Belated Portugal Post
Pictures
Portugal
Day 1
After a drive to Dulles, a long flight to Madrid (which included a customs/security SNAFU because of which I had to abandon my silver hair pin and chug a bottle of water), and a short flight to Lisbon, we took a bus to downtown, where I noticed that Lisbon reminds me a little of Puerto Rico. We checked in to our hotel, showered and promised to set off exploring, so as to stay awake in the hopes of adjusting to the jet lag gracefully. We took off on foot and probably covered 20 miles between walking and metroing (mostly walking). There are streets, sidewalks, even metros and malls paved entirely in light colored stones, ocassionally with dark grey stones used to create patterns and designs. They're everywhere, even far away from downtown, I can't even fathom the manhours spent on the streets, but they're pretty! There's a vegetarian restaurant just up the street, Lotus) and a cool, modern cafe/bar, around the block, Magnetic. Somewhere along the way, I invested in a purple clutch to go with my dress for Rich and Joana's wedding. I wish I knew more Portuguese, or more about Lisbon. Most of the pictures we've taken happen like this: 'Oh, that's cool!', 'Get a picture!', 'What is it?', 'I dunno.'. After a long day and a nice, light dinner of a cheese sandwich for me and a ham sandwich and some seafood croquettes for Jamie (not too expensive, either), we got back to the hotel (which is small, but reasonable), only to receive a note at the desk that Rich had called. We called back and were invited to join him at Joana's parents' apartment in Lisbon, along with Rich's friend, Tiara, and Joana's aunt. Joana couldn't make it (busy with work and wedding), but we were welcomed like family. We spent a very enjoyable evening eating hors d'oeuvres, drinking wine, and talking in a combination of Portuguese, French, and English about everything from politics to Gerard Depardieu. Jamie and I finally went back to the hotel, I soaked my tourist-weary feet, and we were ready for a well-deserved night of sleep, before we did it all over again the next day. I was so ecstatic to be in Lisbon, work and school were far from my mind, Jamie has been a trooper, and Rich's future in-laws were warm, wonderful people (and their dogs were great, too!). Speaking of dogs, Rich appreciated our puppy gift bag for Vlad (Joana's pup) and Malcom (Rich's dog).
Day 2
Breakfast was good and free, including breads, meat, cheese, and a coffee machine which made 12 different kinds of coffee and which was 'loco' according to the little old lady who fixed it for us. We took a nice walk to the red line and headed to the Oriente, which is the part of town with one of the city's three aquariums (and no, Oriente is not Lisbon's Chinatown, although that was our first guess, too). The Oceanario was awesome, we took a skybucket to a row of great cafes, where we chose a beer house and they brought out fresh bread, lamb cheese, and a bucket of mini beers, plus they had a 'bife tofu', served with sauteed vegetables and some sort of soy sauce and Asian dressing (delicious). We had to book it back to the hotel to shower and get ready to meet Rich and and Rich's American friends and family (Lindsey, Chris, Tiara, Elena, Rich's mom, Sandy, and Sandy's fiancé, Jim), for dinner and drinks. Jamie and I walked over to Rich and Joana's apartment, which is adorable, then we all headed to the metro (minus Joana who was planning to meet us for dinner since she was wild with last minute wedding craziness). Like a fool I had worn heels (typically comfortable heels for work, but still heels) thinking we'd be taking the metro to the restaurant district, eating nearby, then metroing back. Rich had other plans. We walked over to catch a tram up to see Castelo Saõ Jorge, however the woman driving the tram thought Rich wanted to go somewhere else and told him he should take a different numbered tram, unfortunately, he believed her and this set us on a series of pointless walks to and from different tram stops, only to give in, hop on the next tram up the mountain (we could have walked, but Rich was trying to spare his mother and her fiancé, both of whom are older, from making a steep hike). We finally got to the castelo (it still involved a hike even after the tram), only to find that it had closed about a half hour earlier. By then it was getting dark, so we stopped at a few beautiful overlooks to kill some time before heading on to the restaurant. The food was delicious, as was the wine, but after dinner I started to get a migraine, plus between all the sightseeing and the heels, my feet were killing me. We almost stayed out later with some of Rich's friends, but we opted to call it a night and catch the metro (of course the stop closest to our hotel closed early for some reason, so we had to walk even more!). I soaked my feet, drenched them in lotion, and hoped they would be okay for the wedding the next day. We watched Yes Man before bed.
