Day 13 - Lisboa: Oriente (Purchasing), Park Strolling, City Circling, American HHing

This morning I woke with the need to take care of some business. Needed to get the next leg of my trip worked out, which involved a trip to the train station to pre-purchase a train ticket. Got that accomplished... and also ended up buying a replacement cell phone for the rest of my trip. I think it will be my most expensive Portuguese souvenir haha...

Got my biz squared away and decided I just wanted to wander for the day. Park stroll and city circling happened. Saw some of the best of Lisbon (including the Avenida da Liberdade, which is modeled after the Champs-Elysses in Paris), and some that was a little gritty. Regardless, I like Lisboa quite a bit I must say...

The joke was on me for lunch -- there is this place called A Padaria Portuguesa across from my hotel, and when I saw one down in the Bairro Chiado I was like, why not -- let me eat at some place the Portuguese peeps eat at. Turns out it's like a Panera Bread lol -- which I HATE. Not full-on hate, but just never, ever ever want to go eat at. Soup? And a boring sandwich? Turns out I apparently had spine soup (the soup type was "espinhas") and I opted for the roast pork sandwich. There was something mustard-y in that sandwich. I ate most of it. And most of the soup. And poured all that freshly squeezed in-the-moment OJ down the hatch.

Ended up going all-American by hitting up the Hard Rock Cafe here for HH -- they do half off drinks and appetizers... I was in. An hour and a half later (and some chicken wings and 5 pints later), I was ready for the walk Back to the Hotel. And I must say I do love these Portuguese sidewalks...