Today's topic is Proposition E.
Proposition E is very simple: who should have control over appointments to the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, the Mayor or the Board of Supervisors? In reality, the measure does more than just that. The measure 1) says that all current members of the SF PUC terms will expire on August 1, 2008 and 2) specifies the type of experience that each of the 5 positions shall have. Seat 1 shall have environmental policy and environmental justice experience, Seat 2 shall have ratepayer or consumer advocacy experience, Seat 3 shall have project finance experience, Seat 4 shall have water systems, power systems or public utility management experience and Seat 5 shall be an at-large member. As for appointment to the SF PUC, the measure says that any appointment to the SF PUC by the Mayor will be subject to confirmation by the Board of Supervisors. Currently, anyone appointed by the Mayor takes office immediately and can only be rejected if 3/4 of the Board votes to reject. In essence, the Board of Supervisors wants a larger say in who makes up the SF PUC and what those commissioners will be doing.
As a simple matter of background, the SF PUC is the agency in charge of the city's water system, including the Hetch Hetchy system. The SF PUC is also responsible for various electricity-related projects, such as the various solar-related proposals, as well as the controversial "Combustion Turbine Project" which seeks to shutter the Mirant Potrero power plant and construct a batch of peaker plants to replace the power and reliability of the Potrero plant.
So, with all that going on, should the Board play a larger role in who runs the SF PUC? By specifying what type of background 4 of the 5 commissioners should have does nothing but inject politics into the operation of the SF PUC. If a commissioner is so offensive to the Board, by a 3/4 vote they can reject the appointment. What this measure does is give the Board a chance to hold, and hold, and hold, and hold a nominee for as long as it wants if they do not like a nominee, for whatever reason. Finally, a wholesale firing of the commissioners is the Board's way of wiping the slate clean and enforcing their power right away. This power grab by the Board is unnecessary and would only ensure that the Board's way of thinking prevails.
Vote No on E.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Proposition D
Today we have Proposition D.
Proposition D is fairly straightforward: should City policy be that city agencies "reflect the interests and contributions of both men and women of all races, ethnicities, sexual orientation and types of disabilities" and should the city officers and agencies "support the nomination, appointment or confirmation of female, minority and disabled candidates to fill seats on those bodies"?
That's from the ballot description. What that description does not mention is that the Commission on the Status of Women "shall conduct an analysis of appointments to appointive boards, commissions, and advisory bodies ... to track the diversity of appointments to such bodies. This analysis, to be based on voluntary disclosures, shall include gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability status, and any other relevant demographic qualities."
So, let's take this piece by piece.
First, I have no idea what the first clause is supposed to mean. The City Charter already states that boards and agency membership "be broadly representative of the communities of interest," so, this takes it one step farther to include interests and contributions of the make-up of the population. So, the first clause would appear to me to be redundant.
Moving on to the second clause, which advocates for the inclusion of anyone except able-bodied, white males. Now I'm having problems. First off, diversity for diversity's sake doesn't seem to me to be a good policy goal. Just because someone is not an able-bodied, white male shouldn't place them at the top of the list; rather, there should be qualified applicants for these positions. Putting unqualified applicants onto boards and agencies increases the likelihood of government waste and inaction. If there are qualified applicants, then current federal and state law already make discrimination illegal. To make it city policy to openly advocate for these preferences is bad policy.
The third part of this proposition asks the Department on the Status of Women to monitor the progress of city boards and agencies in installing non-able-bodied, white males into boards and agencies, but only using "voluntary disclosures." Who will be doing the disclosing? Individuals? The boards and agencies? What will be the cost to do the survey and prepare the report? It doesn't say. Basically, the Department will be collecting diversity-based data in attempt to show how progressive this city is. If this city was truly progressive, then city boards and agencies, and those responsible for installing people on boards and agencies, wouldn't need to be forced or encouraged to do it- they would just do it. Having a department come counting the make-up of boards and agencies every two years will do wonders for morale and composition, I'm sure.
There is a legitimate societal goal in play here, and that's to increase the membership of non-able-bodied, white males on boards and agencies, but by advocating for preferences and set asides is not the way to accomplish this. Having another city department checking up on other parts of city government does not encourage thoughtful hiring. Furthermore, I seriously doubt that the Board of Supervisors and those in the Mayor's Office really need a city charter amendment to do this. As I opined above, if this city truly is progressive, it's already hiring these folks, and this proposition is unnecessary (except to make people feel better about themselves and show how progressive they are).
In short, this is an unnecessary and potentially wasteful measure. Vote No on D.
Proposition D is fairly straightforward: should City policy be that city agencies "reflect the interests and contributions of both men and women of all races, ethnicities, sexual orientation and types of disabilities" and should the city officers and agencies "support the nomination, appointment or confirmation of female, minority and disabled candidates to fill seats on those bodies"?
That's from the ballot description. What that description does not mention is that the Commission on the Status of Women "shall conduct an analysis of appointments to appointive boards, commissions, and advisory bodies ... to track the diversity of appointments to such bodies. This analysis, to be based on voluntary disclosures, shall include gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability status, and any other relevant demographic qualities."
So, let's take this piece by piece.
First, I have no idea what the first clause is supposed to mean. The City Charter already states that boards and agency membership "be broadly representative of the communities of interest," so, this takes it one step farther to include interests and contributions of the make-up of the population. So, the first clause would appear to me to be redundant.
Moving on to the second clause, which advocates for the inclusion of anyone except able-bodied, white males. Now I'm having problems. First off, diversity for diversity's sake doesn't seem to me to be a good policy goal. Just because someone is not an able-bodied, white male shouldn't place them at the top of the list; rather, there should be qualified applicants for these positions. Putting unqualified applicants onto boards and agencies increases the likelihood of government waste and inaction. If there are qualified applicants, then current federal and state law already make discrimination illegal. To make it city policy to openly advocate for these preferences is bad policy.
The third part of this proposition asks the Department on the Status of Women to monitor the progress of city boards and agencies in installing non-able-bodied, white males into boards and agencies, but only using "voluntary disclosures." Who will be doing the disclosing? Individuals? The boards and agencies? What will be the cost to do the survey and prepare the report? It doesn't say. Basically, the Department will be collecting diversity-based data in attempt to show how progressive this city is. If this city was truly progressive, then city boards and agencies, and those responsible for installing people on boards and agencies, wouldn't need to be forced or encouraged to do it- they would just do it. Having a department come counting the make-up of boards and agencies every two years will do wonders for morale and composition, I'm sure.
There is a legitimate societal goal in play here, and that's to increase the membership of non-able-bodied, white males on boards and agencies, but by advocating for preferences and set asides is not the way to accomplish this. Having another city department checking up on other parts of city government does not encourage thoughtful hiring. Furthermore, I seriously doubt that the Board of Supervisors and those in the Mayor's Office really need a city charter amendment to do this. As I opined above, if this city truly is progressive, it's already hiring these folks, and this proposition is unnecessary (except to make people feel better about themselves and show how progressive they are).
In short, this is an unnecessary and potentially wasteful measure. Vote No on D.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Prop. C
Today we will discuss Proposition C.
Proposition C asks to amend language in the City's Employees Retirement System that would prohibit employees that engaged in "moral turpitude" in connection with their job from receiving any retirement funds funded with employer contributions. This proposition is in response to a recent court decision potentially allowing for some former employees to receive retirement benefits even if found guilty of "moral turpitude."
According to the election pamphlet, moral turpitude is defined as "There is no precise definition. Generally, a crime involving moral turpitude is one that reveals a person's dishonesty, readiness to do evil, bad character, or moral depravity. The courts decide this on a case-by-case basis. Examples would include crimes (misdemeanor or felony) involving theft, fraud, or breach of public trust." Further definition of moral turpitude and other examples can be found here. Additionally, according to the write up in the pamphlet, this language has not been consistently applied or added to new retirement plans. So, since this is a change to the city charter, it must go before the voters.
What does this all mean? Well, this is basically an addition to make all city employees' retirement plans terms consistent, and if an employee engages in certain illegal actions, see definition above, they will be prohibited from receiving any of their retirement contributions. It seems to me that if someone is convicted of any of the crimes that are defined as "moral turpitude," then the employee should definitely not be eligible to receive retirement benefits.
Opponents of the measure point out that moral turpitude has been used by various courts across the country to prosecute homosexual activity. As noted in the pamphlet rebuttal, the decision as to what constitutes moral turpitude is made by the S.F. Retirement Board and not a court. So, what it boils down is that the opponents of this proposition simply don't like the terminology. Simply put, the S.F. Retirement Board determines if someone has committed moral turpitude in relation to their retirement benefits, not the courts.
This appears to be merely a technical amendment. As the pamphlet notes, this term has been in use since 1966 and continues so. Despite opponents' attempt to cast this proposition in terms other than its intended purpose, people found guilty of crimes of moral turpitude, as determined by the S.F. retirement board, should not be allowed to receive their retirement benefits.
Vote yes on Prop. C.
Proposition C asks to amend language in the City's Employees Retirement System that would prohibit employees that engaged in "moral turpitude" in connection with their job from receiving any retirement funds funded with employer contributions. This proposition is in response to a recent court decision potentially allowing for some former employees to receive retirement benefits even if found guilty of "moral turpitude."
According to the election pamphlet, moral turpitude is defined as "There is no precise definition. Generally, a crime involving moral turpitude is one that reveals a person's dishonesty, readiness to do evil, bad character, or moral depravity. The courts decide this on a case-by-case basis. Examples would include crimes (misdemeanor or felony) involving theft, fraud, or breach of public trust." Further definition of moral turpitude and other examples can be found here. Additionally, according to the write up in the pamphlet, this language has not been consistently applied or added to new retirement plans. So, since this is a change to the city charter, it must go before the voters.
What does this all mean? Well, this is basically an addition to make all city employees' retirement plans terms consistent, and if an employee engages in certain illegal actions, see definition above, they will be prohibited from receiving any of their retirement contributions. It seems to me that if someone is convicted of any of the crimes that are defined as "moral turpitude," then the employee should definitely not be eligible to receive retirement benefits.