Day 3
We slept in late, I still had a migraine and was nervous it wouldn't go away before the wedding. We walked to a nearby cafe for lunch. It turned out to be an 'American' cafe, so Jamie got a chicken pattie burger with fries, and I got a veggie burger with fries (they made the veggie burger with rice and vegatables, then lightly fried it and covered it with cheese and salsa, which was good!). I took the one migraine pill I brought, along with a cocktail of Tylenol and vitamins, in the hopes that I'd cure myself in time for the wedding. We showered and got ready, I was on a roller coaster, feeling better than worse, but I finally stabalized in time to cab to Rich and Joana's where Rich and the rest if us met to car pool over to Sintra for the wedding. Joana's other aunt gave us a ride, but she didn't speak English, and drove with the window down the whole ride (I was freezing!), but she was adorable and accidentally taught us some curse words when someone nearly side swiped us. The location, venue, and church were gorgeous, the ceremony was sweet, performed by a mumbling Irish Catholic priest, so even though it was mostly English, we still couldn't understand anything. My camera died during the wedding (I was pissed, but I know there will be plenty of pictures). Next we went on to cocktails, wine, champagne, and port wine (the Portuguese are known for port wine), and the ever popular fancy cheese on a stick (I'm stealing that idea for my next party). Then we sat at a nice table for the reception, and a great couple Conçalos and Vanessa spent the evening talking to us in a combination of Portuguese and English. We were the first Americans Vanessa had ever met and I believe we left her with a good impression. The courses kept coming, and there was another couple at the table who was also vegetarian, so I was not alone in my enjoyment because damn, everything was delicious! And the wine and champagne kept coming! Then, a DJ started playing 80's music in the lounge where we'd had cocktails earlier. The open bar encouraged lots of drinking, which led to dancing and mingling. We met Joana's brother and wife, and the best man and his lady (George, Rich's friend/roomate from DC who was in full Scottish dress, and Amanda who is fabulous!). We closed the place and were literally the last to leave, but it was a blast!
Day 4
We slept in again, but after the late night wedding festivities, I didn't mind. It was Sunday, so nearly everything was closed, but we finally found a cafe where I thought I'd ordered a toasted cheese sandwich, but it came with ham. Even before I was a vegetarian, I was not a big fan of ham. I scraped off the ham and ate what I could. Then we had one of the traditional custard pastries, I forget the name, but it was good. We had planned on going to the zoo, but it had been raining off and on, so we were thinking of going to the museums when the weather broke. Jamie had tried to get in touch with Lindsey, but the connection was bad. She and Chris had gone back to Castelo de Saõ Jorge and we decided we wanted to go back there, as well, in the hopes that we could get a nice view of the city. After a scary bus ride up the mountain, I was glad we made the trip. Beautiful! Then we went to the Elevador de Santa Justa, which is just that, an elevator. From there we stopped for a great Indian meal, then a quick run to Hard Rock so Jamie could get his hurricane glass. We finally headed back to the hotel, went to Magnetic for coffee and a chocolate crepe with gelato. We watched Taken, which justified my tourist paranoia to some extent, then went to sleep.
Day 5
We woke up early, had breakfast, showered, figured out the hotel's wireless internet password, then left to metro to Cais do Sodré, where we caught a train to Belém, or we meant to go there, but accidentally got a ticket to Algés, one stop too far, so we caught a bus back to go to the modern art museum. Then we wanted to walk over to a Padrão dos Descobrimentos, but we couldn't figure out how to get there, however we did find a pedestrian bridge near the Torre de Belém (unfortunately it's closed on Mondays). We took a quick break for coffee and a pastry (we've walked a lot, but also eaten some pretty rich food, it's hard to tell if I've gained, lost, or just maintained my weight) before heading over to some other museums, only to realize they're all closed on Monday, as well (happens in the states a lot, too, we should have thought of that). So we took a bus back to Algés and caught the train out to Cascais. Cascais was a nice, beachy town. Jamie said it reminded him of Miami, but it still reminded me of Puerto Rico, even though it was a little chilly. Again, the attractions, like the Forte de Saõ Jorge, the Foral (lighthouse), and the Museu de Mar were closed, but we walked all around to snap some pics from the street, especially of the breathtaking views looking out over the water and up the mountains. We picked up some port wine at a small shop (a tawny and a blanc), then went to the mall, and got a snack/dinner in the food court (I think I found the only Lebanese restaurant in Portugal, mmm falafel!). We may have overeaten; our plan was to snack, head back to Cais de Sodré in Lisbon, go to the casino, and eat dinner later. And we did just that. We took the train back and went to the Casino, where I lost 5€ in about as many minutes. Jamie lasted longer, but still came out 10€ short. We walked around even more, took the metro over to Baixa Chiado near the castelo. I had my first ginger sighting today, a redheaded Portuguese teenage boy was on the metro to Baixa Chiada with us. I am not the only redhead in this country afterall, but I am the only redhead with