Spent the day wandering around New York. Had a late breakfast/brunch at the Cupping Room and then walked over through Washington Square Park and then through Central Park and down 5th Avenue to a few shops. In the evening we went to dinner at Nobu and then to the Blue Man Group. Little bit of drama on the way home as there was a bombing about two blocks away from us on the way back up to Midtown. We didn’t even have any idea it had happened, though, until later.

Time for a spur of the moment trip back to America. Had a hectic day of getting work out of the way and trying to get my clothes back from the cleaner before packing and heading off to the airport. Flying back to America is always great because you gain time so I landed in New York only three hours after my departure from Lisbon. I basically ended up just skipping a night of sleep on my time as we went to Hillstone to get a quick bite before going to Bemelmans Bar which is kind of the sister bar to my “favourite” London haunt, Scarfes. They had great music, as to be expected, but I didn’t think the cocktails were as good as the could have, or should have been considering the price. After closing that place down it was finally time to try and get some sleep.

A thoroughly uninteresting day for me today. I had a ton of work to get through so swung through Copenhagen Coffee Lab and then posted up at our Galerias work space for the next… ten hours. There were a couple of cool events in the evening that I was hoping to go to but those had to be skipped in favor of more work. In the evening I was struck by a pizza craving so I decided to check out Pizzaria Lisboa near me. I had heard good things and it was good but I was a little underwhelmed. Based on the hype I was hoping for something more like a Pizzeria Locale back home, but not even close. Then it was back home for yet more work.

Got an unusually early start today which meant I had time to continue my streak of spending every morning at Copenhagen Coffee Lab before heading over to Galerias for our little personal development meeting which was quite interesting. Folks seem more focused on getting something out of all this traveling than I am. Gave me something to think about. I had a crazy busy work schedule the rest of the day and then I had to run over to our Leap work space to pick up a package that miraculously found its way to me via London (shout out: Heleri). Then I had to go drop off my laundry and at that point I was so hungry I went into the first place I saw which happened to be this gastropub The George. It turned out to be an alright place, nice ambiance and the fish and chips I had were unusually good although the cut of fish had a lot of bones, but it was good enough that I didn’t mind. I’d spend more time at this place if their WiFi didn’t suck which ultimately led me back home to keep working.

Another typical Lisbon day. Morning at Copenhagen Coffee Lab to work and then over to Galerias in the afternoon. I had an unusually light task list today so I slipped out a little earlier than usual. One of my ongoing dilemmas with Lisbon is that everything closes for a spell in the afternoon. As a result, by the time I’m done working and hungry there is no place to eat that’s actually open. This dilemma led me into Palacio Chiado. It’s a similar concept to the Time Out Market. It’s an old palace that’s been renovated and now has four restaurants and seven bars (I think) throughout the building. When you come in you get a swipe card and then you just pay at the end on your way out. It’s a neat concept and the building is gorgeous. I just had a burger from the burger place inside but it was also very above standard. Or rather, the burger itself was just average and a little more well done than I like, but the preparation of the toppings for the burger (mushrooms, onion, bacon etc.) was done very well.

Word seems to have gotten out about Copenhagen Coffee Lab. During my morning time there today I ran into another two folks from our group. As usual I hung out there until the afternoon and then walked over to our Galerias work space. In the evening I went to Cafe Lisboa on the way home. It’s expensive by Lisbon standards (not by American) but it was excellent; octopus carpaccio and the Bras Cod were excellent.

Unusually, I had nothing on the docket today. Headed over to Tartine for brunch, although sadly it wasn’t as good as the first time. Strolled around town a bit and stopped into O’Gilins Irish Pub as I came back into my neighborhood and then had dinner at the nearby Time Out Market. Overall, a pretty uneventful day.

Another pretty low key day today. Started off, as usual, at Copenhagen Coffee Lab and worked there for awhile before heading over to our Galerias work space. Unfortunately, my motivation really waned on my way over and by the time I got there I decided that a better use of my time would be getting tacos. I had been meaning to check out Taqueria Pistola y Corazon anyway so I headed there. They had a great lunch special; nine Euros for a juice, chips & salsa, a quesadilla, three tacos and an espresso. And the tacos were very good. I’ll definitely be going back there for lunch. Wasn’t much help to my lack of motivation, though, so I just headed home and worked a bit from there for the rest of the day.

Another rather uneventful day today. Started off, as usual, with a stop at Copenhagen Coffee Lab (I really need to branch out…) and worked there for a while. Around lunch time there was a raw cooking demo/networking event at our Leap Center work space so I headed over to watch that. I had some errands to run before I needed to be settled in and working so I had to leave this a little early. I was hoping that I could find some ear plugs, which has been an ongoing quest, at the big shopping center near the work space. While wandering around that shopping center and reading an email on my phone I accidentally walked into Italian Republic and a waiter started trying to seat me. Not wanting to admit that I’d wandered in by accident because I was reading my phone I was forced to sit down and have lunch. I had been craving bolognese lately so I at least was able to get some. It was kind of a quick mall concept type place so mostly unremarkable. Afterwards, I succeeded in my quest to find ear plugs. Upon returning to Leap I discovered that the internet was down so after a bit I just resigned myself to heading home and working from there for the rest of the day.