Vasco de Gama

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Marika picked the Lisbon Aquarium and the surrounding Parques de Nacoes as her activity of choice for us to do today.

Lisbon hosted the World Exposition in '98 and the hub of the Exposition was the Parques de Nacoes. At the time it was the most countries ever to participate in a World Fair - Will saw the flags of the visitng countries flying and pointed out flags from the tiny Oceana countries of Kiribati, Tuvalu and Palau.

Lots of really interesting architecture although they fit together like pieces scavenged from different puzzles.

Marika and Will dodged exploding fountain volcanoes, got wet getting as close as they dared to a wall of water, crawled through loooooong claustrophobic tunnels and strolled with us through garden paths sporting flora from various regions of the world.

The Aquarium was one of the better ones in all of our books - well tended, great layout and lighting. Marika commented on her favourite moments in the aquarium. "There is two things - one space had a tiny entrance - Dad had to crawl through it - and we were in a tiny room with couches where we watched fish and sea turtles swim over us. The other thing is where you walked on glass so you could see perfectly through it and see sea turtles and fish swim under you - those are the things I thought were really cool", said Marika.

We had a light lunch of chicken pesto foccaccia and magnolia cappucinos and then took a cable car waaay up above the Parque de Nacoes with views of the buildings, the Lisbon harbour and the Vasco de Gama bridge.

The Vasco de Gama bridge is one of the longest in the world - about 17 kilometers and opened for the Worlds Fair.

Kim and I will be sad to leave Lisbon in a couple of days - it fast became one of those very rare places we would visit again - there are lots of places we look forward to exploring over the years and places we visit are hard pressed to wrangle their way onto our "might visit again" list.

Dinner - who would have guessed more grilled sardines !!!??? - the squid Will ordered was more traditional - large lightly grilled pieces in a pesto sauce. Both kids enjoyed it - photo of Marika using a piece as a sort of tongue collar... We also had chicken and rice and ultra-moist chocolate cake. The waiter treated Kim and I to an oranbge liquer and Marika in turn treated the waiter to a Canada flag pin.

Another stroll through Alfama and home to bed...

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Photos

Lock and load
Marika and Will climb into loooong tubes

Squeezed oout like toothpaste
Will's feet extrude from one cylinder and Marika's head from the far one as they finished their tubular crawl.

Architecture
Bruce used the sardine spines to create an architectural dream home...

Mr Spiky
Will has been challenging himself this trip to leap-frog over as many and as high posts that he can - he demurred when it cam to this sculpture at the entrance to the Parques de Nacoes

Dare you
Will and Marika got as close to the wall of water as they dared - they managed to mostly dry off before too much time passed.

Vasco
The Aquarium's mascot was named.... Vaqsco !

Contrasting structures
Very cool buildings at Nacoes, but no theme or story connecting them that I could discern.

Aquarium bound
Marika and Will at one of the sculptures with the Aquarium and Cable cars behind.

More fountains
We MUST take a photo of the fountain for Kathie, said Martika.

Wet magma
Will and Marika played a game of standing close to the volcano and trying to dash away when it exploded before getting drenched.

Not 10 Downing
Alfama doorways from earlier in the evolutionary scale

Comments

[Sylvia Rose Smith]

Freak me green!
I can't believe Will and Marika went through those tiny tubes! I'd have DIED a thousand deaths, being as claustrophobic as I am...you are my heroes!

[Kathie Steinhoff]

Ew.
She is SO her father's daughter.

[David]

Hooray for Will and Marika....
I do not know ANY other kids I have met -- aged 11 and 8 who would even ever think of eating squid let alone ordering it from the menu or even more bravely posing for a picture on your tongue!! Way to go Will and Marika -- true foodie children. Your parents must be bursting with pride (and maybe even at the seams!)...