Being retired means not having to work. Not having to work means doing pretty much what I damn well please. What I please often means traveling to see or do something I've never seen or done before. Sometimes, to taste something.
I love custard and seek it out wherever we go (click on each link to see what I am talking about): flan in Buenos Aires, tarts in San Francisco's Chinatown, crema catalana in Barcelona, crème aux oeufs in Paris, Boston's cream pie.
For a long time, however, I've longed for the ultimate in custard, the legendary pastel de nata of Portugal. As one writer observed, these custards are to Portugal what wine is to France. And of all the pasteis de nata, the greatest are from the Pasteis de Belem in Lisbon.
No longer able to resist the urge to gorge myself on these tasty little suckers, I decided it was time to go to Portugal. And so we are off, flying today to Madrid and then on tomorrow morning to Lisbon, where we'll spend eight days in an apartment in the Graça neighborhood.
If you think me silly for this, look at this photo and tell me that you do not want one. Open wide to take another bite.
I haven't posted any snaps because we're not there yet. Soon.
Monday, March 28, 2011
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
To Seattle or Not?
I was born in Texas and have lived here ever since. After an incident last year, I panicked at the question, am I going to die in Texas, too?
I want to live in a real city, which Texas does not have. Terri and I love Chicago but don't have the courage to face the winters there. New York City is the greatest city on earth, but Manhattan is too expensive and who wants to live in Queens? We could emigrate to Western Europe but are too lazy to fill out the paperwork.
So our trip to Seattle was partly to answer the question, do we want to move there? As for most questions in life, the answer is complicated.
Seattle is a beautiful city. There are lots of apartments downtown and in nearby neighborhoods like Belltown and South Lake Union, and lots of residents means lots of shops and restaurants, even shopping malls, that are not dependent on customers in cars.
It rains in Seattle. It's generally not a heavy rain, just a drizzle, but it's enough to get you wet. We never broke out an umbrella, although we used the hoods on our coats a lot. If we lived in Seattle I would lose my tan and become very pale.
Every April in Texas we close up the windows and turn on the air conditioner, and it stays on until October. In Seattle, anything over 80° is considered a heat wave, even in August. Few residences have air conditioning.
There is no Whataburger in Washington State.
We are bored in Texas. Boredom is not always a bad thing.
Chicago has the Art Institute. New York has the Met and MOMA. Fort Worth has the Kimbell, the Amon Carter, and the Modern. Seattle has, well, not so much.
There is no income tax in Texas and the sales tax is 8.25%. There is no income tax in Washington and the sales tax in Seattle is 9.5%.
We moved to Fort Worth, in part, to be close to DFW airport. We can get there via TRE train and two shuttle buses for $3.50 per person, in about one hour. We have non-stop AA flights to London, Madrid, and Buenos Aires, and connecting flights to Europe from O'Hare (ORD) and JFK. Non-stop DFW to LHR (London Heathrow) is 4,750 miles, or 9 hours.
Seattle is not a AA hub but has non-stop flights to DFW, ORD, and JFK. The train from downtown to Seattle/Tacoma (SEA) airport takes about 30 minutes and costs $2.50 per person. Non-stop SEA to LHR is 4,801 miles, or 9.5 hours.
We were surprised at how few pick-up trucks we saw on the road in Seattle. Our Honda Civic would feel more at home there, but we would have to replace the windshield wiper blades more often.
For our long walks, Fort Worth has the Trinity Trails, forty miles along the Trinity River. Seattle's shoreline has a three-mile walk along Puget Sound and through Myrtle Edwards Park.
"Liberal" is not a curse word in Seattle.
Moving is not as easy as staying still. Easier is not always better.
Our lease in Fort Worth is not up until September, so there's plenty of time to ponder this.
Here's my Flickr snaps of Seattle.
I want to live in a real city, which Texas does not have. Terri and I love Chicago but don't have the courage to face the winters there. New York City is the greatest city on earth, but Manhattan is too expensive and who wants to live in Queens? We could emigrate to Western Europe but are too lazy to fill out the paperwork.
So our trip to Seattle was partly to answer the question, do we want to move there? As for most questions in life, the answer is complicated.
Seattle is a beautiful city. There are lots of apartments downtown and in nearby neighborhoods like Belltown and South Lake Union, and lots of residents means lots of shops and restaurants, even shopping malls, that are not dependent on customers in cars.
It rains in Seattle. It's generally not a heavy rain, just a drizzle, but it's enough to get you wet. We never broke out an umbrella, although we used the hoods on our coats a lot. If we lived in Seattle I would lose my tan and become very pale.
Every April in Texas we close up the windows and turn on the air conditioner, and it stays on until October. In Seattle, anything over 80° is considered a heat wave, even in August. Few residences have air conditioning.
There is no Whataburger in Washington State.
We are bored in Texas. Boredom is not always a bad thing.
Chicago has the Art Institute. New York has the Met and MOMA. Fort Worth has the Kimbell, the Amon Carter, and the Modern. Seattle has, well, not so much.
There is no income tax in Texas and the sales tax is 8.25%. There is no income tax in Washington and the sales tax in Seattle is 9.5%.
We moved to Fort Worth, in part, to be close to DFW airport. We can get there via TRE train and two shuttle buses for $3.50 per person, in about one hour. We have non-stop AA flights to London, Madrid, and Buenos Aires, and connecting flights to Europe from O'Hare (ORD) and JFK. Non-stop DFW to LHR (London Heathrow) is 4,750 miles, or 9 hours.
Seattle is not a AA hub but has non-stop flights to DFW, ORD, and JFK. The train from downtown to Seattle/Tacoma (SEA) airport takes about 30 minutes and costs $2.50 per person. Non-stop SEA to LHR is 4,801 miles, or 9.5 hours.