green eyes. By that point we had worked up an appetite again. This time, we ate like the Portuguese: a late dinner of dense bread rolls, lamb cheese, and an entire bottle of wine. Unfortunately, this was follwed by a couple of sub-par entrées (plain omelette for me, steak for Jamie, both served with fries and ketchup, but European ketchup which is sweeter with less vinegar, blech). We then had pineapple doused with port wine (another great, simple idea I'm stealing for parties), and coffee (the coffee here is delicious by the way!). We walked off most of our second dinner by trudging back up a steep hill to the Baixa Chiada metro and getting off a few stops early to book it the rest of the way to the hotel. We both took a second shower (it's too chilly and dry for sweating, but we just get grubby after 13 hours in the city) and now we're stretched out to watch The Day the Earth Stood Still. We still haven't had Ginja, a cherry liquor popular with the African Portuguese immigrants, but that, the tile museum, the Egyptian museum, perhaps the zoo, and a meal at Lotus are on the agenda for our last full day in Portugal on Tuesday, although I don't think I'll like Ginja since I'm not a fan of cherry flavored things (real cherries are okay and maraschino cherries are good once in a while).
Day 6
We were up late, and exhausted, which means we slept in again. It being our last full day, we took off again, hoping to fit in some last minute items on our checklist. We had lunch at Lotus, a vegan restaurant near our hotel. They had a buffet, it was okay, but I had to run all over to find a multibanco when they wouldn't take my Visa. Then we grabbed our camera and headed for the Museu do Azulejo (tile museum). We got a little lost since it's on the far outskirts of the city, but we finally got there. The tile work on the buildings here is gorgeous, and learning more about their history was fun. We took a bus back towards the metro and it dropped us off right by our hotel, so we took a minute to relax, swap our coats (it had gotten very cold and very windy), then we went back to Restauradores. We bought some of the roasted nuts for sale by a street vendor. Chestnuts, I think, and they were good, but filling, we bought a dozen and between Jamie and myself, we only ate a half dozen. We alked around a bit and eventually decided on having a fancy dinner for our last night in Lisbon. We ate at 'amo.te', a hip, modern romantic restaurant which had fairly good food and a dense chocolate cake that felt like it kept expanding in our stomachs well after dinner. We saw some Ginja for sale, but didn't buy any or stop to try it (we were still stuffed). Finally, we went to Campo Grande, where Jamie had been told there was a big sports store at the mall open until 10pm. Well, there was nothing there, but the football stadium. So we tried the bull fighting stadium at Campo Pequeno (which has a metro, underground mall, and doubles as a concert/event stadium not too much bull fighting, really), but even though there was a mall and even though it was open, there weren't any shops that interested us.
Day 7
Thankfully the window washers woke us up. We'd accidentally set the alarm for pm, not am. We had just enough time to eat, shower, finish packing (good thing we'd packed up the night before), and take a taxi to the airport. At the airport we hit a SNAFU and had to check Jamie's carry on because we forgot to put the port wine in our luggage. Once that problem was solved, we had free hands to purchase a red wine from Alentejo and a fancy bottle of Ginja in the duty free shop. Our flight from Lisbon to Madrid was delayed, and even though I still had about 40€ to burn, nothing in the gift shops really caught my eye. We finally took off at 2:45pm (2 hours late). We missed our original connecting flight from Madrid to DC, and, of course, there were no other flights to the US until the next afternoon, so we got to pick up our luggage (which took a couple of hours), and take a free taxi to a free four star hotel (thank you, Iberia airlines!). We were given meal vouchers for dinner and breakfast. They would also give us a free taxi back to the airport the following afternoon and Jamie pushed back our hotel in DC a night. The Madrid hotel was supposedly near downtown, so basically, we got an extra day of vacation, at no extra charge, in Spain! The second we got the news a rainbow broke out over Madrid. Of course, all of this would have been much more exciting if I hadn't caught an awful stomach bug. We got to the hotel, thanks to a couple of American women headed to Dulles, as well. They had been re-routed from Barcelona (they were visiting the daughter of one of the women). Once checked in, we re-organized our luggage. The white bottle of Port broke, but otherwise things were okay. We were treated (along with the other displaced passengers) to wine and a serious buffet around 8:30pm. I ate for the first time in 12 hours, much to the dismay of my stomach. So we decided to call it a night since it was getting late, it was dark, and I was sick. We showered, clicked through tv channels in Portuguese, French, Spanish, and English, then as I began to feel better, we had a coffee in the hotel lounge. Back in the room, Jamie figured out the Internet while I (an American) watched a German movie about WWII which was subtitled in French (there's a joke in there somewhere). We planned to get up early, enjoy our breakfast buffet then explore Madrid via metro (there was a stop right in front of our hotel). If I was feeling better, we hoped to do some sightseeing, have lunch in the city, come back, grab our stuff and checkout in time to be back to the airport by 2:15pm.
