July 17. Double miracle

We started the day again at Brown’s. There was an older guy there yesterday who went around picking on staff and then concentrated on polishing brass knobs on the armchairs scaring the customers, and giving those who stayed a happy buzz.

He was back at his job today. We thought he was Mr. Brown but barista said he was the second in command. We should ask barista's name - the nicest guy. He always brings you your food straight to the table. The other lady who works there would never do such a thing.

Georgia and I went to Fashion and Design museum with an exciting name for the Russian speakers Mude. It was very nice. It is located in a gutted building on Rue Augusta. Completely gutted to the walls. It actually looked nice but I could not help to wonder what they did with asbestos.

Even the futuristic

soldier needs to

reapply his makeup 

The bottom two floors contained permanent collection of 60-70s furniture and clothing along with staff whose sole responsibly was camera control. At least they don’t scream at you like Lithuanian ones do when you are trying to take away the soul of some old teacup by taking a picture of it.

The 3^rd floor contained very interesting thematic collection of groups of everyday objects gathered together to show a certain beauty in them. For example, they had collections of objects used for gripping, molding and so on. It does make you think about these objects differently when they are taken out of utilitarian context. We don’t remember what was on the last floor but we enjoyed the regained power for the picture taking and took lots of pictures of the walls, exhibits, and ourselves. To top that the museum is free, has a clean bathroom, and A/C. 



And Mozart needs his cup of

coffee

In the afternoon Irina took the kids to Estrella playground and, again, the tram stopped running at 6pm again. And they had to walk back. Incredibly Isabella walked the entire time. We went out to meet them and Georgia immediately got onto the stroller while Isabella continued to walk with the water bottle in her hands.

Irina went home while we stopped by at Galassa for Portuguese tapas. On the outside the cute table maps with images of tapas looked cute, inside we thought we made a mistake because menu was a bit small. We so didn’t! They brought out grilled chorizo and we offered Isabella to try a piece. Incredibly (again) she did. After a week of French fries it was a major feat. We all started praising her to the joyful looks of the passing waiters until she spat it out in a cinematographic arc.

We thought that was it but she asked for the second piece, and then another and another until she ate the whole thing, skin included (that’s actually the third miracle). She did not brave any other dishes so we enjoyed delicious toasted bread with melted cheese, herbs and honey on top, followed by goat cheese wrapped in jambon and covered by apricot jam, followed by a skewer of grilled sausages including chorizo, blood, and Farinheira. Apparently grilled is the way to eat it. Too bad I already threw it out after trying to develop the taste two more times. I hope we are not making anyone hungry :) It is more of a note for us to try this at home.

The girls finished the day with cupcakes from Tease. They were exactly like home. We need to start planning our final week here. This trip is going by way too fast.