Os advogados são todos mafiosos

Or, lawyers are all in the Mafia*

Yep, according to one of the rowers, I'm in with the wrong crowd.

Lisbon, from the other side (see below)

I've had another good week in lovely Lisbon. There's very little to report from work (I go to work, work, maybe do a gym class, have lunch, work, and come home), but I have a few other things of interest to tell you about. Oh, one thing from work - I was introduced to the top boss, who is Very Important and also related to an ex-politican/political pundit who I've seen on TV. Exciting times.

On Thursday evening I went as planned to the Livraria Ler in Campo de Ourique, where I met Nicki, for the book club. There were a lot more people than had been there last time (well over 20). We had about half an hour discussing the book, O Meu Irmão, before Afonso Reis Cabral, the author himself, arrived to answer our questions and generally chat. The evening finished with port, which tends to improve everything**, although in this case the evening was already excellent so didn't particularly need the improving effects of port. Afonso was really interesting and fun to talk to. He also seemed ridiculously young (23!) to have such an amazing novel published. I still haven't quite finished reading it, but fully intend to in the next few days. It's an interesting story so far, though, and I can see why it won a prize, the Prémio Leya.

The book - it's signed inside!

The other fun things occurred at the weekend. On Saturday as usual I went to the rowing club, and was pleased to have a very sunny session on the river. This almost made up for the fact that Monday's training had been a surprise 60 minute erg. This is because the Leisure section are preparing for a 37km trip up the Tejo in March. I'll let you know how that goes...

Wandering through the streets

After rowing yesterday I got the 15E tram (one of the modern ones) into the centre so I could visit the post office, then picnicked in the Parque Eduardo, narrowly avoiding having my chouriço stolen by a dog. After a couple of hours getting things organised at home (and doing laundry) I went to meet Carly and we got the metro to Cais do Sodré, then the ferry to Cacilhas, on the other side of the river, and the bus up to the Cristo Rei statue. It wasn't just an attempt to use as many modes of transport in one day as possible... we were mainly there to take in the view and watch the sunset. We both took far too many photos as the sky got dark and the lights went on. After wandering around on that side of the river, we crossed back over, had some soup, and went home.



Did I mention I like taking photos of the bridge?

Sticking with my weekend normal routine, I did very little this morning until church - yet another new locum chaplain has arrived. Carly, Feyikemi and I then had the pleasure of being inducted into how to prepare/clean up the tea and coffee after the service, because we've been put on the rota. Hopefully next time we won't all get in each other's way; this time there were quite a lot of people all trying to do everything at the same time.

After the three of us (eventually) left, we went down to the Praça do Comércio and continued on to a nearby comfy spot of grass where we could enjoy the sunshine. Doosuur, another friend, also met us there. It was unbelievably warm today for January; as so often though, it felt far colder out of the sun. After a while we went to find food in a branch of Padaria Portuguesa, then wandered up Avenida de Liberdade trying to decide what to do. After we'd said bye to Doosuur, the other three of us ended up going to another café, A Leitaria, which I've walked past quite a lot. It always smells excellent and is full of people, so I had high expectations - it turned out to be quite nice, in a hipster sort of way.

Enjoying the sunshine

That was pretty much it - since then I have enjoyed dinner with Luísa, Elena and Luís at home, watched a bit of a political TV programme, and talked to people in England (hi!). I'm feeling well prepared for the next few days - they are due to be sunny too, which means nothing can be too bad.

Thanks for reading!

A final sunset photo, with the Sintra hills visible

* Please note that I don't subscribe to this view (or at least, after a total of 9 days in the office, I haven't seen any evidence of the Mafia). Anyway, in Portuguese 'mafioso' can mean generally criminal or unscrupulous, so don't take it too literally. Nevertheless, the sentiment may raise questions about the legal profession here...

** This is a light-hearted comment and not to be taken at face value. Don't worry, I haven't developed a port habit. Post-lunch coffee, on the other hand, is a different story.

