Port Tasting

Today, my panel was in the morning, which left the afternoon a bit more open to do some sightseeing. The panel itself went well - in spite of the fact that only two of the four scheduled presenters managed to make it - and even so, we filled up nearly two hours between our talks and questions. (No softballs from the audience, either!)

We wrapped up around 1300, which left plenty of time to do something in the afternoon. In my case, that something was to hop the metro over to Nuovo Gaia and do a bit of port sampling. I only managed to make four - Portugal apparently has a different concept of "tasting pours" than we do in the U.S, as in our tasting pours are generally one ounce and theirs are a full glass or so....*hic* But I did manage today to get to Quinta do Nuovo, Sandeman, Kopke, and one other. I got to try a lot of interesting vintages. including a really unusual rose port as well as a few dry whites and vintages. Not sure if it was the "pauvre pauvrecita" traveling by my lonesome, as Ian likes to call it, or the American in a land far away syndrome, but I seemed to get extra-special attention in a few of the cellars - or as one might say, extra samples. It could also be a factor - and in my opinion, most likely -that unlike most of the other taster I actually knew wine pretty well and could ask complex questions. Winos like to show off for other winos, which means if you seem to know what you're talking about - your tasting table is quickly full of all kinds of good stuff.

The truly interesting part of the evening was after I decided I had had quite enough wine, and needed some food in me. I wandered across the Duoro, found a place that looked like it had some good local fish, and hopped a seat. Even now, I'm still not entirely sure how it happened - one minute I was being a foodie with the server, the next they're shuttling me into the kitchen to learn how to prepare Portuguese salted cod and dice garlic. !!! Either I was making points with the locals or becoming immigrant labor, not quite sure which - but it was very fun, I learned some excellent pointers, and had a fantastic meal. (Note, I was the only person shuttled into the kitchen, this wasn't like in Istanbul where I paid to learn to cook.) One of the waiters wanted to know if I knew Anthony Bourdain and could pass his name along - so errr.....since James does in passing know Tony B., guess I have some introductions to make now?

In any case, the most interesting night I've had here so far. Yay for getting out and about and eating on the local economy! And if you see me in the Porto No Reservations, well - I'll be the blonde in the kitchen.

Day 1

Day 1 was, truth be told, not terribly exciting. First of all - even if I had free time, Porto is not the most tourist-friendly or easily-navigable cities in the world. There's a metro system, or so I am told, but it's terribly marked and I am still not convinced if it's bus based or underground based. Never a good sign. Fortunately, the taxis are readily available.

Work is keeping me pretty hopping, though, so perhaps it is for the best if there isn't a ton to distract me from my job. Tonight was opening ceremonies as well as a panel I attended, and then I am a discussant tomorrow, panelist Friday, and chair Saturday as well. If time allows, I'm hoping to nip over to Gaia across the Duoro on Friday and do a bit of port tasting, but that very well may be my sight seeing for this trip.

Haven't posted any pictures yet because I haven't gotten to the picturesque part - mostly it's urban city where I'm staying and working, but hopefully I can get a couple this weekend. Stay tuned! The food's been pretty good though. To date, only eaten in the hotel - walked around for a little tonight after work to try and find a local haunt, but no luck so far in my neighborhood. I'll keep trying!

Bem Vendo a Porto!

Good news! I arrived safely in Porto - of course, there were adventures getting here as there always seem to be, but both my new laptop and I made it here this time. Huzzah!

The adventure getting here was that my 2:37pm flight to Newark was first delayed three hours, then ultimately cancelled - which of course, caused me to miss my connection in New York to Porto. Now, had they cancelled the flight in the first place, I could have hopped another flight to Newark - even out of Reagan National if needed, where they leave every hour - and been fine. But that would be far, far too efficient and logical for modern air travel. Instead, I spent the rest of my evening waiting in multiple queues with many irate passengers, just to be told they couldn't help if it was international and go wait in another queue, etc and so forth. To make a very long and rather unhappy experience brief - we'll just say that they finally found me a flight to Frankfurt and then Porto, and still managed to get me to my destination on the same arrival day. Fortunately, the customer service manager - who unlike the other employees was actually very nice and pleasant - also upgraded my first leg to business class, so I was able to get some much needed sleep on the flight over.

Can't say that I did much my first day here - of course, due in part to the fact that I arrived at 7pm in the evening instead of 8am in the morning as I was originally supposed to. The airlines lost my luggage *again* - I swear, my suitcase *LOVES* Frankfurt and always decides to spend the night and have a few pints while there. Of course, I can't say that I really blame it....So this morning, I woke up, put on the t-shirt I had in my carry on (thereby flagging myself as an American tourist, of course), and then trekked back over to the airport to get my suitcase. Safely in hand, my luggage and I returned to the hotel and thought I'd toss up a quick post before actually getting to settle in to my trip.

Today's itinerary (after a change of clothes, of course) is to check in for my conference, and then head across the Duoro to do some port tasting. That post should be a lot more interesting then the travel adventures one I just wrote!

Cheers, more to follow tonight or tomorrow.