such a cute port town with lots of character.

We found a walking tour in our Lonely Planet book and stuck to that for the first day, which allowed us to see the majority of the city.

The inside of the train station is beautiful!

We spent most of the day just walking around, enjoying the sunlight and warm temperatures.  There isn't a ton to do in Porto, which normally would leave us a little bored, but I think we were just so happy to see the sun, we could have stayed outside wandering forever. 

Saturday was our last day in Porto since we were taking the train to Lisbon that night. One thing everyone must do in Porto is port tasting! I'm not a huge port fan, so I didn't mind sitting out the tastings, but Mike enjoyed them and both of us learned a lot. Our first stop was at Taylor's.  Since port wine is made the same way at each place, we knew we only wanted to do one tour. Taylor's is one of the originals, so their tour sounded perfect for us. Plus, it's self-guided, so we could start whenever we showed up. We learned all about how port came to Portugal from England and how it is made.  The tour included two glasses two taste at the end, so Mike tried a red and a white port. It's probably one of the more expensive tours and tastings when you break it down (12euros for two glasses....not bad at all, but most of the other tastings included three or four tastes), but since it's one of the most famous, I guess I don't blame them!

At 425 pounds, I don't think we'll be buying these bottles. ;)

Our next stop was Cruz, which was casual and quick. The tasting takes place in their lobby area and once again, Mike got a chance to try some reds and whites.  The woman behind the counter was extremely helpful in telling us about the tradition surrounding port.  Since it is such a big deal, many people will buy port for someone as a gift.  For example, on your 18th birthday, you may receive a bottle of port with grapes harvested the year you were born. 

We decided to take a break and stop for lunch, mainly because my pregnant belly was growling, but also because all of that port in Mike was taking a toll. ;) We kept hearing about these amazing sandwiches called Francesinhas that are native to Porto, so we knew we had to try them before we left. 

Let. Me. Tell. You.  This sandwich was amazing. It's basically all different kinds of meat, covered in cheese and a sauce.  Ours had a fried egg on top, which was like the cherry on top.  We decided to split one because, ya know, heart disease, but we both agreed that it was incredible and worth all of the hype.  

We also split a rice and seafood dish, which didn't stand up to the francesinha, but was delicious none the less.  With all kinds of seafood mixed into a soupy rice, it reminded me of a jambalaya type dish.  Nomz nomz. 

Instead of napping like I would have liked after our lunch, we persevered and continued on to one last port tasting.  We planned to make our last port tasting stop at Sandeman, which is the other major port producers, but unfortunately, you have to do a tour in order to do a tasting.  If we had known that, we probably would have done the tour at Sandeman and then just a tasting at Taylor's.  The woman at Sandeman recommended going next door to Quinta do Noval and I'm glad she did!  We were the only ones there, so the woman really told us all about the different styles of port, her preferences and how we'll have to buy a 2017 bottle for Baby Maximus! 

We ended our port tasting tour of Porto around 3:00 because we had to head back to the hotel to grab our bags and then catch the train to Lisbon.  More importantly though, we had to watch JMU in the national championship!! Luckily, our train had wifi and I was able to follow along on the game cast, but I was prepared for some pretty high data usage and cell phone bills if not.  Totally worth it.  

The game wasn't even close and JMU showed their colors proud and true throughout the whole game!! It was so exciting to watch the clock tick down and know that we are NATIONAL CHAMPIONS!  As my brother Ben said, it's rare that you are watching a game and your team is actually winning.  I am always proud to be a James Madison alum, but Saturday my heart was pumping a little extra purple and gold blood. 

How you celebrate a national championship when you're 24 weeks pregnant. 

We had such a great time in Porto and it provided a much needed reprieve from the cold Berlin winter.  It definitely made it high on our list of favorite European spots!

Northern Lights Hunting and Narvik, Norway

After spending the day with the reindeer, we went hunting for the Northern Lights. This was high on Mike's list of things to see while we were up north, but it's so hit or miss because of the weather.  All week, the outlook looked pretty bleak because of the clouds, but we knew that we had to go out one night to try and catch a glimpse. We left the guest house with about ten other people and guide to a lookout spot where we began our wait. The guide was a professional photographer who was able to show us how to set up our camera for the long exposure needed to capture the much anticipated Northern Lights.

Once we got to our lookout spot, we waited.

And waited.

And waited some more.

The clouds didn't give up and we spent three hours hanging out in the dark looking at a cloudy sky.   We left disappointed and with much lighter wallets (have I mentioned how expensive Sweden is? Because it hurts the wallet for sure). 

The next day, we knew that hanging around the guest house was not an option and that we had to do something.  The guide from the photography excursion suggested taking the train to Narvic, Norway, which was about an hour away.  There was an excursion to Narvic that we could join as well, but at 89euros a person, the 10euro train was looking like the better option.   Unfortunately, the train was all booked, so we had to opt for the excursion since it was really the only thing going on the next day.

We left around ten the next morning and got in the van with two other couples and the tour guide. Before we got very far, we stopped because there was a herd of reindeer on the side of the road!