Day 8
We woke up early, but I was still sick. I took a third dose of medecine, tried to eat breakfast, but still didn't want to risk getting out into the city and getting ill. I was miserable because not only was I missing out on a free trip to Madrid, but Jamie didn't want to go too far without me. I gave him some euros and sent him off while I tried to get more sleep, but he discovered it was at least an hour on the metro to get downtown, so he gave up and took a nap, as well. Although our alarms were set, he thought it better if I slept, which means by the time he woke me up we were already running late. I was sick, irritated, and didn't have time to shower or eat. Worse? We had two more flights ahead of us (our re-route meant that instead of flying direct to Dulles, we were going to JFK, then on to Dulles, arriving at midnight, then driving to our hotel in Arlington, ugh!). We were out of clean clothes, travel weary, and as cool as it sounds to get a free night/day in Madrid, I was too sick to enjoy it. I really hope we can come back someday, though! The first flight was okay, I took some sleeping pills and was out for most of the trip. We had to circle JFK a few times, which meant we missed the 8pm flight to Dulles, so after some confusion with our re-routed tickets, we were assigned to the 9:30pm flight, arriving at Dulles around 10:30pm, then Jamie's awesome friend, Drew, picked us up and brought us to our car (parked for free at Drew and Lauren's place, yay!), then Jamie drove us to our hotel. At this point I'd been living on sodas, crackers, and bread, partially because the re-routing meant that the information about my vegetarian meals got lost in translation, but mostly because everything I ate made me sick, so I was hoping a bland diet and carbonation would settle my stomach. I rarely drink soda, and I had consumed in two days what I normally would in a year if that gives you any idea of how much my stomach was bothering me. We got to our hotel in Arlington and the owner was Spanish and wanted to talk our ears off about our trip, but we were exhausted. The hotel was sketchy and the shower sucked, but we were too tired to go looking for a better option (it was already midnight), so we gave up and went to bed.
Day 9
We slept in, I still wasn't feeling completely better, but we were excited to visit Katie for lunch. We picked her up from DOE (I miss that place!), which was an adventure because L'Enfant Plaza was blocked off since Angelina Jolie was filming some CIA movie there (okay, sure!). We whisked Katie off to Shirlington for lunch at Aladdin's, yummm! Then she signed us in to the DOE building so I could visit my old coworkers, which was awesome. I miss my old supervisor so much! We got a parking ticket because we got lost in conversation, but it was worth it. Finally, Jamie and I hit the road at 4:00pm (not a great time to leave downtown DC heading for Norfolk and Virginia Beach on a Friday afternoon during Spring Break when the weather forecast includes clear skies and temperatures in the 70s!). We drove illegally on the HOV lanes as far as possible, stopped for gas near Kings Dominion where I met a Québecoise woman who was thrilled to speak French (it almost felt like we were still in Europe for a minute). We hit traffic near Williamsburg, but finally got home around 8:00pm. David, Jamie's youngest brother, had been house sitting, and as he promised, Talula (the cat) was still alive and the condo was spotless. We ordered a pizza and caught up on all the tv shows we had recorded (how American?!). I was still not feeling all that well (I doubt the pizza helped), but thankfully I had the weekend to recuperate. Plus, I had all of Spring Break to catch up on school (of course I would still have to work, but at least I wasn't hit with everything all at once). All in all, despite the long return home, the trip was fabulous, the wedding was gorgeous (congrats again to Rich and Joana!), it was great to meat Lindsey, Chris, Tierra, Elena, and the familes of both Rich and Joana (we felt like family and that's a nice feeling when you're thousands of miles from home), and last, but not least, Jamie and I had a lovely time exploring Portugal; it was a long overdue vacation and one I'm glad we were able to spend over a week together without the distractions of work, school, etc.
