I've yet to make it to Portugal proper, so I went to 'Little Portugal':
I stopped at a local supermarket and perused the Goya products aisle.
I hadn't eaten yet today (I don't usually do breakfast, only lunch), I stopped at a little cafe which reminded me very much of the cafes in Puerto Rico. I heard only Portuguese upon entering and the menu was only in Portuguese. English wasn't working when I asked for a sandwich, so I switched to Spanish and it worked much better.
It was a busy shopping streets with all kinds of stores selling Portuguese items.
A local restaurant that looks like a fortress. The strings of flags across the street alternated between US and Portugal.
The local Catholic church, flying both the US and Portuguese flags:
So where was I? Here are the clues:
--I took airport transport to the airport train station which took about 12 min. The local train from there to my destination took 5 minutes and cost 7.50 usd each way. It was a 5 min walk from the train station to the beginning of the first street.
--This location had Portuguese speakers from Portugal, but also from other locales such as Brazil and Portuguese speaking African nations.
--They have a big Portugal day fest once per year. However, I missed it by a week. :-( It's this coming weekend.
--In addition to Portuguese, Spanish was also heavily spoken, and overall Spanish is quite common in this general area.
--This state is known for having one of the highest tax rates for sales tax, cigarette tax, and property tax.
6 comments:
My guess is Boston, based on the number of Portuguese immigrants it has.
j: a decent guess, but too far North for me.
It's Newark, right? I meant to try the Portuguese food there, but never made it. Hope all is well with you!
~ Elaine
Your clues about where you were flying to in Europe pretty much give it away: Newark (and you were flying Continental). I don't think any other major carrier flies from the US to Cologne (but I could be wrong, if there is a likely candidate it would be Lufthansa from IAD).
I hope you enjoyed your time in New Jersey!
My son just got on the plane from Cologne to newark this morning, he has never been to New York, I am intrigued to see what he ends up doing there. He is going to be staying with a friend in Harlem...
elaine: a gold start to you for knowing newark. you can take the girl out of NYC, but you can't take the NYC out of the girl, even if she leaves for SF.
adam: yes, that was painfully easy, and EWR is actually the only one, not even IAD. (which explains why the airport is ill-equipped to support this lone flight--sometimes they set up passport controls into a gate without a bathroom, meaning you need to exit past them again to use the facilities.)
vailian: it's definitely a convenient option rather than schlepping up to d'dorf.
Post a Comment