Opponents of the measure point out that moral turpitude has been used by various courts across the country to prosecute homosexual activity. As noted in the pamphlet rebuttal, the decision as to what constitutes moral turpitude is made by the S.F. Retirement Board and not a court. So, what it boils down is that the opponents of this proposition simply don't like the terminology. Simply put, the S.F. Retirement Board determines if someone has committed moral turpitude in relation to their retirement benefits, not the courts.
This appears to be merely a technical amendment. As the pamphlet notes, this term has been in use since 1966 and continues so. Despite opponents' attempt to cast this proposition in terms other than its intended purpose, people found guilty of crimes of moral turpitude, as determined by the S.F. retirement board, should not be allowed to receive their retirement benefits.
Vote yes on Prop. C.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Prop. B
Today we deal with Proposition B.
Prop. B is a settlement the city reached with various union and worker representatives to head off an impending financial disaster. See, several years ago the city signed an agreement with various city worker unions and representatives that guaranteed health care benefits for life after retirement if an employee worked for the city for 5 years. So, say you were a low level janitor cleaning up schools- after 5 years, the city would guarantee your health care coverage after reaching retirement age, regardless of wherever or whatever you did after those 5 years. It doesn't really take a genius to realize that the city is on the hook for a lot of money once those employees start hitting retirement age; estimates put it at over $4 billion in total over the life of the agreement. This proposition is a revision to that agreement.
So, what does it do? An employee is still eligible for health care benefits after 5 years, but the city will not fully pay it upon retirement; instead, it bases payment on how many years one works for the city. A person with 10 years experience will get 50% paid, with 15 years will get 75% paid and a person with 20 years of service will get 100% paid. To help pay for these costs, the city will also establish a trust fund. The employee will pay 2% of their salary into the fund and the city will kick in another 1%. I will note that these provisions only apply to employees hired AFTER January 10, 2009. Additionally, wages are frozen for the 09-10 fiscal years to help the city pay and set up these new programs. Finally, there are associated changes to the pension and retirement benefits by raising the percentage of final salary and what age a former employee can earn a pension- 2.3% of the final salary will be available when a former employee reaches the age of 62.
Ok, that was really confusing. The basic thing to take away from all of this is that the city is trying to fend off an unfunded retirement health care fiasco. The city had not been accounting for these increases in retirement benefits and health care as part of their normal budgetary process, and this is a way to help meet that expected increase. At this point in the game, any solution probably looks good, and that an agreement was reached on this at all is important. I have no idea if this will ultimately make any difference in helping the city meet its duty to provide for retired employees, but it certainly looks like it can't hurt. Coupled with an employee funded trust fund, I don't think it will make up all the difference, but every little bit helps.
So, with all of that enthusiastic praise, go ahead and vote Yes on Prop. B.
Prop. B is a settlement the city reached with various union and worker representatives to head off an impending financial disaster. See, several years ago the city signed an agreement with various city worker unions and representatives that guaranteed health care benefits for life after retirement if an employee worked for the city for 5 years. So, say you were a low level janitor cleaning up schools- after 5 years, the city would guarantee your health care coverage after reaching retirement age, regardless of wherever or whatever you did after those 5 years. It doesn't really take a genius to realize that the city is on the hook for a lot of money once those employees start hitting retirement age; estimates put it at over $4 billion in total over the life of the agreement. This proposition is a revision to that agreement.
So, what does it do? An employee is still eligible for health care benefits after 5 years, but the city will not fully pay it upon retirement; instead, it bases payment on how many years one works for the city. A person with 10 years experience will get 50% paid, with 15 years will get 75% paid and a person with 20 years of service will get 100% paid. To help pay for these costs, the city will also establish a trust fund. The employee will pay 2% of their salary into the fund and the city will kick in another 1%. I will note that these provisions only apply to employees hired AFTER January 10, 2009. Additionally, wages are frozen for the 09-10 fiscal years to help the city pay and set up these new programs. Finally, there are associated changes to the pension and retirement benefits by raising the percentage of final salary and what age a former employee can earn a pension- 2.3% of the final salary will be available when a former employee reaches the age of 62.
Ok, that was really confusing. The basic thing to take away from all of this is that the city is trying to fend off an unfunded retirement health care fiasco. The city had not been accounting for these increases in retirement benefits and health care as part of their normal budgetary process, and this is a way to help meet that expected increase. At this point in the game, any solution probably looks good, and that an agreement was reached on this at all is important. I have no idea if this will ultimately make any difference in helping the city meet its duty to provide for retired employees, but it certainly looks like it can't hurt. Coupled with an employee funded trust fund, I don't think it will make up all the difference, but every little bit helps.
So, with all of that enthusiastic praise, go ahead and vote Yes on Prop. B.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Lisbon
Our final day in Europe.
We didn't have many plans for the day in Lisbon, just hit a few of the tourist things and take our time. We left the hotel a little before noon, and tried to find an ATM. We found one, but when we tried to get money out, we kept getting error messages saying the ATM couldn't communicate with the network. One after another gave us the same message. We finally just walked into a bank and was able to make a charge onto our debit card and they gave us the money. With that minor emergency out of the way, we stopped for lunch at McDonalds.
Now, there is really nothing that I hate more than going on vacation and eating at a chain. On the other hand, it's interesting when overseas to go into a chain, like McDonalds, and just check it out and see what's on the menu. So, we did that, and got it out of the way.
We left McDonalds and headed for Plaç a Martin Moniz to get on the 28 tram, which goes on a windy route up and down the hills of Lisbon and around the Castle of St. George. The tram is an old and rickety one-man operation, scooting through the narrow streets of the Alfama district of Lisbon. It really was a wonder to sit and watch this tram work its way up the hills and through the streets, narrowly missing parked cars or waiting for stopped cars to get out of the way. Anyway, we got off at the Castle stop. The stop is halfway up the hill, with the castle at the top, and has several lookout points that face out toward the ocean where the River Tagus empties out into the Atlantic Ocean. It also allows a great vantage point to see the neighborhood and the houses pushed together; it almost appears that being pushed together is the only way to keep them from sliding off the hill entirely. After several pictures, we begin to trek up the last part of the hill to reach the castle.
I don't really know what I was expecting with the castle. In any event, we weren't necessarily prepared to pay to walk around the castle, but for whatever reason, admission was free on this particular day. With free admission, we walked right on up and around the complex. The castle, since it's on top of a hill, provided a 360 degree view of Lisbon. The first part of the walk puts us on a walk along the outside walls of the castle, which has several prominent views of the city and the river. We walk around, taking in the views and the good fortune of it being dry- windy, but dry. We make our way to the castle, which has a very small moat and a bridge to cross into the main section of the castle. The castle is pretty sparse, not much left inside the grounds, other than a guy playing his guitar for change, so, we climb some steps and walk around the castle walls, pretending we are looking for some invasion or preparing to defend the castle from raiders. It was all very interesting.
We decide that the weather may not be holding up for us very much longer, so we take our leave of the castle and walk back down the hill to the tram stop. The tram comes along and we decide to ride it to where it ends, which is at a cemetery. In between that, however, was more up and down the hills, around tight corners and through narrow streets. We pass through various neighborhoods, pass the Parliament building, pass various churches and store fronts, and, most excitingly, get cased by two pickpockets. The tram hits it final stop, and we all get out, the pickpockets being the last two off. Since we need to get back, we just get back in line and wait for the next 28 tram to come by and take us back toward our hotel. And, of course, the pickpockets wait in line with us. At one point I was looking at my map, and put it back in my back pocket, after a second, I feel my shirt get lifted up and immediately reach for my map again- I don't know why, especially since my wallet wasn't back there, but I knew something was going on. We get on, choose our seats and the two pickpockets sit in different parts of the tram- I don't think I was supposed realize they were working together, but it wasn't that difficult. Anyway, the tram gets a move on back toward the city center, and the pickpockets, perhaps deciding that this particular tram was not going to suit them, got off a few stops later. We ride the tram back towards the city center and get off at the stop for the Barrio Alto to walk around.
The Barrio Alto, as the name suggests, is a neighborhood on a hill. This is also one of the main cultural neighborhoods- in other words, stuff happens here. Unfortunately for us, that stuff mainly happens at night apparently. So, we just walk around the neighborhood, more narrow streets, more tiled walls, more people hanging out in darkened doorways....wait, what? Yes, people just hanging out in darkened doorways. . .as we walk along one of the streets I look 2 blocks up and see 7 people just forming a line across the street, so, reaching the block before them, we turn left. After waiting out two pickpockets on a tram, I'm not really up for dealing with shadowy youths. The street we turned on eventually leads out to a park that looks out over the city and back towards the castle- allowing us to see Lisbon from two sides. We hang out, again taking in the city and the views and just listening to the sounds, at which point, it begins to rain. Luckily, right next to the park is one of the funiculars which goes up and down the sides of the hills, and this particular funicular goes down the hill and stops just on the other side of the park where our hotel is located.
So, we hop on the funicular and ride down the hill. Again, very interesting, the route the funicular takes is also used for cars as we saw trucks and driveways along the route. The funicular, not surprisingly, is also a rickety relic of the past, but, like the tram we took earlier, I simply cannot imagine it being replaced with a newer model- it would just lose its charm. It drops us off at the bottom of the hill and we hustle across the street and park and then back to our hotel, just in time for it to start pouring. . .again. We hit our hotel, take a little rest, hope the rain stops (it doesn't), and decide what to do with the rest of the evening. Actually, that last part was pretty easy- eat and pack.
For dinner we do another thing that I don't like doing on vacation- eating at the same place two nights in a row. Nevertheless, the food is still good. . .the host still is missing a thumb on his left hand, the waiter from the night before is still there and looking surly, but we get a waiter that doesn't want to deal with us, so we end up dealing with a runner all night. I like this restaurant. The waiters wear white admiral jackets. . .it's all very interesting. But not two nights in a row. But, like I said, the food was still good. And, like the night before, we walk over to the Hard Rock Cafe for a Sagres, just to enjoy one more beer before we leave. And with that we head back to our room and try to figure out the packing.
