REM // Van McCann

80. Do Things Over Again

My alarm went off and I groaned, rolling over to turn it off. I opened my eyes, confused because I didn't know where I was, and then I remembered I was in Portugal. I lifted my head slightly and looked in Florence's direction. She surprisingly didn't stir from my alarm going off. She had the covers pulled over her, her chest slowly rising and falling in a rhythmic pattern. Thank God she doesn't snore.

After watching the sunset from the bridge, we wandered along the river again in search of a restaurant that piqued our interest. Florence was in the mood for Italian food in fucking Portugal. I immediately shot her suggestion down and decided on a restaurant serving Portuguese food. Luckily Florence was too tired to fight me so she agreed and was pleasantly surprised by the food. It was delicious and relatively cheap compared to Seattle.

The restaurant served port wine which we tried for the first time last night. It was rich and sweet. The alcohol content must've been high because Florence got slightly tipsy. Even though she was running on fumes, the wine made her a chatterbox. The funny thing is that I don't think she remembers half the stuff we talked about and she was laughing the entire time.

One thing I learned is that Florence is very forward when drunk and uninhibited. She couldn't keep her hands off me and when I told her I was going to bed, she told me there was room in her bed in a suggestive manner. The minute she laid down, she was knocked out from lack of sleep so I took off her shoes and tucked her in bed.

I sat up and got out of bed, wanting to get a head start. The last thing I wanted was for us to fight over the bathroom. I grabbed a change of clothes and made my way to the bathroom to get ready. When I came out, I was surprised to see Florence staring at the ceiling. She looked at me and smiled.

"Good morning," she called sleepily from the bed.

She got up as if last night didn't happen and grabbed a change of clothes, bringing it to the bathroom. I've no idea where Florence gets all this energy from. I could hear Florence taking a shower and despite taking a shower, dressing up, and putting on makeup, she came out in only half an hour looking refreshed and ready to go.

"How'd you sleep?" she asked. "Are you jet lagged?"

"I slept fine and feel okay. Reckon being awake more than 24 hours did the trick. And you?"

"I slept like a baby. No jet lag for me."

"Do you even remember what happened last night?" I teased her. Florence paused to think.

"What'd I do?" she asked. I stared at her wondering if I should tell her and decided not to.

"Nowt, I was just teasin' ya." She didn't buy my excuse so I continued on to distract her. "I was thinking we could grab summat to eat and do one of those walking tours and see how many attractions we hit. Then we can climb the Clérigos Tower at sunset. It supposedly has a nice view of the city."

"Yeah, that sounds great."

"I'll go book the walking tour." I took my phone out and looked at the available times. "D'ya wanna aim for the one that starts at 11 AM? It's about three hours long but I think it'll be good."

"Yeah, book it."

Florence sat on my bed and began looking for places to eat breakfast while I worked on booking the tour which is free but you pay however much you feel like the tour is worth. These walking tours are popular in Europe but I realize it's less common in America, or maybe it's because I haven't actively looked for one. You don't really look for walking tours for where you live—only for places you're on holiday in.

We left our hotel and Florence directed us to a café not too far away. One thing I've come to realize is that Porto is a walkable city. You can see a lot just by walking but there are a lot of hills. In order to get a great view of the city, you have to go up. We ordered coffee and an assortment of pastries, sweet and savory. I'd order tea but I'm very picky about my tea and knew I wouldn't like it.