Portugal
Day 1
After a drive to Dulles, a long flight to Madrid (which included a customs/security SNAFU because of which I had to abandon my silver hair pin and chug a bottle of water), and a short flight to Lisbon, we took a bus to downtown, where I noticed that Lisbon reminds me a little of Puerto Rico. We checked in to our hotel, showered and promised to set off exploring, so as to stay awake in the hopes of adjusting to the jet lag gracefully. We took off on foot and probably covered 20 miles between walking and metroing (mostly walking). There are streets, sidewalks, even metros and malls paved entirely in light colored stones, ocassionally with dark grey stones used to create patterns and designs. They're everywhere, even far away from downtown, I can't even fathom the manhours spent on the streets, but they're pretty! There's a vegetarian restaurant just up the street, Lotus) and a cool, modern cafe/bar, around the block, Magnetic. Somewhere along the way, I invested in a purple clutch to go with my dress for Rich and Joana's wedding. I wish I knew more Portuguese, or more about Lisbon. Most of the pictures we've taken happen like this: 'Oh, that's cool!', 'Get a picture!', 'What is it?', 'I dunno.'. After a long day and a nice, light dinner of a cheese sandwich for me and a ham sandwich and some seafood croquettes for Jamie (not too expensive, either), we got back to the hotel (which is small, but reasonable), only to receive a note at the desk that Rich had called. We called back and were invited to join him at Joana's parents' apartment in Lisbon, along with Rich's friend, Tiara, and Joana's aunt. Joana couldn't make it (busy with work and wedding), but we were welcomed like family. We spent a very enjoyable evening eating hors d'oeuvres, drinking wine, and talking in a combination of Portuguese, French, and English about everything from politics to Gerard Depardieu. Jamie and I finally went back to the hotel, I soaked my tourist-weary feet, and we were ready for a well-deserved night of sleep, before we did it all over again the next day. I was so ecstatic to be in Lisbon, work and school were far from my mind, Jamie has been a trooper, and Rich's future in-laws were warm, wonderful people (and their dogs were great, too!). Speaking of dogs, Rich appreciated our puppy gift bag for Vlad (Joana's pup) and Malcom (Rich's dog).
Day 2
Breakfast was good and free, including breads, meat, cheese, and a coffee machine which made 12 different kinds of coffee and which was 'loco' according to the little old lady who fixed it for us. We took a nice walk to the red line and headed to the Oriente, which is the part of town with one of the city's three aquariums (and no, Oriente is not Lisbon's Chinatown, although that was our first guess, too). The Oceanario was awesome, we took a skybucket to a row of great cafes, where we chose a beer house and they brought out fresh bread, lamb cheese, and a bucket of mini beers, plus they had a 'bife tofu', served with sauteed vegetables and some sort of soy sauce and Asian dressing (delicious). We had to book it back to the hotel to shower and get ready to meet Rich and and Rich's American friends and family (Lindsey, Chris, Tiara, Elena, Rich's mom, Sandy, and Sandy's fiancé, Jim), for dinner and drinks. Jamie and I walked over to Rich and Joana's apartment, which is adorable, then we all headed to the metro (minus Joana who was planning to meet us for dinner since she was wild with last minute wedding craziness). Like a fool I had worn heels (typically comfortable heels for work, but still heels) thinking we'd be taking the metro to the restaurant district, eating nearby, then metroing back. Rich had other plans. We walked over to catch a tram up to see Castelo Saõ Jorge, however the woman driving the tram thought Rich wanted to go somewhere else and told him he should take a different numbered tram, unfortunately, he believed her and this set us on a series of pointless walks to and from different tram stops, only to give in, hop on the next tram up the mountain (we could have walked, but Rich was trying to spare his mother and her fiancé, both of whom are older, from making a steep hike). We finally got to the castelo (it still involved a hike even after the tram), only to find that it had closed about a half hour earlier. By then it was getting dark, so we stopped at a few beautiful overlooks to kill some time before heading on to the restaurant. The food was delicious, as was the wine, but after dinner I started to get a migraine, plus between all the sightseeing and the heels, my feet were killing me. We almost stayed out later with some of Rich's friends, but we opted to call it a night and catch the metro (of course the stop closest to our hotel closed early for some reason, so we had to walk even more!). I soaked my feet, drenched them in lotion, and hoped they would be okay for the wedding the next day. We watched Yes Man before bed.
