gottabekd

004 was the year of New York for me. I managed to jet off for three (3) weekends that year. Ah. I most recently visited manhattan last weekend when we made a one night stop over on the way home from portugal. I bought very cool boots. Ah. I have stayed at the Barclay on Madison, wonderfully redecorated small rooms with great linens and marble bathrooms. I have also stayed at the TriBeCa Grand, close to Canal Street and a step from Soho (and a great bar/eatery called Grace. Have a Grace martini for me. Well worth the $$. I was also lucky enough to stay at the Intercontinental near Rockafeller Centre when I went with my Dad, and it did not disappoint. This time we stayed at the New Yorker (I think?)near madison square gardens. I clean cheap room that I would stay at again. There were tonnes of stores I could have scoured through in this area. The only one I managed to get into was a shoe store across the street and next to the starbucks. Amazing boots for great prices… Again, I could go on and on….

Just go! I say it’s a city that will suck you in and spit you out…
Always remember that in New York you really do get what you pay for. And it’s crazy expensive.

We were lucky to stay with my fiance’s family in Lisbon, so I got to see Portugal in a very non-touristy way. The people are wonderful, the wine and beer is cheap, and the country must be explored to truly appreciate it’s offerings. We went to the northern mountain region (picture from there) as well as Faro in the Algarve, where we actually got engaged :)

Amazing seafood, amazing sushi in Faro, amazing barbequed chickens anywhere. Shopping is great, fashion is amazing. I would recommend going in the summer, as we were there 3 weeks ago. It’s not cold but the dampness made it feel cold.

The architecture of Portugal is amazing. The driving is nuts. Portugese is easier to read if you know french or spanish or italian, it is latin. BUT, it has 4 sounds more than english and sounds like german. Anyway, i could go on and on, here is a link to one of my posts from Lisbon, with pictures :)

http://gottabekd32.blogspot.com/2005/12/portugal-updated-with-pictures.html