We arrived safely to Porto with not much sleep from the night train (we were right next to the bathrooms and tunnels tend to make the train a little noisy!). While waiting for our rooms to be ready, we grabbed lunch with Hobson (Thomas's advisor) and walked down to the conference center so they could check in (keep in mind, we had not showered in a day and a half so I'm sure we were a pleasure to be around!). Once we were finally able to get into our room, we cleaned up and went to a reception for the conference on the river. By the way, we were upgraded in Porto...here's a glimpse into our luxurious hotel...
Thomas' conference went well, which included attendees from all over the world. He made contacts with folks from the UK, New Zealand, Latvia, among others. Hopefully publications will materialize! While Thomas was away for a minute, Hobson raved about how well his presentation went. He said he knew he never needed to worry about him and talked about what an effective presenter he is. I'm so proud of him!!
While Thomas was busy with the conference, I ventured out on my own and toured the city. Porto is an absolutely beautiful city. The only downside (literally) is you're either walking up a hill or down a hill! This town is not flat!! I'm pretty sure I burned a lot of calories! And don't worry, I told our concierge I was going to wonder around by myself in order to see if there were any areas to avoid. Although there is more of a language barrier here, the people are still very nice! We definitely would like to return to Porto and the surrounding regions!
We arrived in Lisbon last night and are currently heading to Cascais, a beach town on the Atlantic, for the afternoon. We'll post again soon!