Small Triumphs

 We decided on an apartment.  We have been searching for apartments since before we arrived, occasionally contacting owners and rental agencies without much success.  The owner of a language school here, Linguamania, put us in touch with someone who would rent us a student apartment temporarily while we found something else, and she put us in touch with someone with another apartment. The other apartment was very nice, but a bit smaller and a bit more expensive and we worried about accidentally harming any of the contents. On Friday D met with the owner of the apartment we are staying in now and he offered to allow us to stay for the rest of our time here.  The children were divided on their preferences and D and I were conflicted, so we sat down as a family and wrote out all the pros and cons of each place.  Then we tried to find solutions for each con.  We took a break and came back to it.  Slowly we all came to the consensus that we should remain in our current apartment.  The owner will come over tomorrow to finalize it, and we can talk about the few things that would make it more comfortable.  It feels nice to be settling in.  One of my favorite features of the apartment is the little terrace with the windows that open wide.

Our family adventure today was a walk to get the famous gofres, waffles which are served as a dessert or snack, and investigating phone cards for me. The kids ordered ones with gelato on top.  They both agreed that they were delicious.  L would get it with gelato again while G would be a purest and get it plain. We are all getting more comfortable with the city and recognizing it better as we branch out more and more. 

This evening G and I signed up for a Free Walking Tour of Vigo focused on Mysteries and Legends.  After I signed up they contacted me to let me know it was only in Spanish.  I knew it would be too fast for me and way too fast for G, but then I thought of the Google Translate App.  It has a feature that will translate as people speak, so I thought we would try it.  G was game.  I invited an expat family with a teen girl that I met on a FaceBook group and we met for meriendas, a drink and snack typically preceding dinner.  So at 7 we met by the El Sireno sculpture, the merman, which is said to represent the city's maritime history and beckon to its long history of stories that include, among others, mermaids. L absolutely hates this sculpture and refuses to look at it.  And she is not alone, it is widely criticized (https://mas.farodevigo.es/sireno/debate/ use the translate function on your browser, it is well worth a read).  While odd, I rather enjoy it and think it is all the better for provoking reactions.  

We found a table and started chatting. They were very nice and the conversation was easy.  I remember from traveling for months in Asia, connections seem to deepen quickly and our time with them definitely supported that experience.  After a lively conversation, we joined the tour.  Google translate did an adequate job of keeping G and I somewhat in the loop, but it also provided some hilarious mis translations including something about a malevolent sewing machine and the great constipation of the 1900s that was solved by strange movements. We got to see some beautiful parts of the city we had yet to explore, learn a bit of history, enjoy good company, and had a few laughs. I feel like I am getting my footing. Onward!   

Adjustments

 We didn't expect it to all be roses here.  And there are some thorns.  

D and I are busy with all the details.  From having to figure out how to get NIE numbers for the kids and I to TIE cards for all of us to extend our stay beyond 90 days (that is how long the Spanish Consulate originally gives you and you have to continue to wade through bureaucracy in Spanish once here to figure it all out, more info here if you are curious https://expanish.com/blog/studying-in-spain-what-are-the-nie-tie-and-how-do-i-get-them/), to deciding on rentals and interpreting contracts in Spanish, visiting schooling for the kids, figuring out calling plans, discovering where to find what we need, it is keeping us busy. 

The children, on the other hand, are missing their friends and home and our dog terribly, and with nothing to do but wait until evening when their friends back home are awake to play with them online, they are feeling it keenly.  They each express it a bit differently, but they are in the thick of it and we are trying to support them the best we can through it, reminding them that it is a process and they will be happy here.  They are resistant to going out and exploring their new city, but we have told them that we have to go out and do or see one new thing a day, whether it is a new street, checking out a fruit vendor, going to a museum or beach of their choice, or a new playground.  

Yesterday that involved visiting the Parque do Castro again, this time looking at the 3000+ year old village site with its round huts made of stone topped with a thick layer of branches and then walking up to the castle ruins on the top of the hill.  The view of the city, port, estuary, Cies Islands, and Atlantic was spectacular.  