Packing was the final step, and the realization that we were at an end to our trip. We had 3 boxes that could fit 6 bottles of wine in each, leaving us with 6 more bottles that needed to be packed, so those would take up room. We had a large pottery purchase, which would take up a lot more room, so we had to deal with that. We had other gifts that needed to be packed, which would take up room. Finally, we had our clothes that needed to be packed, which would take up the most room. So, we emptied all of our suitcases and bags, and repacked everything. And, surprisingly, everything fit, and without any bag being egregiously heavy. All that was left was to deal with the boxes of wine. . .and, well, I think we all know how that worked out.
With that, the next morning we got up at 4 AM, I went to get the car out of the garage, we loaded up the car with our bags, and headed out for the airport, which wasn't all that far from the hotel. We waited like 20 minutes for a Hertz guy to finally show up and check-in our car, pushed our baggage-laden carts to the British Airways check-in desk, dropped off our wine boxes at oversize luggage, went through security and customs and then waited at the gate for departure.
And that was that. . .our vacation was at end, and all that was left of it was to head home.
I hope you enjoyed these postings- I do wish that I had kept up with them whilst over there, since my recollections are obviously colored by my remembrances and are re-told here with a slight wistfulness, instead of what I was thinking and feeling at the time. I can only do my best to recapture some of those feelings and thoughts as they happened, but I am bound by my own memory.
We didn't have many plans for the day in Lisbon, just hit a few of the tourist things and take our time. We left the hotel a little before noon, and tried to find an ATM. We found one, but when we tried to get money out, we kept getting error messages saying the ATM couldn't communicate with the network. One after another gave us the same message. We finally just walked into a bank and was able to make a charge onto our debit card and they gave us the money. With that minor emergency out of the way, we stopped for lunch at McDonalds.
Now, there is really nothing that I hate more than going on vacation and eating at a chain. On the other hand, it's interesting when overseas to go into a chain, like McDonalds, and just check it out and see what's on the menu. So, we did that, and got it out of the way.
We left McDonalds and headed for Plaç a Martin Moniz to get on the 28 tram, which goes on a windy route up and down the hills of Lisbon and around the Castle of St. George. The tram is an old and rickety one-man operation, scooting through the narrow streets of the Alfama district of Lisbon. It really was a wonder to sit and watch this tram work its way up the hills and through the streets, narrowly missing parked cars or waiting for stopped cars to get out of the way. Anyway, we got off at the Castle stop. The stop is halfway up the hill, with the castle at the top, and has several lookout points that face out toward the ocean where the River Tagus empties out into the Atlantic Ocean. It also allows a great vantage point to see the neighborhood and the houses pushed together; it almost appears that being pushed together is the only way to keep them from sliding off the hill entirely. After several pictures, we begin to trek up the last part of the hill to reach the castle.
I don't really know what I was expecting with the castle. In any event, we weren't necessarily prepared to pay to walk around the castle, but for whatever reason, admission was free on this particular day. With free admission, we walked right on up and around the complex. The castle, since it's on top of a hill, provided a 360 degree view of Lisbon. The first part of the walk puts us on a walk along the outside walls of the castle, which has several prominent views of the city and the river. We walk around, taking in the views and the good fortune of it being dry- windy, but dry. We make our way to the castle, which has a very small moat and a bridge to cross into the main section of the castle. The castle is pretty sparse, not much left inside the grounds, other than a guy playing his guitar for change, so, we climb some steps and walk around the castle walls, pretending we are looking for some invasion or preparing to defend the castle from raiders. It was all very interesting.
We decide that the weather may not be holding up for us very much longer, so we take our leave of the castle and walk back down the hill to the tram stop. The tram comes along and we decide to ride it to where it ends, which is at a cemetery. In between that, however, was more up and down the hills, around tight corners and through narrow streets. We pass through various neighborhoods, pass the Parliament building, pass various churches and store fronts, and, most excitingly, get cased by two pickpockets. The tram hits it final stop, and we all get out, the pickpockets being the last two off. Since we need to get back, we just get back in line and wait for the next 28 tram to come by and take us back toward our hotel. And, of course, the pickpockets wait in line with us. At one point I was looking at my map, and put it back in my back pocket, after a second, I feel my shirt get lifted up and immediately reach for my map again- I don't know why, especially since my wallet wasn't back there, but I knew something was going on. We get on, choose our seats and the two pickpockets sit in different parts of the tram- I don't think I was supposed realize they were working together, but it wasn't that difficult. Anyway, the tram gets a move on back toward the city center, and the pickpockets, perhaps deciding that this particular tram was not going to suit them, got off a few stops later. We ride the tram back towards the city center and get off at the stop for the Barrio Alto to walk around.
The Barrio Alto, as the name suggests, is a neighborhood on a hill. This is also one of the main cultural neighborhoods- in other words, stuff happens here. Unfortunately for us, that stuff mainly happens at night apparently. So, we just walk around the neighborhood, more narrow streets, more tiled walls, more people hanging out in darkened doorways....wait, what? Yes, people just hanging out in darkened doorways. . .as we walk along one of the streets I look 2 blocks up and see 7 people just forming a line across the street, so, reaching the block before them, we turn left. After waiting out two pickpockets on a tram, I'm not really up for dealing with shadowy youths. The street we turned on eventually leads out to a park that looks out over the city and back towards the castle- allowing us to see Lisbon from two sides. We hang out, again taking in the city and the views and just listening to the sounds, at which point, it begins to rain. Luckily, right next to the park is one of the funiculars which goes up and down the sides of the hills, and this particular funicular goes down the hill and stops just on the other side of the park where our hotel is located.
So, we hop on the funicular and ride down the hill. Again, very interesting, the route the funicular takes is also used for cars as we saw trucks and driveways along the route. The funicular, not surprisingly, is also a rickety relic of the past, but, like the tram we took earlier, I simply cannot imagine it being replaced with a newer model- it would just lose its charm. It drops us off at the bottom of the hill and we hustle across the street and park and then back to our hotel, just in time for it to start pouring. . .again. We hit our hotel, take a little rest, hope the rain stops (it doesn't), and decide what to do with the rest of the evening. Actually, that last part was pretty easy- eat and pack.
For dinner we do another thing that I don't like doing on vacation- eating at the same place two nights in a row. Nevertheless, the food is still good. . .the host still is missing a thumb on his left hand, the waiter from the night before is still there and looking surly, but we get a waiter that doesn't want to deal with us, so we end up dealing with a runner all night. I like this restaurant. The waiters wear white admiral jackets. . .it's all very interesting. But not two nights in a row. But, like I said, the food was still good. And, like the night before, we walk over to the Hard Rock Cafe for a Sagres, just to enjoy one more beer before we leave. And with that we head back to our room and try to figure out the packing.
Packing was the final step, and the realization that we were at an end to our trip. We had 3 boxes that could fit 6 bottles of wine in each, leaving us with 6 more bottles that needed to be packed, so those would take up room. We had a large pottery purchase, which would take up a lot more room, so we had to deal with that. We had other gifts that needed to be packed, which would take up room. Finally, we had our clothes that needed to be packed, which would take up the most room. So, we emptied all of our suitcases and bags, and repacked everything. And, surprisingly, everything fit, and without any bag being egregiously heavy. All that was left was to deal with the boxes of wine. . .and, well, I think we all know how that worked out.
With that, the next morning we got up at 4 AM, I went to get the car out of the garage, we loaded up the car with our bags, and headed out for the airport, which wasn't all that far from the hotel. We waited like 20 minutes for a Hertz guy to finally show up and check-in our car, pushed our baggage-laden carts to the British Airways check-in desk, dropped off our wine boxes at oversize luggage, went through security and customs and then waited at the gate for departure.
And that was that. . .our vacation was at end, and all that was left of it was to head home.
I hope you enjoyed these postings- I do wish that I had kept up with them whilst over there, since my recollections are obviously colored by my remembrances and are re-told here with a slight wistfulness, instead of what I was thinking and feeling at the time. I can only do my best to recapture some of those feelings and thoughts as they happened, but I am bound by my own memory.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
What a Tuesday
I just wanted to quickly talk about two things that happened today:
1) It took my nearly an hour and half to get home today from work. Actually, from the bank. Left the bank, and went down the Civic Center Muni stop where I waited for 40 minutes to get on any Muni train, except for the J train, which does not help me get home. I waited on the platform first for 8 minutes before any train came. . .this was at 5:20. Now, since I live in the Inner Sunset, I have figured out a way to get home when I know the N is either far apart or I know it will be full- I can take the K, L or M to Forest Hill, then transfer to the 43 or 44. So, today I was fully expecting to go to Forest Hill, except for the next 45 minutes every Muni was full, except for the J. I saw 4 N's go past, full, a various array of K, L and M's go past, all full. One J comes by that was half full. So, tired of waiting, I run upstairs to Market and see a 6-Parnassus coming; I think, sweet, I'll take that to Judah and 9th. Get on and two blocks later the driver says, "Everyone off, this bus is going out of service." So, after some trouble getting the next 6 bus out of the way of a street car, 90% of us get off the bus and get on the new 6. The 6 everyone just got off continues on its way- I don't know if the driver lied to us or got different instructions later on, but I saw it continue on its merry way while the rest of us split up between the new 6 and the next 71. The bus I'm on goes on its route, and at Masonic, instead of turning to continue its route, it crosses the street and stops at the next stop. The driver says, "This bus is turning into a 7-Haight, if you want a 6, you need to get off." Nevermind that right behind this bus is a 7-Haight. An older passenger at the front starts yelling at the driver about how is he supposed to get the UCSF hospital and the driver yells back at him to get on the 6, and the guy yells back and says I was, and it's your responsibility to get me there, and the bus driver says, no, it's not. So, we all shuffle off the bus and cross the street- luckily a 6 comes by soon. This time, no problems.
So, I spent 45 minutes waiting to get on any Muni train (other than a J) with no luck, and then another 45 minutes having to change onto 2 buses, on the same line, that either purportedly go out of service or randomly change into another line. All during rush hour. Great job today S.F. Muni- you made everyone's day.