We were surprised at how few pick-up trucks we saw on the road in Seattle. Our Honda Civic would feel more at home there, but we would have to replace the windshield wiper blades more often.
For our long walks, Fort Worth has the Trinity Trails, forty miles along the Trinity River. Seattle's shoreline has a three-mile walk along Puget Sound and through Myrtle Edwards Park.
"Liberal" is not a curse word in Seattle.
Moving is not as easy as staying still. Easier is not always better.
Our lease in Fort Worth is not up until September, so there's plenty of time to ponder this.
Here's my Flickr snaps of Seattle.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Still in Seattle
Seattle is very hilly. The first trudge up Seneca from the train station to our hotel was challenging. The walk downhill back to the station will be very fast, I think.
Seattle has fewer people than Fort Worth and half as many as Dallas. Yet downtown Seattle is much more urban than anything in Texas.
Wherever we go, we see more and more homeless people. Is this because we are going to the same places the homeless go, or are there more homeless everywhere in the U.S.?
If you think there are a lot of Starbucks where you live, come to Seattle, where they're at least two on every block. High-rise office buildings have several, conveniently placed on intermediate floors. We've seen one McDonald's.
In the mid-1980s, there was a move to make the Kingsmen's "Louie Louie" the official Washington state song.
Unlike Texas, Seattle has topography.
Seattle is clean: little trash, no dog poop.
Public transportation here is extensive but expensive. There are many overlapping systems -- it's difficult and confusing to switch from bus to train to streetcar to monorail to ferry. There are no passes for visitors. Because of all this, we've decided to walk.
On a clear day there's a beautiful view of Mt. Rainier from the top of the Columbia Center, Seattle's tallest building.
I'm still snapping for Flickr.
Seattle has fewer people than Fort Worth and half as many as Dallas. Yet downtown Seattle is much more urban than anything in Texas.
Wherever we go, we see more and more homeless people. Is this because we are going to the same places the homeless go, or are there more homeless everywhere in the U.S.?
If you think there are a lot of Starbucks where you live, come to Seattle, where they're at least two on every block. High-rise office buildings have several, conveniently placed on intermediate floors. We've seen one McDonald's.
In the mid-1980s, there was a move to make the Kingsmen's "Louie Louie" the official Washington state song.
Unlike Texas, Seattle has topography.
Seattle is clean: little trash, no dog poop.
Public transportation here is extensive but expensive. There are many overlapping systems -- it's difficult and confusing to switch from bus to train to streetcar to monorail to ferry. There are no passes for visitors. Because of all this, we've decided to walk.
On a clear day there's a beautiful view of Mt. Rainier from the top of the Columbia Center, Seattle's tallest building.
I'm still snapping for Flickr.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Gone Seattle-ing
It's been a long time since I've been in Seattle, and Terri has never been, so here we are. The forecast is for cold and rain, and for tomorrow more cold and more rain, and for the day after, and for the day after that, and for every day while we're here.
It was raining at the airport when we landed and we could see the drizzle as we walked to the train station. Once we got onboard and headed north, to downtown, the rain stopped and we haven't seen another drop, not yet. At least for now, the weather is gorgeous: cool and partly cloudy, with brisk winds coming off Puget Sound.
We spent our first afternoon as we always spend our first afternoon in a new place, walking around the neighborhood. My first impressions are all good: we are in the middle of downtown, and within three or four blocks we've found a Belgian waffle shop, a gelateria, several Thai restaurants, three supermarkets, twelvety-seven coffee shops, and more fresh seafood than I could eat in a lifetime. People actually live here.
The train from SeaTac airport to downtown costs only $2.50, and it took us to within a block of our hotel. Buses and trains converge in the downtown area in a large underground tunnel, making it very easy to transfer from one line to another. A public transportation system that is logically designed and efficiently run -- it's enough to make an old Texan like me weep with joy.
For our first dinner we went to Mae Phim, a Thai restaurant a few blocks from the hotel. It's everything a great hole-in-the-wall restaurant should be: small and unpretentious, family owned, and good food.
We've had our coffee and breakfast, I've blogged and posted a few photos, and now it's time to get out on the streets and see what adventure awaits us.
Here's the Flickr snaps so far. Not many yet, but it's early in our trip.
It was raining at the airport when we landed and we could see the drizzle as we walked to the train station. Once we got onboard and headed north, to downtown, the rain stopped and we haven't seen another drop, not yet. At least for now, the weather is gorgeous: cool and partly cloudy, with brisk winds coming off Puget Sound.
We spent our first afternoon as we always spend our first afternoon in a new place, walking around the neighborhood. My first impressions are all good: we are in the middle of downtown, and within three or four blocks we've found a Belgian waffle shop, a gelateria, several Thai restaurants, three supermarkets, twelvety-seven coffee shops, and more fresh seafood than I could eat in a lifetime. People actually live here.
The train from SeaTac airport to downtown costs only $2.50, and it took us to within a block of our hotel. Buses and trains converge in the downtown area in a large underground tunnel, making it very easy to transfer from one line to another. A public transportation system that is logically designed and efficiently run -- it's enough to make an old Texan like me weep with joy.
For our first dinner we went to Mae Phim, a Thai restaurant a few blocks from the hotel. It's everything a great hole-in-the-wall restaurant should be: small and unpretentious, family owned, and good food.
We've had our coffee and breakfast, I've blogged and posted a few photos, and now it's time to get out on the streets and see what adventure awaits us.
Here's the Flickr snaps so far. Not many yet, but it's early in our trip.
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