This park with its forest and trails, history and playgrounds just a 10 minute walk from our apartment.  We had a nice visit with a very sweet dog, which was a bit bittersweet as it also stirred some feelings of missing our dog, and we visited the playground.  It was nice to play and laugh and have a break from the tough feelings for a bit.  On the way back, L mentioned that when she has friends from school she wants to go play in that park with them. Little by little we are all adjusting. 

The Yes Day Part 1

 Aug. 26, 2023 The "Yes Day" 

Yesterday L asked for a "Yes Day,"  a day when parents have to say yes to whatever is asked.  L remembered reading about a "Yes Day" from another family who had lived in Vigo last year.  The concept had the potential to go a bit sideways, but she has both been vacillating between anger and sadness at being here, so we decided to go with it with a few limits.  G wanted to get in on it, too, so we decided to start out with a half-day for each of them, limit spending to 20€ each, and activities that are outside the house.  And that we will each have a "Yes Day." G had a restless night, so he decided he would do his "Yes Day" on a different day.  

L's first stop, Vialia Mall.  This place is huge, with a bus and train depot on the bottom floor, lots of shops, video games, bowling, gym, and more on the next 2 levels, and on the roof there are basketball and soccer courts, a skate park, zip line, ninja course, and playgrounds.  But L's laser sharp focus was on clothes.  Yes, she has hit the age where clothing and image is important.  So we visited shop after shop, looking for just the right thing.  On the way she found the most spectacular donuts and decisively ordered a pink one with little bits on top.  She enjoyed half and, in a move that almost made me so proud, she saved the other half for her brother. 

Not finding anything that she loved as much as an outfit she had seen elsewhere in the city, we moseyed toward Rua Principe, a wide pedestrian street filled with shops, cafes, restaurants, and the art museum.  On the way we stopped by El Corte Ingles, a department store, and Larkin found something she loved in the children's section.  She came out beaming in it, black leggings and a cream top with a small, simple pastel rainbow.  

She wore it out of the store and we continued onto Rua Principe where we explored some more shops. And then she ran out of steam and wanted to head home.  And so I said yes. After sharing the half a donut with her brother and resting and reading the fourth Harry Potter book for a bit, D convinced the kids to walk over to OCastro, a haven in the middle of Vigo that has forest and walking paths, playgrounds, skate park, castles, amazing views and lots more.  At one point we came across two older gentlemen sitting on a bench and using a little bicycle exercise apparatus.  They reminded me of the two critics that sit in the balcony on the Muppets Show, telling jokes and being silly.  They made us laugh in our limited Spanish.  Once we reached the playground, there were smiles all around, and lots of playing.  So overall it was a great day, continuing to get our bearings in this city.

Porto to Vigo

At 7am we hauled all of our heavy luggage as quietly as we could, down the narrow stairs of our hotel, and out into the cool morning air of Porto.  In general, Porto seems to be a very busy city with lots of building going on, many tourists, and many people on the streets. The city was uncharastically quiet this morning as it was an early Sunday.  We rolled ourselves down the cobbled street to the São Bento Train Station, giving myself a pat on the back for finding a hotel so close, and onto the platform.  The São Bento  Station is a local station, and we had to take a commuter train from there to the Campanha Station about a 5-minute ride away to catch the train to Vigo.  We dragged our bags onto the local train, not knowing how long we would have to get ourselves and luggage off the train before it departed.  Our readiness was for nothing as the train arrived and stayed put as we got all of our luggage off.  But once off the train, we didn't know where to go. 

Campanha is a large station with train lines on several levels.  We asked one of the conductors in the best Portuguese we had, which is nonexistent, and, in his much better English, he indicated that we needed to go downstairs.  Still confused once we got downstairs, we found a monitor with the train times and tracks and walked to our train.  It didn't look like the fancy, new train we had taken from Lisbon to Porto, but more like a commuter train and it only had overhead luggage and no where obvious for our huge bags. Unsure of where to put our luggage, I found a conductor to ask and he said put it where we could without blocking doors.  So we found some spots between the cars to put it.  The next obstacle is that this train was configured differently than the one I had made online reservations and we were seated in different cars.  We waited for someone to take the seats near us, and they kindly switched with us.  We had arrived early enough that we were among the first on the train and it slowly filled up over the next 30 minutes while we snacked on the breakfast of fresh bread rolls, yogurt drinks, and fruit D had found. This train was not quite as luxurious as the one we had taken from Lisbon, but it was comfy and it was nice to see the countryside roll by, guessing at what plants were there (lots of corn and something that looks quite like sugar cane), enjoying the architecture, and more rural towns.  