2) I just had to talk about this one. Was going over the Business section in today's Chronicle and noticed several stories on the front page of the section, such as concerns on biotech, a janitor strike in the south bay, and retirement money worries; so, 3 pretty negative stories on the front page of the business section. However, on page 3 of the Business section was a story called "Index Shows Economy May Dodge A Recession". Why would the Chronicle want to bury potentially good economic news on page 3 of the Business section instead of on page 1? Oh, silly me- that doesn't fit the narrative put out there by the media on the economy. Good news doesn't sell.
1) It took my nearly an hour and half to get home today from work. Actually, from the bank. Left the bank, and went down the Civic Center Muni stop where I waited for 40 minutes to get on any Muni train, except for the J train, which does not help me get home. I waited on the platform first for 8 minutes before any train came. . .this was at 5:20. Now, since I live in the Inner Sunset, I have figured out a way to get home when I know the N is either far apart or I know it will be full- I can take the K, L or M to Forest Hill, then transfer to the 43 or 44. So, today I was fully expecting to go to Forest Hill, except for the next 45 minutes every Muni was full, except for the J. I saw 4 N's go past, full, a various array of K, L and M's go past, all full. One J comes by that was half full. So, tired of waiting, I run upstairs to Market and see a 6-Parnassus coming; I think, sweet, I'll take that to Judah and 9th. Get on and two blocks later the driver says, "Everyone off, this bus is going out of service." So, after some trouble getting the next 6 bus out of the way of a street car, 90% of us get off the bus and get on the new 6. The 6 everyone just got off continues on its way- I don't know if the driver lied to us or got different instructions later on, but I saw it continue on its merry way while the rest of us split up between the new 6 and the next 71. The bus I'm on goes on its route, and at Masonic, instead of turning to continue its route, it crosses the street and stops at the next stop. The driver says, "This bus is turning into a 7-Haight, if you want a 6, you need to get off." Nevermind that right behind this bus is a 7-Haight. An older passenger at the front starts yelling at the driver about how is he supposed to get the UCSF hospital and the driver yells back at him to get on the 6, and the guy yells back and says I was, and it's your responsibility to get me there, and the bus driver says, no, it's not. So, we all shuffle off the bus and cross the street- luckily a 6 comes by soon. This time, no problems.
So, I spent 45 minutes waiting to get on any Muni train (other than a J) with no luck, and then another 45 minutes having to change onto 2 buses, on the same line, that either purportedly go out of service or randomly change into another line. All during rush hour. Great job today S.F. Muni- you made everyone's day.
2) I just had to talk about this one. Was going over the Business section in today's Chronicle and noticed several stories on the front page of the section, such as concerns on biotech, a janitor strike in the south bay, and retirement money worries; so, 3 pretty negative stories on the front page of the business section. However, on page 3 of the Business section was a story called "Index Shows Economy May Dodge A Recession". Why would the Chronicle want to bury potentially good economic news on page 3 of the Business section instead of on page 1? Oh, silly me- that doesn't fit the narrative put out there by the media on the economy. Good news doesn't sell.
Friday, May 16, 2008
One more drive
The review of our European trip is almost done, only 2 days are left. Today is a simple one- the drive from Porto to Lisbon. As we drove down to Lisbon, we took each turn, each climb up a hill and embraced it, knowing that we would be heading home soon. I suppose that feeling is why we took the long way to Lisbon. Sure, we could have taken the highway and reached Lisbon in 2 hours, but what fun would that be. Here we are, with a car and the time to drive the Portuguese countryside and not be confined to the pace and whims of a highway; not to mention, the highway was a toll road, and I was not terribly enthused about driving on a toll road.
So, we left Porto around mid-morning and successfully navigated our way out of the city and onto the highway that would lead us to the coast. We decided to head south for Lisbon along the coast, and tried to stay along the coast for however long we could. There were some obstacles, and sometimes the roads we were own didn't stay along the coast. We saw rolling hills, sheer cliffs, large windmills dotting the tops of ridges, small towns, the ocean. . .We drove through towns called Espinho, Aveiro, Figueira da Foz, the walled town of Obidos, stopped in the coastal town of Peniche, took a roundabout way through Torres Vedras, and arrived in Lisbon from the west, through Cascais and the fortress town of Sintra. Drove on 2 lane roads and saw houses with shared gardens, saw old, run-down towns with crumbling buildings, saw remnants of castles and old fortress walls, saw the ocean, waves lapping up against the continent- imagining the U.S., what early explorers could only dream of, what they saw, looking out across the expanse of the Atlantic Ocean. There we were, on the edge of the european continent, looking out towards home, savoring the moment.
We took our time, arriving in Lisbon in early evening, taking in a modern city limited by its history. Our hotel is just off one of the main roads through Lisbon, the Avenida de Liberdade. However, the hotel is on a pedestrian road, so cars are not allowed, which caused us quite some problems in locating it. Finally, I just stopped the car at the entrance to the pedestrian zone, and found the hotel, and was directed to the parking garage where a parking spot was located.
The day had started out sunny and warm, but as we got closer to Lisbon, it got increasingly cloudy and cold. We parked the car, dragged our bags up onto the street and was greeted by a downpour. . .it was not fun. We managed to drag our very heavy luggage through the downpour and to our hotel; upon entering the lobby, we simply dropped our bags and must have had a look of defeat as the man behind the counter simply handed us our hotel key and told us to come back later to deal with the paperwork. We thanked him for his kindness, and dragged our drenched selves and soaking luggage to the elevator and finally to our room. The rain did not let up all evening, limiting our dining choices. Thankfully, since it was a pedestrian zone, eating options were plentiful. We chose a place called O Churrasco, basically, it was a place to get grilled meat. It was really good- my pork tenderloin was grilled perfectly and it was wonderful.
After dinner, we hit the Hard Rock around the corner for dessert and a beer- I just had to have Sagres. Sagres was awesome. I am now on the hunt for it here in the states. We also had a good laugh at the musical that was playing next door to our hotel: Jesus Christ Superstar. So, all Meg would do every time we walked past the sign would sign various lines from that musical. I, on the other hand, would sing the Mr. Show version: Jeepers Creepers (featuring Jack Black).
With that, we got back to our room and hung our wet clothes up to dry. We looked over the maps and guide book for Lisbon to figure out what to do on our only full day in the city. Went to bed knowing that we had one more night left in Europe, with that feeling of sadness and relief- sadness that we our vacation was coming to a close but relief that we will be heading home. Every sight, sound and experience to be lingered over just a bit longer than before.
So, we left Porto around mid-morning and successfully navigated our way out of the city and onto the highway that would lead us to the coast. We decided to head south for Lisbon along the coast, and tried to stay along the coast for however long we could. There were some obstacles, and sometimes the roads we were own didn't stay along the coast. We saw rolling hills, sheer cliffs, large windmills dotting the tops of ridges, small towns, the ocean. . .We drove through towns called Espinho, Aveiro, Figueira da Foz, the walled town of Obidos, stopped in the coastal town of Peniche, took a roundabout way through Torres Vedras, and arrived in Lisbon from the west, through Cascais and the fortress town of Sintra. Drove on 2 lane roads and saw houses with shared gardens, saw old, run-down towns with crumbling buildings, saw remnants of castles and old fortress walls, saw the ocean, waves lapping up against the continent- imagining the U.S., what early explorers could only dream of, what they saw, looking out across the expanse of the Atlantic Ocean. There we were, on the edge of the european continent, looking out towards home, savoring the moment.
We took our time, arriving in Lisbon in early evening, taking in a modern city limited by its history. Our hotel is just off one of the main roads through Lisbon, the Avenida de Liberdade. However, the hotel is on a pedestrian road, so cars are not allowed, which caused us quite some problems in locating it. Finally, I just stopped the car at the entrance to the pedestrian zone, and found the hotel, and was directed to the parking garage where a parking spot was located.
The day had started out sunny and warm, but as we got closer to Lisbon, it got increasingly cloudy and cold. We parked the car, dragged our bags up onto the street and was greeted by a downpour. . .it was not fun. We managed to drag our very heavy luggage through the downpour and to our hotel; upon entering the lobby, we simply dropped our bags and must have had a look of defeat as the man behind the counter simply handed us our hotel key and told us to come back later to deal with the paperwork. We thanked him for his kindness, and dragged our drenched selves and soaking luggage to the elevator and finally to our room. The rain did not let up all evening, limiting our dining choices. Thankfully, since it was a pedestrian zone, eating options were plentiful. We chose a place called O Churrasco, basically, it was a place to get grilled meat. It was really good- my pork tenderloin was grilled perfectly and it was wonderful.
After dinner, we hit the Hard Rock around the corner for dessert and a beer- I just had to have Sagres. Sagres was awesome. I am now on the hunt for it here in the states. We also had a good laugh at the musical that was playing next door to our hotel: Jesus Christ Superstar. So, all Meg would do every time we walked past the sign would sign various lines from that musical. I, on the other hand, would sing the Mr. Show version: Jeepers Creepers (featuring Jack Black).
With that, we got back to our room and hung our wet clothes up to dry. We looked over the maps and guide book for Lisbon to figure out what to do on our only full day in the city. Went to bed knowing that we had one more night left in Europe, with that feeling of sadness and relief- sadness that we our vacation was coming to a close but relief that we will be heading home. Every sight, sound and experience to be lingered over just a bit longer than before.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Proposition A
That's right folks, another election is just around the corner on June 3, so it's time again for me to go over the various propositions that will be voted on by residents in San Francisco, and specifically those who reside in Congressional District 12.
The first initiative that we will talk about is Proposition A.
Prop. A is a measure that will charge an additional $198 per parcel of "taxable real property" per year (unless you are over the age 65 and live in the property you own) until 2028, and will be adjusted for inflation. The extra funds will be used towards various purposes such as teacher training, teacher retention, raising teacher salaries (and the salaries of other "school personnel"), developing a Master Teacher program, paying for new technology and training, and helping out charter schools, among other worthwhile causes. But, if you've read my reviews before and dig a little deeper, there's always something else- school populations are decreasing across the city, resulting in less federal funds since federal funds are allocated on the basis of student population. That, coupled with Prop. 13 restrictions on property taxes (and housing problems), results in a lot less local funding. The fewer the students, the less federal money a school district gets; the weaker the economy and housing market, the less local money a school district gets. And when those schools are located in a high cost-of-living city like San Francisco, you can be sure that the teachers will make a point about their pay. Mind you, I don't blame them- teaching is hard, and when you're not provided with resources to teach effectively, it's a problem.