We loaded back into the van to make our way to Narvik, but we made a few stops along the way.   The drive was really pretty, but some of the stops seemed unnecessary, almost like they were killing time. That being said, we did get some great shots and had a chance to put our feet in the Atlantic Ocean from the other side!

Mike with his feet in the Atlantic

After a few stops, we arrived in Narvick.  Our first stop was a fish market.  Well, fish market might be an exaggeration.  We were imagining a small version of Seattle's fish market.  Instead, we got one guy selling fish, just like at a normal supermarket.   We were disappointed to say the least, but hopeful that we were going to be going somewhere exciting for lunch.  Wrong again.  We essentially spent the rest of the excursion at a mall, where our options for lunch were the average food court choices that come with any other mall.  We didn't have enough time to go out and explore the town, but were pretty bored and disappointed in our time at the mall.  

Overall, it was extremely disappointing and not worth the hefty price.  I'm not sure what we would have done if we hadn't gone on the excursion, but we definitely regret paying for this excursion. We came back to the hotel and spent the rest of the night hoping to see the Northern Lights.  We went down to the beach nearby and waited for a couple of hours with no luck.  After we returned to the guest house and warmed up for a bit, we headed back outside for a little while where we were able to catch a glimpse of a few flare ups. Nothing super bright or spectacular, but definitely had the green glow.   I was glad that we were able to see something, even if it wasn't anything too exciting. 

When reflecting on this trip, there are quite a few things I would change, but there were some AMAZING experiences as well.  I definitely would have stayed somewhere other than the Abisko Guesthouse.  There aren't a lot of things in Abisko, but there are a few other hotels that weren't that much more expensive.  To cut down on the costs, I also would have stayed one less night.  This would have meant that we wouldn't have had that day in Narvick, which obviously would have been fine and would have saved us a ton of money.  In fact, we probably could have stayed in Kiruna the entire trip and done excursions from there, since everything seemed to be near there.  That being said, I don't regret going because we did some INCREDIBLE things. Seeing the reindeer and going dogsledding were amazing experiences that I know I'll remember for a long time.  Plus, even the not so great things are part of the experience, right?

Wrapping Up 2016 and Ringing in 2017

We arrived back in Berlin on December 27th and were happy to have few plans for the next week.  There's always the post-vacation exhaustion and a to-do list of things like grocery shopping and laundry when we return.  Luckily, this week, Mike was still on his winter break, so he was around to help out.

The most exciting thing about returning home was that we had our second big ultrasound scheduled for the next day, so we got to see lots of Baby Maximus.  He was a little camera shy and had his hand in front of his face, but he looked great and the ultrasound technician was pleased with his growth.  Keep on cooking, buddy!!

That evening, the Nutcracker was at the Berlin Opera House.  We have these great things called Classic Card, which is available to anyone in Berlin under the age of 30.  They're 10euros to get, but once you have one, you can go to any ballet, opera or show and pay a minimal price for tickets (if they're available).  It's a great deal and a great way Berlin is trying to get the younger crowd involved in the arts.  We thought the Nutcracker would be a fun way to try out our Classic Cards and we were right! We saw the Nutcracker in DC and both agreed that the choreography here was better, but the dancers and the company were better in DC.  What do we know, though?  We are not ballerinas by any means. Overall, it was a great performance and a cheap and fun night out!

We "celebrated" Christmas by exchanging gifts and opening gifts from home.  I think Baby Maximus made out best of all, but nobody walked away empty handed for sure.  One of the most prized gifts was the ChromeCast that Mike got in his stocking. It allows us to play Netflix (although only German Netflix works), Hulu, and lots of other television shows on our TV from our computer. A great investment since we don't have cable!  We have spent an embarrassing amount of time watching TV since setting it up.

Happy Hanukkah from Berlin! We spotted this huge menorah in Pariser Platz when we went to go pick up our mail at the embassy

We brought in the new year here in Berlin!  We had heard such great things about New Year's Eve in Berlin that we knew we wanted to experience it ourselves.  Brandenburg Gate is similar to Times Square on NYE and is supposed to be one of the top places to bring in the New Year around the globe.  We weren't feeling like dealing with those kinds of crowds, but that turned out to be okay because we found a great alternative.  One of the beer bars near our apartment was hosting a (free!) NYE party, so we figured we'd check it out.  The party started at 6pm, so we got there around 7:30, not sure what to expect.  We were the only ones there for the next two hours!  People began trickling in around 10:00 and by midnight we had a group of 10 of us including the bar tenders.  It was small and intimate, but a lot of fun.  Plus, since fireworks are legal here, everyone was setting them off outside.  It was amazing, albeit a little dangerous!  After ringing in 2017, we stayed for a couple of more hours where even more people showed up.  I think the trend in Berlin is to go out after midnight, but both of us were ready to call it a night around 2am.  I was impressed we made it that long!

Thirty minutes in to 2017 and having a blast!

Last, apparently I grew about 498576594 million sizes overnight because this came out of nowhere!! :D

We hope your 2017 has been off to a great start and that everyone had a relaxing and joyful start to the new year!