We passed several beautiful estuaries and finally over the border into Spain.  Just a short ride later and we were passing through pretty Redondela, just east of Porto and where our friend, Teresa, spent some of her childhood.  We met Teresa at Sierra Fiddle Camp before the pandemic, and we immediately clicked.  Warm and open, she teaches music in a local school in Galicia and she has been an incredible help in planning all of this.  We started seeing signs of the port, freight trains and cranes to lift the cargo boxes onto and off of the ships.  Vigo is a major port and much of this can be seen along the waterfront. We arrived at the station, which is located near the water on the east side of the downtown area.  We gave a group of conductors a laugh when we asked for immigration; the border is open so our stamp from Portugal is our stamp for Spain. This matters because we are meant to register with the police within 30 days of our arrival and we were already a week into our time there.  And registering with the police is not as simple as it sounds.  But more on that later.  

It was around 10:30 am and we had to get to the apartment we were renting through August to meet the owner in about 30 minutes.  None of the taxis looked like they could take our bags and us. D looked on maps and it said it was a 20 minute walk, so we decided to walk.  Vigo was in the midst of a heat wave and, as I mentioned, we had a lot of stuff and we were at the waterfront.  Vigo is much like San Francisco in that everything rises from the waterfront. So that 20 minute walk, in the warming weather, with tired children and parents, and all our luggage turned into a spectacle for the people who were out on that Sunday morning.  A line of Americans with their huge bags, struggling up the hills, with the youngest understandably melting down.  Just when L and I were going to wait on a corner for D and G to come back and get us after they met the apartment owner, a very kind man asked us where we were going and offered to show us the way and he dragged Larkin's bag up the hill.  Once we arrived, he told us we had missed the escalator that takes you up the hills.  Oops!  But I wouldn't trade that escalator for the kindness of Miguel, what an introduction to the people of this city!

We settled into the apartment and rested for much of the day, going out to find some groceries, and the kids getting on computers to spend some time online with friends at home.  My first impression is that it is a bigger city than I expected, taller buildings everywhere built of stone (where is it all quarried from?), clean, amazing playgrounds, and friendly people.  

Playground near our apartment

Love the dish drying rack hidden in the cabinet above the sink.

Chatting and playing games with their buddies back home.

The tiny terrace with the big windows.

Porto

When we packed to go to Spain for the year, we maxed out all the luggage we could take, Exactly 50 pound large  bags for each person, rolly carry-ons for D and I, backpacks for each of us, violins for the kids, and my CPAP machine. It was one thing to navigate the airport with these, checking the large bags and going on the plane with the rest, but now we had to get ourselves on the train to Porto and store them somewhere. We arrived for our early train, tottering through the station with all our stuff. It was rather a hilarious sight, us with all of our stuff. But we made it and found the train ride to be fairly comfortable and smooth.

We arrived in Porto mid-day, into the famous and beautiful Sao Bento station, just a 5 minute luggage roll over cobblestone to our hotel. We quickly found that the hotel did not have an elevator and hauling our luggage to the 5th floor was a challenge. So we were all a bit tired when we made it up. The room was charming and the balcony view was sweet. 

L found that there were some pools near the beach she wanted to visit and G was interested in visiting some catacombs, so D went with L while G and I walked through the touristy areas of Porto to the church. The architecture was all stone and felt heavy and gaudy, but beautiful. We explored the adjacent building and all the artwork commissioned by the Church, ending with the catacombs and ossuary. I am still unclear why they had an ossuary, why put bones there rather than somewhere else, but it was properly creepy. G was thrilled. 

A church we saw while going for lunch…buildings like this with the tiles all over the city.

Outside Igreja de Säo Francisco

View from Igreja de Säo Francisco

Ossuary inside Igreja de Säo Francisco

Crypt inside Igreja de Säo Francisco…we didn’t realize until after that this is the name of one of D’s friends as well.