So, what to do with this proposition? Do I want to deprive teachers of a needed increase in pay? No. Are there are better ways of increasing school funding (the opposition to Prop. A argues that an increase in sales tax or on a per square foot basis would be more equitable)? Maybe. In a city full of renters, does this tax unfairly land on owners? Maybe. Does it really need to last 20 years? I doubt it. Does there need to be a conversation on reforming Prop. 13? As a practical matter, I'd say yes- we can't keep running into education funding and Prop. 13 limitations.
Nevertheless, I'm not willing to let my concern about the length of this tax obscure the point that teacher salaries in San Francisco are behind the rest of the state and that it is expensive to live in San Francisco. Something needs to be done and I suppose this is the best option at this time.
So, vote yes on Prop. A.
The first initiative that we will talk about is Proposition A.
Prop. A is a measure that will charge an additional $198 per parcel of "taxable real property" per year (unless you are over the age 65 and live in the property you own) until 2028, and will be adjusted for inflation. The extra funds will be used towards various purposes such as teacher training, teacher retention, raising teacher salaries (and the salaries of other "school personnel"), developing a Master Teacher program, paying for new technology and training, and helping out charter schools, among other worthwhile causes. But, if you've read my reviews before and dig a little deeper, there's always something else- school populations are decreasing across the city, resulting in less federal funds since federal funds are allocated on the basis of student population. That, coupled with Prop. 13 restrictions on property taxes (and housing problems), results in a lot less local funding. The fewer the students, the less federal money a school district gets; the weaker the economy and housing market, the less local money a school district gets. And when those schools are located in a high cost-of-living city like San Francisco, you can be sure that the teachers will make a point about their pay. Mind you, I don't blame them- teaching is hard, and when you're not provided with resources to teach effectively, it's a problem.
So, what to do with this proposition? Do I want to deprive teachers of a needed increase in pay? No. Are there are better ways of increasing school funding (the opposition to Prop. A argues that an increase in sales tax or on a per square foot basis would be more equitable)? Maybe. In a city full of renters, does this tax unfairly land on owners? Maybe. Does it really need to last 20 years? I doubt it. Does there need to be a conversation on reforming Prop. 13? As a practical matter, I'd say yes- we can't keep running into education funding and Prop. 13 limitations.
Nevertheless, I'm not willing to let my concern about the length of this tax obscure the point that teacher salaries in San Francisco are behind the rest of the state and that it is expensive to live in San Francisco. Something needs to be done and I suppose this is the best option at this time.
So, vote yes on Prop. A.
Porto
Oh, Porto. . .what a fine day we had together. The sun shining down on us; a small car that was able to get us up and down hills and over a river back to our hotel; a small, river-side restaurant that was able to provide us with sustenance; hitting the various port houses in time for english tours; and, all that delicious port. I guess, technically, I should address this ode to the town of Vila Nova de Gaia since that's where the port houses are located, but we'll stick to Porto.
On this particular Tuesday, the first task was to find the rental car agency to pick up our car for the next 4 days. Needing a bit of time to myself, I decided that I would walk to the rental car agency, nevermind how far away it appeared on the map, I would be able to make it in decent time. We'll kind of. Anyway, walking the streets of Porto was interesting- nothing appeared to be new. And I wasn't walking in the old part of town either. After walking down one hill then up another, I found the rental agency. Walking there, I was tempted to stop in various pastry stores and other retail shops, but there were bigger things to be had on that day. I get the car, a ridiculously small Nissan Micra. Hop in the car, and head back to the hotel to pick up Meg. Again, relying on the map and my general sense of direction, I encounter a few hiccups along the way- mainly dealing with one-way roads going the opposite way that I want to go. Nevertheless, I find my way to our hotel and there is Meg patiently waiting outside for me.
She gets in the car and we try to remember how our cab driver got us across the river the night before- we are both able to remember various aspects of it, and we successfully navigate our way down hill, to the small bridge and across without getting lost- all whilst navigating through small, stone-paved roads, bumping downhill wondering what's around this turn. We survive and try to find our way to our first stop: Ramos Pinto. However, we can't find it along the road. We know it's on the road that runs along the river, but no such luck. But, we do find a parking garage, so we take advantage of that, and park there. We walk back along the river and find it almost immediately- but, we walk up the steps to the door and it says, use side door entrance. So, we walk down the steps, and go around the corner, but there's no entrance. After a few minutes of wondering what to do, Meg offers up "Was there a sign saying which way to go?" So, we walk back up the front steps and there's an arrow pointing the other way. There's the stupid entrance. Walk in and ask "when's the next tour?" 20 minutes, we are told. "Well, can we try some port while we wait?" No, we don't serve until after the tour so you know how port is made. "Ok, well, is the next tour in English?" The language of the tour is decided by the first group that buys tickets for that tour, and no one has bought tickets yet. "Well, we'd like to buy tickets then." And with that, we wait for the tour to start.
The tour goes to their original office and sales room, and to the barrel room, where we get a short presentation on their vineyards up the Douro River. Pretty interesting. The tour ends with 3 samples of their port varieties. We end up buying another batch of tastings. What was interesting about these tastings, and it followed at the other port houses as well, is the difference in tastings from our visits to wineries in the states and the port houses- the wineries we visit in California pour a very small sample to taste, in the port houses, we get nearly a full serving. We buy three bottles, and drop them off at the car. Across the street from the parking garage is another port house, Ferreira, but their tours are full until the end of the day, so we go ahead and purchase our tickets for the end of the day. We go back to our car and decide to go to: Taylor-Fladgate.
I talked about Taylor-Fladgate in my previous post, so I don't necessarily need to go in-depth. We arrived, settled down for 2 tastings of port, and waited for the Taylor's tour to start. We walked through their gardens, and spent most of the tour in their barrel house. Finished the tour, and headed straight to shop to buy more port. This time, we opted for 12 port glasses with the Taylor-Fladgate logo on it, a bottle of their 2003 Vintage (NOTE- we thought we had a bottle of their 2000 Vintage, so we bought the 2003 so we could have the last two vintages. We got home and discovered we already had a bottle of the 2003. No worries, 2003 has gotten slightly better ratings than the 2000, but, we will eventually pick up a bottle of their 2000 vintage); a half bottle of 40 year, 2 bottles of their white port which we had enjoyed the night before and bottle of Select. Also, Taylor's does not take a siesta like some of the other port houses, so the timing of the whole thing worked out very well.
We left Taylor, trying to figure out our next stop: Offley is right next door, but no; Croft was just down the road, but again, no; we tried to stop at various doors with the Sandeman logo on it, but were rebuffed each time, as the tasting room was down the hill; no, we decided to drive down the hill toward the river, drive along the river, and drive back up a hill and go to Graham's.
This was a great stop- Graham's had just re-opened from their siesta, and Meg and I were the only two people in the entire tasting room. We were offered a flight of 3 of their ports, one of them being their Six Grapes, which we've had before; since the purpose of these stops was to try ports we haven't had before, we asked if we could try a different one. They said ok, and we got started. Each were delicious. We enjoyed them so much, we asked to look at their other tasting options, and we then moved to their tasting bar. Basically, the interior looks like any normal tasting room interior- lots of tables and chairs, a long counter from which the pourers stand behind and pour the port. Dividing the room is a glass wall, on the other side of which are some barrels and other tools of the trade. On the tasting room side of the wall, however, is a 8 seat bar where they pour more of their specialty and more expensive ports. This is where we sat. Meg and I chose two different sets of tastings- mine focused on their single quinta vineyards and Meg's more on their classic vintages. As explained previously, there are designated Vintages; however, in non-declared Vintages, the winery may designate certain single vineyard (or quinta) vintages, where the year itself may not meet the standards, but the product coming out of one particular vineyard may meet those overall standards. In which case, the port house will release single vineyard vintages. We had such a good time with our pourer, who will be working in Napa this fall, she gave us a map of their vineyards for free. We ended up buying a 1979 single vineyard vintage, a bottle of their 2000 Vintage, their "The Tawny" which comes in a large clear bottle that can then be used as a decanter, a 1999 single vineyard vintage (under the Dow's label- Graham's own the Dow name), and a bottle of their white port. We had a great time at Graham's, but there was more port to be had, but, before that, all these full pours of port (port measures in at between 18-20% alcohol; your normal bottle of wine comes in at 14% or so) resulted in us being just a bit drunk, so we had to stop for food first.
Once again we parked at the parking garage, and along the river is an outdoor shopping center with several restaurants. After deciding to skip the irish bar and restaurant, we settle on an italian place. The food was fine, and I had my first chance at a Portuguese beer- Super Bock. Not impressed, not to mention that it was pretty skunky. I don't know if that's its normal smell or if this draft was not kept well. In any event, we filled up on carbs, and headed to our next stop: Sandeman.
Everyone knows the Sandeman logo, it's the black and yellow image of the man with the wide brimmed hat and cape, holding a glass a port. It's pretty universal- so universal that Meg's sister knowing that we liked port bought us the poster of their label, not because she thought we liked their port, but because she thought we would like the image.
We walk in, and are asked if we want a tour. It being a bit late in the day, and with a 5:00 PM tour and tasting at Ferreira, we say no, but ask if we can do a tasting. They say ok, and we walk to the tasting area. The tables are all in black, the walls are all in black, there's a glass wall that separates the tasting room and sales room from a sample barrel room, and the people working there wear black shirts. Also, the people giving the tours wear a wide brimmed hat and a cape, just like the man in their logo. We are offered 2 glasses to sample their port, and they are very good. We end up buying a serving tray with the logo on it, and a bottle of their 20 year port, their Imperial and a single vineyard vintage from 2005. We stumble out the door with some time to kill before our next appointment.