Day 3
We slept in late, I still had a migraine and was nervous it wouldn't go away before the wedding. We walked to a nearby cafe for lunch. It turned out to be an 'American' cafe, so Jamie got a chicken pattie burger with fries, and I got a veggie burger with fries (they made the veggie burger with rice and vegatables, then lightly fried it and covered it with cheese and salsa, which was good!). I took the one migraine pill I brought, along with a cocktail of Tylenol and vitamins, in the hopes that I'd cure myself in time for the wedding. We showered and got ready, I was on a roller coaster, feeling better than worse, but I finally stabalized in time to cab to Rich and Joana's where Rich and the rest if us met to car pool over to Sintra for the wedding. Joana's other aunt gave us a ride, but she didn't speak English, and drove with the window down the whole ride (I was freezing!), but she was adorable and accidentally taught us some curse words when someone nearly side swiped us. The location, venue, and church were gorgeous, the ceremony was sweet, performed by a mumbling Irish Catholic priest, so even though it was mostly English, we still couldn't understand anything. My camera died during the wedding (I was pissed, but I know there will be plenty of pictures). Next we went on to cocktails, wine, champagne, and port wine (the Portuguese are known for port wine), and the ever popular fancy cheese on a stick (I'm stealing that idea for my next party). Then we sat at a nice table for the reception, and a great couple Conçalos and Vanessa spent the evening talking to us in a combination of Portuguese and English. We were the first Americans Vanessa had ever met and I believe we left her with a good impression. The courses kept coming, and there was another couple at the table who was also vegetarian, so I was not alone in my enjoyment because damn, everything was delicious! And the wine and champagne kept coming! Then, a DJ started playing 80's music in the lounge where we'd had cocktails earlier. The open bar encouraged lots of drinking, which led to dancing and mingling. We met Joana's brother and wife, and the best man and his lady (George, Rich's friend/roomate from DC who was in full Scottish dress, and Amanda who is fabulous!). We closed the place and were literally the last to leave, but it was a blast!
Day 4
We slept in again, but after the late night wedding festivities, I didn't mind. It was Sunday, so nearly everything was closed, but we finally found a cafe where I thought I'd ordered a toasted cheese sandwich, but it came with ham. Even before I was a vegetarian, I was not a big fan of ham. I scraped off the ham and ate what I could. Then we had one of the traditional custard pastries, I forget the name, but it was good. We had planned on going to the zoo, but it had been raining off and on, so we were thinking of going to the museums when the weather broke. Jamie had tried to get in touch with Lindsey, but the connection was bad. She and Chris had gone back to Castelo de Saõ Jorge and we decided we wanted to go back there, as well, in the hopes that we could get a nice view of the city. After a scary bus ride up the mountain, I was glad we made the trip. Beautiful! Then we went to the Elevador de Santa Justa, which is just that, an elevator. From there we stopped for a great Indian meal, then a quick run to Hard Rock so Jamie could get his hurricane glass. We finally headed back to the hotel, went to Magnetic for coffee and a chocolate crepe with gelato. We watched Taken, which justified my tourist paranoia to some extent, then went to sleep.
Day 5
We woke up early, had breakfast, showered, figured out the hotel's wireless internet password, then left to metro to Cais do Sodré, where we caught a train to Belém, or we meant to go there, but accidentally got a ticket to Algés, one stop too far, so we caught a bus back to go to the modern art museum. Then we wanted to walk over to a Padrão dos Descobrimentos, but we couldn't figure out how to get there, however we did find a pedestrian bridge near the Torre de Belém (unfortunately it's closed on Mondays). We took a quick break for coffee and a pastry (we've walked a lot, but also eaten some pretty rich food, it's hard to tell if I've gained, lost, or just maintained my weight) before heading over to some other museums, only to realize they're all closed on Monday, as well (happens in the states a lot, too, we should have thought of that). So we took a bus back to Algés and caught the train out to Cascais. Cascais was a nice, beachy town. Jamie said it reminded him of Miami, but it still reminded me of Puerto Rico, even though it was a little chilly. Again, the attractions, like the Forte de Saõ Jorge, the Foral (lighthouse), and the Museu de Mar were closed, but we walked all around to snap some pics from the street, especially of the breathtaking views looking out over the water and up the mountains. We picked up some port wine at a small shop (a tawny and a blanc), then went to the mall, and got a snack/dinner in the food court (I think I found the only Lebanese restaurant in Portugal, mmm falafel!). We may have overeaten; our plan was to snack, head back to Cais de Sodré in Lisbon, go to the casino, and eat dinner later. And we did just that. We took the train back and went to the Casino, where I lost 5€ in about as many minutes. Jamie lasted longer, but still came out 10€ short. We walked around even more, took the metro over to Baixa Chiado near the castelo. I had my first ginger sighting today, a redheaded Portuguese teenage boy was on the metro to Baixa Chiada with us. I am not the only redhead in this country afterall, but I am the only redhead with