sun 01 jan 2012 16:42:28 — hotel pestana porto
some houses are tiled
some of the houses have façades of shiny ceramic tiles. the brownish ones you could almost mistake for brick because they're laid out like bricks. other house tiles are different colors. then some house fronts are stucco or cement or stone.
rissol, that's the little kroketje the coughing man gave me at that quayside café yesterday afternoon. it was a thing like, you didn't ask for this, but i'll put it on your table, it costs one euro if you eat it. i liked it okay. he and a woman named nina were running the place. i had asked for a cheeseburger, which was substantial if not yummy. and i drank two big beers (in weird round pint stemware) there at my little aluminum table under an umbrella. the coughing man told me "good ear!" and then spat in the corner. by the way, porto has the highest rate of tuberculosis in the country. i paid my a conto, and i rolled him a sjekkie as a gift when i left there.
when i got back to my room, there was a fancy-looking desert here on my desk with a bottle of fonseca tawny port. found out later: pao de ló is the treat's name. kinda custardy inside, you eat it with a spoon.
last night being new year's eve, a lot of people were in the square partying. the lady with the smoky cooker was there roasting kastanjes until deep into the night. at zero hour there were some fireworks in the sky somewhere. and a few amateur explosions but not many, nothing like ams. by 01.30 the voice of the crowd had gone ragged and rumbly, less joyful let's say. some broken glass on the ground. i fell asleep. when i woke up around eight all the mess had been cleared away and men with hoses were washing down the square again.
i'm thinking of going for a little stroll again in the last of today's daylight. i'm leaving tomorrow to go back to amsterdam and see what's happening there.