Now, the goal all along had been to taste and purchase port that may not be readily available in the states, which we had been doing a pretty good job of with the major houses, but another goal had been to taste those houses that are completely unavailable in the states, and that was our next stop: Vasconcellos. Their tasting room is on the second floor, and we learn that Vasconcellos has been family owned since their beginning (appropriately enough, the current Vasconcellos heir and wine-maker was the one pouring the wine). We sampled several of their wines, including a 20 year that is bottled in a decanter. We bought the 20 year with decanter- it came in a wooden box. Upon leaving the establishment it occurs to us: how are we going to pack this thing? But, we would figure that out later. Anyway, we moved on, stopped at our car to drop off our recent purchases, and headed for our tour at Ferreira.
Ferreira, like the other tours, took us through their history and their barrel rooms before finishing at the tasting room. One thing that is unique about Ferreira is that the dominant person in their history is a woman; the other houses we visited, and presumably most of the other houses, are all fronted or founded by men, whereas Ferreira's image is of a woman. This is evident in the name of one of the ports they produce- Dona Antonia. We bought two bottles, and headed back to our car.
On our way back, we decided that we wanted to taste more port, so we stopped at a small port store just on the other side of the river (in Porto) to check them out. The store, Vinologia, was fantastic, and the people that worked there were extremely friendly and helpful. Vinologia also focuses on smaller producers, which was also a major draw for us. We talked with one of the employees about what we liked, what we were interested in, and he showed us several bottles and poured us one of them which he had opened. We ended up buying two more bottles here, both from small houses- 2000 Magalhaes and a 2005 Quinta do Crasto (which is one of my new favorite wineries- they also produce table wine in addition to port). We also bought 3 boxes to transport our port and wine back to states in safely (that turned out not to necessarily be the case, but no matter), and then we headed back to our hotel to rest.
Upon reaching the hotel and parking the car, we had thought about stopping in the hotel bar to have a drink before going back to the room and figuring out dinner plans, but. . .we received no help at the bar, so we just went to the room. At which point. . . . . . . .someone passes out on the bed and cannot be roused. I'm not saying who it was, just that it was someone. The other person, meanwhile, decided to watch tv to continue trying to figure out this language. Instead, several channels in english were part of the cable, so the other person watched movies like Glory and some old movie with Michael Douglas and a pre-Magnum PI Tom Selleck. IMDB tells me the movie is called Coma, was made in 1978 and was directed by Michael Crichton. Anyway, the person who was passed out finally awakes, but much too late to go out and get food, so we just end up snacking on whatever we have left, which was mainly cashews and peanuts.
With that, we finished one long day in Porto tasting port nearly non-stop, pushing one person over the edge of sobriety. I'd call that a good day. We certainly had a great time just being in Porto with the sun shining and drinking port all day long. Just experiencing it was great- it was like the first time we went to Napa, just being there made us feel like everything is right in the world. The memories of the billboards on the side of the hill, talking with the people in the port houses, the smells inside the barrel rooms, walking on the concrete, seeing the river and looking back across to Porto- these things, these memories will not be forgotten, the pictures taken, these long-winded ramblings of mine only help to remember them better. So, it was with a mild sense of sadness that we were leaving Porto the next day, and that our trip only had 2 more days left in it, but knowing that we were here, that we could come back here, and that we would have, not only the pictures and my ramblings, but also the bottles. Yes, the bottles of port serve as the most tangible reminder of our trip- each time we look at one, each time we open a bottle, pour it, look at it, smell it and taste it, it can take us back to when we visited, when we bought it, and when we share it.
On this particular Tuesday, the first task was to find the rental car agency to pick up our car for the next 4 days. Needing a bit of time to myself, I decided that I would walk to the rental car agency, nevermind how far away it appeared on the map, I would be able to make it in decent time. We'll kind of. Anyway, walking the streets of Porto was interesting- nothing appeared to be new. And I wasn't walking in the old part of town either. After walking down one hill then up another, I found the rental agency. Walking there, I was tempted to stop in various pastry stores and other retail shops, but there were bigger things to be had on that day. I get the car, a ridiculously small Nissan Micra. Hop in the car, and head back to the hotel to pick up Meg. Again, relying on the map and my general sense of direction, I encounter a few hiccups along the way- mainly dealing with one-way roads going the opposite way that I want to go. Nevertheless, I find my way to our hotel and there is Meg patiently waiting outside for me.
She gets in the car and we try to remember how our cab driver got us across the river the night before- we are both able to remember various aspects of it, and we successfully navigate our way down hill, to the small bridge and across without getting lost- all whilst navigating through small, stone-paved roads, bumping downhill wondering what's around this turn. We survive and try to find our way to our first stop: Ramos Pinto. However, we can't find it along the road. We know it's on the road that runs along the river, but no such luck. But, we do find a parking garage, so we take advantage of that, and park there. We walk back along the river and find it almost immediately- but, we walk up the steps to the door and it says, use side door entrance. So, we walk down the steps, and go around the corner, but there's no entrance. After a few minutes of wondering what to do, Meg offers up "Was there a sign saying which way to go?" So, we walk back up the front steps and there's an arrow pointing the other way. There's the stupid entrance. Walk in and ask "when's the next tour?" 20 minutes, we are told. "Well, can we try some port while we wait?" No, we don't serve until after the tour so you know how port is made. "Ok, well, is the next tour in English?" The language of the tour is decided by the first group that buys tickets for that tour, and no one has bought tickets yet. "Well, we'd like to buy tickets then." And with that, we wait for the tour to start.
The tour goes to their original office and sales room, and to the barrel room, where we get a short presentation on their vineyards up the Douro River. Pretty interesting. The tour ends with 3 samples of their port varieties. We end up buying another batch of tastings. What was interesting about these tastings, and it followed at the other port houses as well, is the difference in tastings from our visits to wineries in the states and the port houses- the wineries we visit in California pour a very small sample to taste, in the port houses, we get nearly a full serving. We buy three bottles, and drop them off at the car. Across the street from the parking garage is another port house, Ferreira, but their tours are full until the end of the day, so we go ahead and purchase our tickets for the end of the day. We go back to our car and decide to go to: Taylor-Fladgate.
I talked about Taylor-Fladgate in my previous post, so I don't necessarily need to go in-depth. We arrived, settled down for 2 tastings of port, and waited for the Taylor's tour to start. We walked through their gardens, and spent most of the tour in their barrel house. Finished the tour, and headed straight to shop to buy more port. This time, we opted for 12 port glasses with the Taylor-Fladgate logo on it, a bottle of their 2003 Vintage (NOTE- we thought we had a bottle of their 2000 Vintage, so we bought the 2003 so we could have the last two vintages. We got home and discovered we already had a bottle of the 2003. No worries, 2003 has gotten slightly better ratings than the 2000, but, we will eventually pick up a bottle of their 2000 vintage); a half bottle of 40 year, 2 bottles of their white port which we had enjoyed the night before and bottle of Select. Also, Taylor's does not take a siesta like some of the other port houses, so the timing of the whole thing worked out very well.
We left Taylor, trying to figure out our next stop: Offley is right next door, but no; Croft was just down the road, but again, no; we tried to stop at various doors with the Sandeman logo on it, but were rebuffed each time, as the tasting room was down the hill; no, we decided to drive down the hill toward the river, drive along the river, and drive back up a hill and go to Graham's.
This was a great stop- Graham's had just re-opened from their siesta, and Meg and I were the only two people in the entire tasting room. We were offered a flight of 3 of their ports, one of them being their Six Grapes, which we've had before; since the purpose of these stops was to try ports we haven't had before, we asked if we could try a different one. They said ok, and we got started. Each were delicious. We enjoyed them so much, we asked to look at their other tasting options, and we then moved to their tasting bar. Basically, the interior looks like any normal tasting room interior- lots of tables and chairs, a long counter from which the pourers stand behind and pour the port. Dividing the room is a glass wall, on the other side of which are some barrels and other tools of the trade. On the tasting room side of the wall, however, is a 8 seat bar where they pour more of their specialty and more expensive ports. This is where we sat. Meg and I chose two different sets of tastings- mine focused on their single quinta vineyards and Meg's more on their classic vintages. As explained previously, there are designated Vintages; however, in non-declared Vintages, the winery may designate certain single vineyard (or quinta) vintages, where the year itself may not meet the standards, but the product coming out of one particular vineyard may meet those overall standards. In which case, the port house will release single vineyard vintages. We had such a good time with our pourer, who will be working in Napa this fall, she gave us a map of their vineyards for free. We ended up buying a 1979 single vineyard vintage, a bottle of their 2000 Vintage, their "The Tawny" which comes in a large clear bottle that can then be used as a decanter, a 1999 single vineyard vintage (under the Dow's label- Graham's own the Dow name), and a bottle of their white port. We had a great time at Graham's, but there was more port to be had, but, before that, all these full pours of port (port measures in at between 18-20% alcohol; your normal bottle of wine comes in at 14% or so) resulted in us being just a bit drunk, so we had to stop for food first.
Once again we parked at the parking garage, and along the river is an outdoor shopping center with several restaurants. After deciding to skip the irish bar and restaurant, we settle on an italian place. The food was fine, and I had my first chance at a Portuguese beer- Super Bock. Not impressed, not to mention that it was pretty skunky. I don't know if that's its normal smell or if this draft was not kept well. In any event, we filled up on carbs, and headed to our next stop: Sandeman.
Everyone knows the Sandeman logo, it's the black and yellow image of the man with the wide brimmed hat and cape, holding a glass a port. It's pretty universal- so universal that Meg's sister knowing that we liked port bought us the poster of their label, not because she thought we liked their port, but because she thought we would like the image.
We walk in, and are asked if we want a tour. It being a bit late in the day, and with a 5:00 PM tour and tasting at Ferreira, we say no, but ask if we can do a tasting. They say ok, and we walk to the tasting area. The tables are all in black, the walls are all in black, there's a glass wall that separates the tasting room and sales room from a sample barrel room, and the people working there wear black shirts. Also, the people giving the tours wear a wide brimmed hat and a cape, just like the man in their logo. We are offered 2 glasses to sample their port, and they are very good. We end up buying a serving tray with the logo on it, and a bottle of their 20 year port, their Imperial and a single vineyard vintage from 2005. We stumble out the door with some time to kill before our next appointment.