I had to get a snap of this McDonald’s. There is another in Porto that is said to be amongst the most beautiful in the world. We took a quick peek and it really was quite beautiful.

Along the waterfront.

The next day we had tickets to visit the famous Lello Library in the afternoon, said to be one of the most beautiful bookstores in the world and an inspiration to J.K. Rowling as she wrote the "Harry Potter" series. Some years ago they did not charge to enter, but now they sell times tickets to enter the gorgeous bookstore.  It is said that people mobbed to see the store but weren’t purchasing enough to keep the bookstore afloat. We had plans to visit other sights throughout Porto beforehand, but everyone was still jet lagged, so we wandered around a bit, found a park to play and rest in, visited another church with catacombs, and D found that food there was not very vegan-friendly.  

Outside the Lello Bookstore; people line up an hour before their entry time.

Entrance to the Lello.

The entire store is a work of art. Here the underside of the famous staircase.

They found books to read and cozy spots while the adults soaked in the ornate architecture.

Upstairs you can view the stained glass ceiling, staircase, and woodwork.

Trying Porto’s famous franchesinhas sandwich; this restaurant even had a vegan version. We were all in agreement we were glad we tried it.

Sunset from our balcony overlooking the Säo Bento train station.

Sinstra, Portugal

Last night the kids had a hard time falling asleep until almost midnight. We were going to wake them by 8 so we could spend the day in Sintra, but they were so knocked out that we let them sleep until 10. It wasn’t until almost 11:30 that we got into a cab to head to Sintra for our 12:30 entrance to the famous Pena Palace. The taxi driver was originally from India via Tanzania and was very interesting with tales and thoughts on everything from language to politics to history. The traffic was awful, so it took an hour for a normally 20-30 minute ride. It gave us a chance to check out the beautiful little town, so picturesque with its pastel-toned homes and colorful azulejos tiles. We spied the National Palace with its dominant, cone-shaped kitchen chimneys. The driver told us that the area used to be bare and rocky, but that one of the kings or royalty planted many trees so it is lush and shaded today. The driver grew up roaming the area and remembers camping there on stone slabs with his family as a boy. He finally dropped us at the property entrance and we showed our tickets and hiked up the beautiful, forested hill to the palace entrance. The Peña palace is striking for its beautiful colors and various architectural styles, and it did not disappoint.  Though we were 40 minutes late, we were allowed entrance and were herded into the palace. There we joined at the back of a line of people snaking its way through the palace on a predetermined route. Unfortunately, there was barely enough time to read informational signs and appreciate the different rooms and their incredible decor because so many people visit the site.  L started getting hot, hungry, and tired, so it became even more difficult to appreciate what was in front of us. So L and I cut our time a bit short and went to find some lunch. There was a little cafe in the forest and we found some sandwiches and drinks to refresh us and D and G joined us after they finished exploring the palace. 

We decided to skip the Moorish Castle and go to the Quinta da Regeliera, an elaborate home that is well known for its grounds. Most notably is the Initiation Well, carved from stone with a spiral walkway down to the bottom leading to caves, grottoes, and other interesting features. Finding a long line for it, D decided to try to sell his spot for 100€ once he got toward the front. Ha! While there were a lot of people, they kept the line moving and it was definitely worth the wait!. At the bottom we explored the caves, finding ourselves behind a little waterfall and pond. 

Another cave led to an unfinished well which spiraled up, but was blocked off. Wandering further we found an aquarium that was built of degraded limestone with holes that had glass affixed. It was no longer kept, but would have been incredible when it was in good condition. There was so much to explore with little surprises around each corner, and we had a wonderful time there. 

Wandering through the town afterward, we came across a woman playing a harp made from the cranium and antlers of an animal.  There was art and color everywhere we looked in the city.  But we definitely had some tired children at the end of the day. 

We returned to Lisbon that evening to pack for our journey north the next morning.  The owner of the guest house took D to pick up pizza and joined us for the meal in the garden.  He can spin a yarn, and he really reminded us of our old landlord both in appearance and demeanor.  Once we realized it, we couldn't unsee it… it was uncanny!  The connection definitely made the guest house a more special place to stay.