Olá Lisboa

Or, hello Lisbon

And hello dear readers! Time for an update on my first week back in Lisbon.

Fancy architecture, the Portuguese flag, and a tourist tram: the Praça do Comércio

I arrived at about 9.30 on Monday morning (big 'thank you' to my mother for taking me to the airport at a very antisocial hour) and, half an hour and one taxi ride later, was settling back in to my room at Luísa's flat. With that task complete, I set out to Campo de Ourique, where I met the lovely Laura, previously mentioned in these pages as a rowing researcher, for lunch at Tentadora, that highly favoured café. The lunch was excellent, and we followed it up with a trip on the 28 tram and a wander round the Alfama area. We had been intending to visit the castle, but didn't quite manage it in the end. After enjoying a hot chocolate and saying our goodbyes - Laura's now left Lisbon - I wandered back and had a relaxing evening, chatting to the wonderful Luísa and Elena (what would I do without them?) and preparing myself for my first day in my new job.  

Enjoying the view with Laura

For those who are interested, I'm working in a law firm, mainly doing translation, writing/editing, and some research-based tasks. I began at 9.30 on Tuesday, and had a great first day, meeting dozens of colleagues - it's a big office - and starting my first few mini-projects. The rest of the week carried on excellently. I really settled in well, with a good mixture of things to do, and neither too little nor too much work, which was reassuring. Everyone has been really friendly so far and I'm enjoying the office culture, which includes an excellent canteen and free gym classes (if you didn't already know, food and sport are both close to my heart). One highlight was probably the lunch of 'pescadinhas do rabo na boca', fish fried with their tails in their mouths. Definitely out of the ordinary and yummy too.

An aside: one of the more amusing moments I had (and I really hope this doesn't offend anyone) was discovering the 'ebola advice' poster next to the coffee machine, which contains the wonderful line 'stay away from corpses'. Very sensible, but given that the poster was specially produced for the law firm (with its logo etc.) you would have thought it wasn't really necessary..? 

After putting in the hours at the office, I took the opportunity to relax at home in the evenings, although did manage to sneak in an extra (delicious) dinner with Carly on Thursday. It was great to catch up on each other's news and enjoy the wonders of Portuguese cuisine again. 

And so, to the weekend. On Saturday I went down to the rowing club - again, lovely to see everyone - and had a fantastic outing in the 4+ yole. I was overjoyed to see that the pontoon has been fixed; apparently Father Christmas was kind to the club (yes, one of my crew-mates really told me that). As the weather was still pleasant (i.e. warm-ish, not raining), I walked all the way to the Praca do Comércio then up to Rato and home, a long and not very direct route but good for seeing Lisbon, which was the main aim. 

Looking back towards the bridge and rowing club - quite a long way

I headed out again later to have coffee in Campo de Ourique with Nicki, a long lost friend who I hadn't seen for about 3 years. It was really fun to catch up and we'll be seeing each other again soon, at book club on Thursday - both of us are ambitiously trying to read a 360+ page novel by then, we'll see how that one goes. By the time I got home it had begun raining, and I was pretty tired, so stayed in and got on with reading the book.

Today (Sunday) I didn't venture outside until church - always a pleasure to be back there. Afterwards, Carly, Feyikemi and I went for a Padaria Portuguesa lunch, then Carly and I made the short bus trip to Belém where we visited the Museu dos Coches - an entire museum given over to royal coaches and carriages. Despite its niche appeal, it was very interesting, and we both learnt a lot. After a quick café visit, we headed home. I've spent the evening writing this, and skyping various people back in England, including a manic call with about 10 Oxford friends (hello you lot!), and good chats with my parents and Stephen. 

Friends, soup, pastries and fresh fruit juice - what more could you want?

A small selection of the coaches, with a very happy Carly

All in all, it's been an excellent week. Bring on the next!

Thanks for reading, everyone.