Now, the goal all along had been to taste and purchase port that may not be readily available in the states, which we had been doing a pretty good job of with the major houses, but another goal had been to taste those houses that are completely unavailable in the states, and that was our next stop: Vasconcellos. Their tasting room is on the second floor, and we learn that Vasconcellos has been family owned since their beginning (appropriately enough, the current Vasconcellos heir and wine-maker was the one pouring the wine). We sampled several of their wines, including a 20 year that is bottled in a decanter. We bought the 20 year with decanter- it came in a wooden box. Upon leaving the establishment it occurs to us: how are we going to pack this thing? But, we would figure that out later. Anyway, we moved on, stopped at our car to drop off our recent purchases, and headed for our tour at Ferreira.
Ferreira, like the other tours, took us through their history and their barrel rooms before finishing at the tasting room. One thing that is unique about Ferreira is that the dominant person in their history is a woman; the other houses we visited, and presumably most of the other houses, are all fronted or founded by men, whereas Ferreira's image is of a woman. This is evident in the name of one of the ports they produce- Dona Antonia. We bought two bottles, and headed back to our car.
On our way back, we decided that we wanted to taste more port, so we stopped at a small port store just on the other side of the river (in Porto) to check them out. The store, Vinologia, was fantastic, and the people that worked there were extremely friendly and helpful. Vinologia also focuses on smaller producers, which was also a major draw for us. We talked with one of the employees about what we liked, what we were interested in, and he showed us several bottles and poured us one of them which he had opened. We ended up buying two more bottles here, both from small houses- 2000 Magalhaes and a 2005 Quinta do Crasto (which is one of my new favorite wineries- they also produce table wine in addition to port). We also bought 3 boxes to transport our port and wine back to states in safely (that turned out not to necessarily be the case, but no matter), and then we headed back to our hotel to rest.
Upon reaching the hotel and parking the car, we had thought about stopping in the hotel bar to have a drink before going back to the room and figuring out dinner plans, but. . .we received no help at the bar, so we just went to the room. At which point. . . . . . . .someone passes out on the bed and cannot be roused. I'm not saying who it was, just that it was someone. The other person, meanwhile, decided to watch tv to continue trying to figure out this language. Instead, several channels in english were part of the cable, so the other person watched movies like Glory and some old movie with Michael Douglas and a pre-Magnum PI Tom Selleck. IMDB tells me the movie is called Coma, was made in 1978 and was directed by Michael Crichton. Anyway, the person who was passed out finally awakes, but much too late to go out and get food, so we just end up snacking on whatever we have left, which was mainly cashews and peanuts.
With that, we finished one long day in Porto tasting port nearly non-stop, pushing one person over the edge of sobriety. I'd call that a good day. We certainly had a great time just being in Porto with the sun shining and drinking port all day long. Just experiencing it was great- it was like the first time we went to Napa, just being there made us feel like everything is right in the world. The memories of the billboards on the side of the hill, talking with the people in the port houses, the smells inside the barrel rooms, walking on the concrete, seeing the river and looking back across to Porto- these things, these memories will not be forgotten, the pictures taken, these long-winded ramblings of mine only help to remember them better. So, it was with a mild sense of sadness that we were leaving Porto the next day, and that our trip only had 2 more days left in it, but knowing that we were here, that we could come back here, and that we would have, not only the pictures and my ramblings, but also the bottles. Yes, the bottles of port serve as the most tangible reminder of our trip- each time we look at one, each time we open a bottle, pour it, look at it, smell it and taste it, it can take us back to when we visited, when we bought it, and when we share it.
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Arrival in Porto
Sorry about the delays, various things have been keeping me from recounting the trip. Before moving on, I must share the following news: U.S. tour dates for My Bloody Valentine have been announced, and it includes a stop here in Ess Eff. I'm very excited about this news. My Bloody Valentine was one of the most influential bands of the late 80s and early 90s, culminating in the classic "Loveless," which was released in 1991.
With that out of the way. . .
It was with much sadness that we parted ways with our Mini at the Sevilla airport, but such is travelling. There is something I do not understand about European airports- gates are only announced 45 minutes (or less) before departure time. I point this out again, because we arrive into the Sevilla terminal looking to check-in. Well, the airline we are flying, Air Berlin, does not open their check-in counter until 2 hours before the flight takes off, and does not immediately show what gate the flight will be taking off from. Now, that last part is not unique to Air Berlin as it occurs at the airport. We encountered this same issue in Brussels: I do not understand. Maybe they are just being cautious about last-minute gate changes, or, maybe it's my desire for certainty with where we have to be, whatever it is, it's a little annoying. In any event, we make it successfully through security (no taking off shoes required), and have just over an hour to wander around. So, we stop in at a duty-free store to have a look-see. We walk out with two purchase: a 2001 rioja reserve and a pair of earrings for Meg. With that, we stuff them into our carry-on and make our way to the now announced gate and wait to board.
This leg of the trip takes us from Sevilla to Porto, but with a stop-over in Mallora. Mallorca is the main island in a chain of islands off the eastern coast of Spain. From the sky, it appeared to be much larger than I anticipated, and very beautiful. Mallorca is also a hub for Air Berlin. So, in the on-board magazine, there were a lot of advertisements for property in Mallorca, and were very tempting. For example, there was a property that was 5 bedrooms, 4 baths, with infinity pool overlooking the ocean available for $1.4 million. Meg and I are looking for investors to share a vacation home in Mallorca. Anyway, changing planes in Mallorca was a bit of an adventure- the airport is much larger than expected, and caused us to run through the terminal(s) to reach the gate from where our plane was expected to take off. However, we reach the gate, we go through the door and down the ramp. . .and keep walking down, until we reach the tarmac. Still no plane. Instead, there's a bus. We're told to get on the bus, and then we wait. And wait. Two rude men hop on the bus and without a word, bump right past Meg into a open spot behind her on the bus. Finally, the bus drives away from the gate, and takes us to an open area of the airport complex where a group of planes are just there. The bus stops alongside one of the planes and opens the door to let us out. Before us are two ramps, one going up the door at the front of the plane, the other going up to the door at the back of plane. Apparently, you can board via either door. Knowing our seats are toward the back of the plane, we head towards the back door.
I forgot to mention one thing about taking off from Sevilla- when we left the gate, the plane did not back-up. Instead, it turned around as there is enough distance between gates at the Sevilla airport to allow a plane to turn it's front wheels and make a 180 degree pivot. It was very interesting. In Mallorca the plane did back-up, and we took off over the Mediterranean and headed to Porto. We are in the second to last row of the plane, and people apparently view seat assignments as an option as people are sitting all over the place. Plus, the person sitting me behind is talking nearly the entire flight. I become convinced that she is actually talking to a friend on a cell phone; however, it turns out that she has a video recorder pointing out the window and is simply narrating the video. She keeps it up as we land as well. Apparently "safety" regulations are optional as well. Finally, we land in Porto, find our way to get our luggage and head out front to figure out how to get to our hotel.
With the ability of hindsight, I should have ordered some food on this flight- not because I was hungry (I wasn't) or that I needed to get ready for an evening of drinking, but because of what was available: currywurst. At the time I thought we had better things to do with our money than purchase some food for $8 that we didn't need, all the while I go on and on about trying new foods and what a culture eats. I have no doubt that I'll come across currywurst again, and I will not hesitate. But, my mind was on port and the many bottles that would be made available to me in a short time.
We opt for a cab. After an initial quiet period, the cab driver starts talking to us. Not having a grasp of Portuguese, other than reading it and thinking, "Hey, it looks alot like Spanish, I'm sure I could get the hang of it," I realize, no, I don't understand a single thing the guy is saying to us. He can understand a bit of english, but not that much, but he understands a bit more spanish, so that's helpful. I think we had a conversation about our jobs- I try to explain to him what I do, then I try to explain what Meg does, and then he talks about what he does. I say I think because I'm not at all sure what he was saying. The pronunciation of Portuguese is not at all similar to Spanish (or Italian for that matter, which I can also get the hang of if I'm around it long enough). All of the consonants are pronounced with a soft pronunciation (think the "c" in pronunciation instead of the "c" in can). So, it all sounded like a bunch of slurred gibberish to me- actually, it sounded like someone speaking an eastern european language, even though reading it was completely different experience. All that being said, we make it to our hotel and find a very pleasant and modern hotel- the first modern hotel we've stayed at. But, it still had a master power switch, like the rooms in Madrid and Sevilla. Oh, and who should be checking into the hotel right before us- the two men who bumped Meg on the bus waiting for the plane.
We get to our room, have a quick rest and plot our plan for the evening and the next day.
I spend my time looking over a map of Porto, trying to figure out our main goal of getting to Vila Nova de Gaia (where the port houses are located), and Meg going through the travel guide trying to find a place to eat, she finds out that my favorite port house has a restaurant, and a good one at that. So, we give them a call and make reservations for dinner. The cab picks us up, I give him the address, and he doesn't know what I'm talking about. He takes the guide book into the hotel, and comes back a minute or two later and realizes that it's simply the visitor center for Taylor-Fladgate. Off we go, bouncing over stone streets in the old part of Porto, along the Douro River, and there we see it- port house signs all over the hill opposite Porto. In one little bend of the river, the vast majority of the major port houses can be found. We work our way to Taylor-Fladgate, and walk to the restaurant. Taylor-Fladgate is located towards the top of the hill and looks out over the Douro River and across to Porto itself; it's quite a wonderful view.
