The day started off promising…(the Easter bunny somehow found us!) The front desk folks let us know that mass at the cathedral was at noon, so we had a leisurely breakfast and headed for the cathedral around 11:00. We figured we would take a quick stroll and be at the cathedral in plenty of time for a seat for mass. When we got there it was obvious some kind of service was going on. I went outside and in fumbling Spanish asked someone what was up. They indicated it was mass. In my best Spanish I said no, no, no, la misa empieza a las doce, si? The woman said si, doce. We were both agreeing that the mass started at noon, however only one of us had the right current time…
it wasn’t me! Evidently when we hit Spain there was an hour time difference that we somehow missed. By this time it was really 12:15, not 11:15! 15 minutes late may seem “doable” unless you’re trying to follow mass in a foreign language…impossible! We stayed through mass and then to really torture the kids, we attended the entire next mass
so we could take communion and actually have a sense of “being” at mass. The cathedral is fascinating, the supposed remains of St. James are in the crypt and it is a huge pilgrimage sight. I can’t imagine this being my “home” parish. I know it was Easter, and probably busier than usual, but I just can’t imagine Father Aiken
delivering his sermon with hundreds of cameras and flashes going off. Crazy. We found a great little restaurant for a late lunch and Abby literally fell asleep at the table. Too bad, she missed a great meal. They bring a little charcoal grill to each table and just a ton of meat. It was fantastic. Once again we were served wine with little bowls instead of glasses. Maybe we could start this trend at home? It lets you drink greater quantities more quickly…what a great idea! Just in case you don’t get enough wine, they then plunk a bottle of really delicious liquor on the table. No idea what it was, tasted similar to Baileys but better (Carol, you would have loved it!) We hit the road by late afternoon (of course it was LATE, we have to give all the alcohol time to really get in our system!) and headed back to Portugal.
Our destination for tonight is Coimbra. This is one of our longest drives, 3 hours or so. We broke up the drive by stopping in Ponte de Lima. This is a really cute town with an ancient Roman bridge running through the middle of it. We stopped and had some espresso and ice cream (espresso for adults, ice cream for kids!) before getting back on the road. We rolled into Coimbra shortly after dinner time and are now checked in for the night. It’s Easter Sunday so there are not a ton of dining choices open tonight so we just had dinner in the hotel restaurant. Good food, but a little to artsy for our tastes. The kids are psyched because this hotel (Tivoli Coimbra) also has an indoor pool which they plan on using first thing tomorrow. 
Hope 
everyone had a great Easter, God bless you all.
delivering his sermon with hundreds of cameras and flashes going off. Crazy. We found a great little restaurant for a late lunch and Abby literally fell asleep at the table. Too bad, she missed a great meal. They bring a little charcoal grill to each table and just a ton of meat. It was fantastic. Once again we were served wine with little bowls instead of glasses. Maybe we could start this trend at home? It lets you drink greater quantities more quickly…what a great idea! Just in case you don’t get enough wine, they then plunk a bottle of really delicious liquor on the table. No idea what it was, tasted similar to Baileys but better (Carol, you would have loved it!) We hit the road by late afternoon (of course it was LATE, we have to give all the alcohol time to really get in our system!) and headed back to Portugal.
Our destination for tonight is Coimbra. This is one of our longest drives, 3 hours or so. We broke up the drive by stopping in Ponte de Lima. This is a really cute town with an ancient Roman bridge running through the middle of it. We stopped and had some espresso and ice cream (espresso for adults, ice cream for kids!) before getting back on the road. We rolled into Coimbra shortly after dinner time and are now checked in for the night. It’s Easter Sunday so there are not a ton of dining choices open tonight so we just had dinner in the hotel restaurant. Good food, but a little to artsy for our tastes. The kids are psyched because this hotel (Tivoli Coimbra) also has an indoor pool which they plan on using first thing tomorrow. 
Hope 
everyone had a great Easter, God bless you all.