green eyes. By that point we had worked up an appetite again. This time, we ate like the Portuguese: a late dinner of dense bread rolls, lamb cheese, and an entire bottle of wine. Unfortunately, this was follwed by a couple of sub-par entrées (plain omelette for me, steak for Jamie, both served with fries and ketchup, but European ketchup which is sweeter with less vinegar, blech). We then had pineapple doused with port wine (another great, simple idea I'm stealing for parties), and coffee (the coffee here is delicious by the way!). We walked off most of our second dinner by trudging back up a steep hill to the Baixa Chiada metro and getting off a few stops early to book it the rest of the way to the hotel. We both took a second shower (it's too chilly and dry for sweating, but we just get grubby after 13 hours in the city) and now we're stretched out to watch The Day the Earth Stood Still. We still haven't had Ginja, a cherry liquor popular with the African Portuguese immigrants, but that, the tile museum, the Egyptian museum, perhaps the zoo, and a meal at Lotus are on the agenda for our last full day in Portugal on Tuesday, although I don't think I'll like Ginja since I'm not a fan of cherry flavored things (real cherries are okay and maraschino cherries are good once in a while).
Day 6
We were up late, and exhausted, which means we slept in again. It being our last full day, we took off again, hoping to fit in some last minute items on our checklist. We had lunch at Lotus, a vegan restaurant near our hotel. They had a buffet, it was okay, but I had to run all over to find a multibanco when they wouldn't take my Visa. Then we grabbed our camera and headed for the Museu do Azulejo (tile museum). We got a little lost since it's on the far outskirts of the city, but we finally got there. The tile work on the buildings here is gorgeous, and learning more about their history was fun. We took a bus back towards the metro and it dropped us off right by our hotel, so we took a minute to relax, swap our coats (it had gotten very cold and very windy), then we went back to Restauradores. We bought some of the roasted nuts for sale by a street vendor. Chestnuts, I think, and they were good, but filling, we bought a dozen and between Jamie and myself, we only ate a half dozen. We alked around a bit and eventually decided on having a fancy dinner for our last night in Lisbon. We ate at 'amo.te', a hip, modern romantic restaurant which had fairly good food and a dense chocolate cake that felt like it kept expanding in our stomachs well after dinner. We saw some Ginja for sale, but didn't buy any or stop to try it (we were still stuffed). Finally, we went to Campo Grande, where Jamie had been told there was a big sports store at the mall open until 10pm. Well, there was nothing there, but the football stadium. So we tried the bull fighting stadium at Campo Pequeno (which has a metro, underground mall, and doubles as a concert/event stadium not too much bull fighting, really), but even though there was a mall and even though it was open, there weren't any shops that interested us.
Day 7
Thankfully the window washers woke us up. We'd accidentally set the alarm for pm, not am. We had just enough time to eat, shower, finish packing (good thing we'd packed up the night before), and take a taxi to the airport. At the airport we hit a SNAFU and had to check Jamie's carry on because we forgot to put the port wine in our luggage. Once that problem was solved, we had free hands to purchase a red wine from Alentejo and a fancy bottle of Ginja in the duty free shop. Our flight from Lisbon to Madrid was delayed, and even though I still had about 40€ to burn, nothing in the gift shops really caught my eye. We finally took off at 2:45pm (2 hours late). We missed our original connecting flight from Madrid to DC, and, of course, there were no other flights to the US until the next afternoon, so we got to pick up our luggage (which took a couple of hours), and take a free taxi to a free four star hotel (thank you, Iberia airlines!). We were given meal vouchers for dinner and breakfast. They would also give us a free taxi back to the airport the following afternoon and Jamie pushed back our hotel in DC a night. The Madrid hotel was supposedly near downtown, so basically, we got an extra day of vacation, at no extra charge, in Spain! The second we got the news a rainbow broke out over Madrid. Of course, all of this would have been much more exciting if I hadn't caught an awful stomach bug. We got to the hotel, thanks to a couple of American women headed to Dulles, as well. They had been re-routed from Barcelona (they were visiting the daughter of one of the women). Once checked in, we re-organized our luggage. The white bottle of Port broke, but otherwise things were okay. We were treated (along with the other displaced passengers) to wine and a serious buffet around 8:30pm. I ate for the first time in 12 hours, much to the dismay of my stomach. So we decided to call it a night since it was getting late, it was dark, and I was sick. We showered, clicked through tv channels in Portuguese, French, Spanish, and English, then as I began to feel better, we had a coffee in the hotel lounge. Back in the room, Jamie figured out the Internet while I (an American) watched a German movie about WWII which was subtitled in French (there's a joke in there somewhere). We planned to get up early, enjoy our breakfast buffet then explore Madrid via metro (there was a stop right in front of our hotel). If I was feeling better, we hoped to do some sightseeing, have lunch in the city, come back, grab our stuff and checkout in time to be back to the airport by 2:15pm.