We sit down and are greeted with a glass of white port, which is very tasty. A nice, sweet way to start dinner. We are presented with a few small plates of various spreads, and we also order a cheese plate- some of the cheese is very good, some are. . .ehhhh. The waiter is very entertaining and more than happy to practice his english, rather than suffer through my inability to speak Portuguese. The first course, we both order soup, which has a wonderful smokey but creamy texture to it. The main course: I order bacalhao (cod) because that's what you order in Portugal and Meg orders a steak, because that's what she's been craving, especially with what happened in Sevilla the night before. We have a bottle of portuguese wine that is very delicious. We both ordered dessert, as well as two glasses of their 10 year old port. We mentioned to the waiter how much we enjoy Taylor-Fladgate port and how Meg bought me a bottle of 30 year old port for my 30th birthday, and he returned a few minutes later with 2 more glasses for each of us: 1 contained their 1983 vintage port and the other contained some 40 year old port. So, sitting before us was 3 glasses: 1 with a 10 year old port, one with a 40 year old port and one with a 1983 vintage. It was quite an experience being able to sample these three ports side-by-side, especially the 1983, even if the 40 year old was our favorite. By way of a quick explanation as to what the previous sentences meant- 1) the 1983 was a declared vintage, which means that it only contains grapes from that year and goes from barrel to bottle much quicker than the other two, it also does not have as long of staying power, meaning that the bottle must be finished within a few hours; 2) 10, 20, 30 and 40 year old ports are a blend of various years, with the number of years on the bottle being the average of the blend. For example, a 20 year old port could be a blend of wine aging in barrels for 2 different amounts of time- 1 barrel being aged for 10 years, the other barrel being aged for 30 years. When we did the tour the next day (more on that in another post), we saw a barrel that was being produced for their 20 year bottle using wine from 1975.
Anyway, it was quite a wonderful evening of food and wine and port, not even the loud group of business men that were seated a table away from us could disrupt the evening. The restaurant called a cab for us, and we were on our way back to down the hill and over the stone streets and across the river and back up the hill on the other side to our hotel. We had just enough energy to decide that we would spend the next day only doing the port houses, instead of using the car to drive out to the vineyards. Our experience with our inability to locate wineries in Spain put a lot of doubt into our heads about being able to just drive out to the country and find tasting rooms, especially on a Tuesday. Plus, we can always come back to Portugal and do that tour- this stop was about port and that's what we did.
And did we ever hit the port houses! But that will have to wait.
With that out of the way. . .
It was with much sadness that we parted ways with our Mini at the Sevilla airport, but such is travelling. There is something I do not understand about European airports- gates are only announced 45 minutes (or less) before departure time. I point this out again, because we arrive into the Sevilla terminal looking to check-in. Well, the airline we are flying, Air Berlin, does not open their check-in counter until 2 hours before the flight takes off, and does not immediately show what gate the flight will be taking off from. Now, that last part is not unique to Air Berlin as it occurs at the airport. We encountered this same issue in Brussels: I do not understand. Maybe they are just being cautious about last-minute gate changes, or, maybe it's my desire for certainty with where we have to be, whatever it is, it's a little annoying. In any event, we make it successfully through security (no taking off shoes required), and have just over an hour to wander around. So, we stop in at a duty-free store to have a look-see. We walk out with two purchase: a 2001 rioja reserve and a pair of earrings for Meg. With that, we stuff them into our carry-on and make our way to the now announced gate and wait to board.
This leg of the trip takes us from Sevilla to Porto, but with a stop-over in Mallora. Mallorca is the main island in a chain of islands off the eastern coast of Spain. From the sky, it appeared to be much larger than I anticipated, and very beautiful. Mallorca is also a hub for Air Berlin. So, in the on-board magazine, there were a lot of advertisements for property in Mallorca, and were very tempting. For example, there was a property that was 5 bedrooms, 4 baths, with infinity pool overlooking the ocean available for $1.4 million. Meg and I are looking for investors to share a vacation home in Mallorca. Anyway, changing planes in Mallorca was a bit of an adventure- the airport is much larger than expected, and caused us to run through the terminal(s) to reach the gate from where our plane was expected to take off. However, we reach the gate, we go through the door and down the ramp. . .and keep walking down, until we reach the tarmac. Still no plane. Instead, there's a bus. We're told to get on the bus, and then we wait. And wait. Two rude men hop on the bus and without a word, bump right past Meg into a open spot behind her on the bus. Finally, the bus drives away from the gate, and takes us to an open area of the airport complex where a group of planes are just there. The bus stops alongside one of the planes and opens the door to let us out. Before us are two ramps, one going up the door at the front of the plane, the other going up to the door at the back of plane. Apparently, you can board via either door. Knowing our seats are toward the back of the plane, we head towards the back door.
I forgot to mention one thing about taking off from Sevilla- when we left the gate, the plane did not back-up. Instead, it turned around as there is enough distance between gates at the Sevilla airport to allow a plane to turn it's front wheels and make a 180 degree pivot. It was very interesting. In Mallorca the plane did back-up, and we took off over the Mediterranean and headed to Porto. We are in the second to last row of the plane, and people apparently view seat assignments as an option as people are sitting all over the place. Plus, the person sitting me behind is talking nearly the entire flight. I become convinced that she is actually talking to a friend on a cell phone; however, it turns out that she has a video recorder pointing out the window and is simply narrating the video. She keeps it up as we land as well. Apparently "safety" regulations are optional as well. Finally, we land in Porto, find our way to get our luggage and head out front to figure out how to get to our hotel.
With the ability of hindsight, I should have ordered some food on this flight- not because I was hungry (I wasn't) or that I needed to get ready for an evening of drinking, but because of what was available: currywurst. At the time I thought we had better things to do with our money than purchase some food for $8 that we didn't need, all the while I go on and on about trying new foods and what a culture eats. I have no doubt that I'll come across currywurst again, and I will not hesitate. But, my mind was on port and the many bottles that would be made available to me in a short time.
We opt for a cab. After an initial quiet period, the cab driver starts talking to us. Not having a grasp of Portuguese, other than reading it and thinking, "Hey, it looks alot like Spanish, I'm sure I could get the hang of it," I realize, no, I don't understand a single thing the guy is saying to us. He can understand a bit of english, but not that much, but he understands a bit more spanish, so that's helpful. I think we had a conversation about our jobs- I try to explain to him what I do, then I try to explain what Meg does, and then he talks about what he does. I say I think because I'm not at all sure what he was saying. The pronunciation of Portuguese is not at all similar to Spanish (or Italian for that matter, which I can also get the hang of if I'm around it long enough). All of the consonants are pronounced with a soft pronunciation (think the "c" in pronunciation instead of the "c" in can). So, it all sounded like a bunch of slurred gibberish to me- actually, it sounded like someone speaking an eastern european language, even though reading it was completely different experience. All that being said, we make it to our hotel and find a very pleasant and modern hotel- the first modern hotel we've stayed at. But, it still had a master power switch, like the rooms in Madrid and Sevilla. Oh, and who should be checking into the hotel right before us- the two men who bumped Meg on the bus waiting for the plane.
We get to our room, have a quick rest and plot our plan for the evening and the next day.
I spend my time looking over a map of Porto, trying to figure out our main goal of getting to Vila Nova de Gaia (where the port houses are located), and Meg going through the travel guide trying to find a place to eat, she finds out that my favorite port house has a restaurant, and a good one at that. So, we give them a call and make reservations for dinner. The cab picks us up, I give him the address, and he doesn't know what I'm talking about. He takes the guide book into the hotel, and comes back a minute or two later and realizes that it's simply the visitor center for Taylor-Fladgate. Off we go, bouncing over stone streets in the old part of Porto, along the Douro River, and there we see it- port house signs all over the hill opposite Porto. In one little bend of the river, the vast majority of the major port houses can be found. We work our way to Taylor-Fladgate, and walk to the restaurant. Taylor-Fladgate is located towards the top of the hill and looks out over the Douro River and across to Porto itself; it's quite a wonderful view.
We sit down and are greeted with a glass of white port, which is very tasty. A nice, sweet way to start dinner. We are presented with a few small plates of various spreads, and we also order a cheese plate- some of the cheese is very good, some are. . .ehhhh. The waiter is very entertaining and more than happy to practice his english, rather than suffer through my inability to speak Portuguese. The first course, we both order soup, which has a wonderful smokey but creamy texture to it. The main course: I order bacalhao (cod) because that's what you order in Portugal and Meg orders a steak, because that's what she's been craving, especially with what happened in Sevilla the night before. We have a bottle of portuguese wine that is very delicious. We both ordered dessert, as well as two glasses of their 10 year old port. We mentioned to the waiter how much we enjoy Taylor-Fladgate port and how Meg bought me a bottle of 30 year old port for my 30th birthday, and he returned a few minutes later with 2 more glasses for each of us: 1 contained their 1983 vintage port and the other contained some 40 year old port. So, sitting before us was 3 glasses: 1 with a 10 year old port, one with a 40 year old port and one with a 1983 vintage. It was quite an experience being able to sample these three ports side-by-side, especially the 1983, even if the 40 year old was our favorite. By way of a quick explanation as to what the previous sentences meant- 1) the 1983 was a declared vintage, which means that it only contains grapes from that year and goes from barrel to bottle much quicker than the other two, it also does not have as long of staying power, meaning that the bottle must be finished within a few hours; 2) 10, 20, 30 and 40 year old ports are a blend of various years, with the number of years on the bottle being the average of the blend. For example, a 20 year old port could be a blend of wine aging in barrels for 2 different amounts of time- 1 barrel being aged for 10 years, the other barrel being aged for 30 years. When we did the tour the next day (more on that in another post), we saw a barrel that was being produced for their 20 year bottle using wine from 1975.
Anyway, it was quite a wonderful evening of food and wine and port, not even the loud group of business men that were seated a table away from us could disrupt the evening. The restaurant called a cab for us, and we were on our way back to down the hill and over the stone streets and across the river and back up the hill on the other side to our hotel. We had just enough energy to decide that we would spend the next day only doing the port houses, instead of using the car to drive out to the vineyards. Our experience with our inability to locate wineries in Spain put a lot of doubt into our heads about being able to just drive out to the country and find tasting rooms, especially on a Tuesday. Plus, we can always come back to Portugal and do that tour- this stop was about port and that's what we did.
And did we ever hit the port houses! But that will have to wait.
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