What a Difference a Decimal Makes

We began the morning having coffee in our favorite Copenhagen Coffee Lab.  From there we stopped in at the Services Office of the Yellow House.  We got the idea of staying at the Alfama Yellow House from the book, A Year in the World by Frances Mayes.  In my opinion, her best book, yes, much better than Under the Tuscan Sun.  I read a chapter of this book each morning of the spring when I retired.  In the chapter on Portugal she has recommendations for what to see, what wines to try and where to find the best chocolate cake in the world!  At the office Sofia helped us ensure that we were set for our tours in Lisbon.  Off we went following the tram tracks down the hill, around the bend, up a slope still following the tram tracks, down again to a tourist office.  We left behind a disappointed tuk-tuk driver who offered us a tour.  We booked the Yellow Bus tours which allowed us 48 hours of routes and passes on the tram. Off we went to see the city and many of its gorgeous spots.

We stayed on the Belem route from beginning to end and then went off on a search for a glass of wine before taking the number 28 tram made famous by Somebody Feed Phil and others back to Alfama.

The Gospel according to Dennis—
We had a fun day beginning with a late breakfast and then walking about a half mile into the old part of town.  Saw an old church (we spend part of all our trips in old churches 😞). Looked around & then got tickets for the Yellow Tour Bus to visit Lisbon and its sights—but that’s not what you want to hear. What was most interesting was what happened when we left the bus.

Somebody (who shall remain nameless) suggested we have  a glass of wine. Voila! A great wine bar appeared not far from where the bus dropped us.  We asked our host (the owner) which white wine, dry  and crisp, he would recommend.  We were surprised when he showed us two bottles of wine, one for €20 and one for €7.9.  I thought, why would he do that? I asked like in €8? He said yes. We tried it and it was great! We drank it. Jim said, “For €8. Let’s have another”  and we drank that too while enjoying a charcuterie plate which was also good.

So, after enjoying wine and food, laughing over past memories, we asked for the bill and also asked to split it between Jim and I. Then we thought for 8 bucks a bottle, let’s each take one home for later. Jim got his 1/2 of the bill first, swallowed his tongue, peed his pants and said, “there must be a mistake.”  The bill was for €330 (about $380.00). He showed it to me and we noted the wine wasn’t €7.9 a bottle but €79 a bottle, a mere mistake in the decimal point.  Now what the hell were we going to do? The first thing, obviously, was to say that we didn’t understand.  The next thing was to say we didn’t want the extra bottles to bring home.  (We were quite sober now!) End result? We had in U.S. dollars, a $20.00 appetizer, and two $95.00 bottles of wine or $105.00 for each of us to pay. What do you do? We had drunk the wine, we couldn’t return it.  It’s like trying to return underwear you’ve worn. Ain’t gonna happen! We paid our bill, left, and I thought, yeah, it was expensive...but what a great story. Out on the sidewalk we collapsed with laughter, not quite believing what just happened! And there you have it. BTW, next time I ask the price of wine, I’ll ask for it in writing so I have backup if I need it.  😃

#28 Tram to Alfama

What adventure is in store for tomorrow?  Stay tuned...