Geo: 39.0095, -77.4647In very unexpected fashion, our flight was less than half full. I cannot remember the last time I was on a flight, let alone an international one, when there were near any empty seats. The load factor, however, did ultimately explain why I was able to snag the Business Class seats at the reduced mileage threshold. All of the seats around us were empty, and with so few people, we ended up spending a lot time chatting with one of the flight attendants. As soon as we finished the extended lunch service, I helped Katherine set her seat up into a lie-flat bed. I literally tucked her in and she was asleep almost immediately, waking up a couple of hours before we landed at Dulles. I watched a few movies, slept a little myself, ... read more

Geo: 41.3879, 2.16992I don't think any of us were truly ready to begin living Spanish hours, as we were a rather somber crowd during breakfast this morning. It has been a very short night, and we already knew it would be another hot and humid day. Spain was still in the midst of an historic heatwave. Temps in Barcelona were high, but southern Spain was in worse shape, with temps nearing 110 degrees Fahrenheit. Central to K's nearly three-decade-long desire to get to Barcelona was to visit the famous Gaudi-designed cathedral, Sagrada Familia. Already declared a UNESCO World Heritage site (anyone counting?), though it remains under construction after more than 130 years. The cathedral is dedicated to the Holy Family, and is a uniquely Gaudi combination of Gothic and Art Nouveau styles. It is Barcelona's top ... read more

Geo: 41.1929, 0.775447As the girls had been very patient during the preceding day's long afternoon visiting with the Pahi brothers, we promised them a more exciting day. That would, however, require a lot of time in the car. Plus, as I wrote, the roads in this area are incredibly windy with constantly shifting widths and rarely any shoulders. Our target for the morning was the Royal Abbey of Santa Maria Monastery in the town of Poblet. As the crow flies, it would probably be 10-15 miles. On these roads, it was over 30 miles, with speeds rarely exceeding 20 miles per hour given the curves. The scenery was breathtaking, but the driving got old, very quickly. I was very happy when we came down from the hills and could see the massive monastery complex sitting off ... read more

Geo: 41.1929, 0.775447Our flight was on a regional jet, flown by TAP's subsidiary Portugalia Airways. It was completely full, but we took off on time. It was a two-hour-plus flight, which coupled with the loss of an hour due to a new timezone, meant we didn't arrive until almost 5:00pm. All of our bags were off the carousel very quickly...except for one. Barbara's bag had gone missing, along with those of many other people from our flight. Turns out the plane had been overweight, so an entire baggage bin was pulled back in Lisbon, which included Barbara's bag. While she waited to file a claim and make arrangements to have the bag delivered, K, Anna and I exited Customs and went to handle the paperwork to pick up our new van. I had the keys shortly ... read more

Geo: 38.5783, -8.8997It seems as though we had just left the restaurant for dinner when we gathered this morning for breakfast. The excellent self-service spread help erase our memories of the previous night's slow-paced meal.This was to be our day involving the most transit time, as we were heading all the way south, ending up on the southern side of Lisbon. We'd planned to anchor the day with a couple of stops, but it still meant that the majority of the morning was spent retracing our path up and over the wind-turbine-covered mountains, before turning to the southeast into new territory. We reached the town of Tomar before lunch, and were in for a very nice surprise. We were heading for the Convento de Cristo. Shocker: Another UNESCO World Heritage site. All of our guidebooks said ... read more