My 30th Birthday

For my 30th birthday, Ryan and I spent a nice day out and about on the island.

We started off with a nice picnic lunch at duck lake.  Look at our super fun collapsable picnic basket.

 

The real name of this place is Lagoa Das Patas, which translates to Lake of Paws, which I have no idea what that is really supposed to mean.

 

Here are some pictures around the park.

 

 

 

 

 

 
After a while, we decided to dig into the snacks we packed.

I had run some errands in the morning, so I picked up some pretzel croissants at the commissary.  I have always wanted to one of these.

We had some grapes.

 
I also had a craving for some hummus.

 
After eating we got back to watching the ducks.

 

 
I loved this little baby ducky.

 
The lake is in the middle of the island, so it turned out to be chillier than by our house, and I was in a skirt and light cardigan.  We only lasted out there for a short while.

Next stop was Angra.  We knew there was a bowling alley there, but we did not have exact directions.  No big deal, we asked a few people along the way.  They are setting up for a major festival here next weekend, and I thought these butterflies were really cute.

 
While searching for a building that was supposed to say BOWLING on it, we drove by this place, and at the same time, Ryan and I both realized what we located.

This is the Jewish cemetery.  At one point there were actually Jewish people on the island and a jewish community.  They set up their own cemetery.  You can see this was started back in the 1830's.

Unfortunately, the place is private property and locked up.  There are no remaining Portuguese Jews here.  Ryan was able to peek through this little hole and take a picture.

I place the camera on the ground and was able to take this picture through another little hole.  

After circling the block TOO many times, we parked and walked around.  This building does not say BOWLING on it, but we did discover, it was in fact the bowling alley.

This was a really cute, 10 lane bowling alley in a mutlipurpose building that is also a gym.

There is a cute sandwich cafe upstairs.

 
Some activities, like pool, behind the lanes.

 
I was wearing flip-flops, so I was lucky that I remembered to bring a pair of socks to wear with these bowling shoes.

 

 

 

 Here I go...

STRIKE!!!

 
After bowling, we headed to dinner.  We had a few choices in mind, but since my mom will be here next week, we planned to eat at those places with her.  Instead, we tried something new.

 
I love these plates.

 
This was the English version of the menu, which was a good thing to have.

 
These were brought out to start the meal.  The back dish is pork, and then if you move clockwise, this is an egg and pork dish.  Ryan liked the eggs.  I didn't try either for obvious reasons.  The last dish here is a bean salad and it was very good.

 
They had some amazing olives here.

 
There were two types of bread.  They had the regular Portuguese bread, and then some corn bread.

 
Here is my dinner.  This is sea bass with green beans and potatoes.

 
Since I was taking pictures and had my camera out, the waitress offered to take a picture of me and Ryan.

 
Then out came Ryan's dinner.  This was steak, with French fries, rice, salad and a fried egg.

 
After the meal, we enjoyed some coffee before heading out to walk around the streets of Angra and enjoy the lovely weather.

    
As we walked by Copa Cabana, we couldn't resist the soft serve for dessert.

 

 

 
While we ate these cones, we walked around.  After we finished, we headed back to our side of the island and went to the beach in Praia.  It was dark by then since it was 10 pm, so I did not take any pictures.  We walked along the ocean walkway, similar to a board walk, but designed specifically for walking and riding bikes with concrete, and no stores.  We did this until we were so cold and needed to get back into the car.

So there you have it...My 30th birthday!

QUESTIONS:  When was the last time you went bowling?  Have you ever celebrated your birthday out of the United States?