Showers and Day 2 in Portugal

Jan 4th
I should probably dedicate an entirely new blog just to European bathrooms. There is a trend in French bathrooms that I can’t understand—the curtain-less shower. I haven’t been able to figure out how a deep tub with a detached shower head and no curtain is reasonable. Is there something about the French that allow them to “shower” without soaking the rest of the room? Is their climate impervious to the threat of mildew? These things perplex me. It’s like have something stuck in your teeth that you can’t seem to get out. I’m at a loss.
I went a week without what I’ll from this point forward refer to as a “shower” (as opposed to the “French shower”). So for a week I fumbled my way through French showers—alternatively putting down the shower head to lather, picking it up again to rinse or re-wet skin that dried, and generally spraying down the bathroom as if I was the groundskeeper at Wrigley Field. I’m a fairly particular person (read anal-retentive) so throughout my stay in Bretagne and the Marais I was dealing with these French showers and getting increasingly frustrated. Through some combination of mind reading or female intuition Morgane must have sensed this because she suggested we stay at her mom’s the night before our early morning flight to Lisboa. Or perhaps it was the fact that her flat was closer to the airport. Or it was my New Years Lentils interceding. Any way you slice it she had a normal shower –praise the lord- but there wasn’t normal bar soap. I’ve never been taken in by the shower gels, so despite having a “shower” my first real one didn’t come until this morning in Lisboa, complete with a bar of Dove. After suffering through those French showers for a week, I was in heaven.
The shower is just the beginning too: Lisboa is awesome. After a light breakfast Morgane and I set out to explore the labyrinthine streets of the old Muslim quarter. We spent most of our day wandering the streets, stopping now and again at a café or on a bench to rest or take in the city. The two sightseeing highlights of the day were St. George’s Castle and __________. They are both most notable because of the views they provide of the city and the waterfront.
For lunch we happened upon Café Royal. We sat outside in a little walled patio and oddly enough were served by a South African man (and he was just as a surprised to meet a Parisian & American dining together as we were to have him as our waiter in Lisboa). The food was great and surprisingly cheap. I think Lisboa is cheaper than Austin or at the very least on par with it. The cuisine itself has been top notch too. We’ve dotted the world map in cuisine choices so far (Indian, Italian, and French) in Lisboa and have yet to be disappointed. This comes as more of a surprise because Morgane had related to me how much she disliked the Portuguese cuisine the first time she visited. Perhaps I’ll change my tune after I experience a traditional Portuguese meal. Until then, I’m thoroughly impressed with everything the city has to offer.