My Twin, She's Back ...

Apparently I've got a doppelganger, a double, and she's living happily in Portugal.  She was around when I was living in Bangkok too, as I had several people tell me they'd seen me somewhere, or met me before, when I had no idea who they were, and had never been to the places where they'd seen me.

She's obviously ventured into the il Giardino restaurant at the Sheraton Algarve.  And how do I know this?  Well, after we checked into our room at the Sheraton last week, we decided we'd eat at one of the restaurants within the hotel complex so we didn't have to venture out exploring on our first night.

We chose il Giardino and wandered in around 9pm, only to find just a few tables occupied, but it was mainly empty.   A very friendly waiter seated us and took our drink orders before shuffling off to get the menu (which, by the way, was fabulous - amazing fresh scallops).

On his return with the drinks he said "Madam, it is so lovely to have you back in our restaurant!".  I must have looked a bit puzzled and he added "Sir, I'm sorry, I can't remember you, but your wife I definitely remember.".  Handy, considering I've never been to Portugal before.

He was so sure that he knew me that I had to play along, which has its own problems, e.g. when I had to go to the loo and had to ask "I'm so sorry, I can't remember where the bathrooms are from my last visit, can you please direct me?".

Judging from the very helpful, friendly and attentive service that night, my twin is an excellent tipper - I'm guessing he got a bit of a shock when we payed our bill!

Oh, and the reason the restaurant was quite empty at 9pm?  The Portugese eat late.  Really late.  Things started to heat up around 10pm and people were bringing their children and even babies out with them to dine at that hour.  For someone like me, who's ready to eat their own head by about 7pm, it took a bit of getting used to (and arming myself with mid-afternoon snacks).