Day 8
We woke up early, but I was still sick. I took a third dose of medecine, tried to eat breakfast, but still didn't want to risk getting out into the city and getting ill. I was miserable because not only was I missing out on a free trip to Madrid, but Jamie didn't want to go too far without me. I gave him some euros and sent him off while I tried to get more sleep, but he discovered it was at least an hour on the metro to get downtown, so he gave up and took a nap, as well. Although our alarms were set, he thought it better if I slept, which means by the time he woke me up we were already running late. I was sick, irritated, and didn't have time to shower or eat. Worse? We had two more flights ahead of us (our re-route meant that instead of flying direct to Dulles, we were going to JFK, then on to Dulles, arriving at midnight, then driving to our hotel in Arlington, ugh!). We were out of clean clothes, travel weary, and as cool as it sounds to get a free night/day in Madrid, I was too sick to enjoy it. I really hope we can come back someday, though! The first flight was okay, I took some sleeping pills and was out for most of the trip. We had to circle JFK a few times, which meant we missed the 8pm flight to Dulles, so after some confusion with our re-routed tickets, we were assigned to the 9:30pm flight, arriving at Dulles around 10:30pm, then Jamie's awesome friend, Drew, picked us up and brought us to our car (parked for free at Drew and Lauren's place, yay!), then Jamie drove us to our hotel. At this point I'd been living on sodas, crackers, and bread, partially because the re-routing meant that the information about my vegetarian meals got lost in translation, but mostly because everything I ate made me sick, so I was hoping a bland diet and carbonation would settle my stomach. I rarely drink soda, and I had consumed in two days what I normally would in a year if that gives you any idea of how much my stomach was bothering me. We got to our hotel in Arlington and the owner was Spanish and wanted to talk our ears off about our trip, but we were exhausted. The hotel was sketchy and the shower sucked, but we were too tired to go looking for a better option (it was already midnight), so we gave up and went to bed.
Day 9
We slept in, I still wasn't feeling completely better, but we were excited to visit Katie for lunch. We picked her up from DOE (I miss that place!), which was an adventure because L'Enfant Plaza was blocked off since Angelina Jolie was filming some CIA movie there (okay, sure!). We whisked Katie off to Shirlington for lunch at Aladdin's, yummm! Then she signed us in to the DOE building so I could visit my old coworkers, which was awesome. I miss my old supervisor so much! We got a parking ticket because we got lost in conversation, but it was worth it. Finally, Jamie and I hit the road at 4:00pm (not a great time to leave downtown DC heading for Norfolk and Virginia Beach on a Friday afternoon during Spring Break when the weather forecast includes clear skies and temperatures in the 70s!). We drove illegally on the HOV lanes as far as possible, stopped for gas near Kings Dominion where I met a Québecoise woman who was thrilled to speak French (it almost felt like we were still in Europe for a minute). We hit traffic near Williamsburg, but finally got home around 8:00pm. David, Jamie's youngest brother, had been house sitting, and as he promised, Talula (the cat) was still alive and the condo was spotless. We ordered a pizza and caught up on all the tv shows we had recorded (how American?!). I was still not feeling all that well (I doubt the pizza helped), but thankfully I had the weekend to recuperate. Plus, I had all of Spring Break to catch up on school (of course I would still have to work, but at least I wasn't hit with everything all at once). All in all, despite the long return home, the trip was fabulous, the wedding was gorgeous (congrats again to Rich and Joana!), it was great to meat Lindsey, Chris, Tierra, Elena, and the familes of both Rich and Joana (we felt like family and that's a nice feeling when you're thousands of miles from home), and last, but not least, Jamie and I had a lovely time exploring Portugal; it was a long overdue vacation and one I'm glad we were able to spend over a week together without the distractions of work, school, etc.