From Hookers to malls; Leaving Las Lisbon

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It was a dark stormy night.....well not really, but it was night. We got into the airport taxi and showed him the address to the apartment we rented here in Lisbon. When we got near to our address, it was dark. We asked the driver: "is this a safe neighborhood?" He answered: "No." Geri looked at me like What the F did you do?!?! So we asked him if he could elaborate, and he replied: "hookers." Um..ok. Let me interrupt the narrative to say that Lisbon is built on steep hills. He then stopped his cab at the BOTTOM of the hill and said "Sorry, dont know where it is, you have to get out here" So we got out, with 75 lbs of luggage at the bottom of what we thought was a knife wielding hooker infested hill. Geri and I looked at each other, shrugged, and then climbed the hill, hookers aside. We then found the person we were meeting, Raphael, around 23 years old, who assured there were no hookers- unless we ordered them ourselves. He brought us to our apartment, 3 bedrooms and and upstairs with a kitchen and living room. Raphael had set out grapes and cookies for us, and even a chilled bottle of Vino Verde for us (which scored lots of points, hookers or not, we love booze.) In reality, our apartment is in a great location for the good spots, except that we have to go up 237 stairs to get to it from street level (Geri counted), Lisbon is great, lots of cafes, wine, shopping and culture. As we were checking in at the airline, I told Geri that she was checking an empty box with her bag, Midnight Express was what she thought immediately, but the thought was only passing. We brought empty wine boxes to ship wine home from Portugal and Spain. Once in Lisbon, a major priority was to buy the wine to ship home, so we headed to the supermercado. Like a scene just out of Leaving Las Vegas, we filled our cart with booze. The manager at the market was following us, distrusting us, although we couldn't have run far with the 40 lbs of booze we had. We paid like 20 dollars and left, limping along with bags filled with booze. As I said before, Lisbon has a lot of hills. We climbed those 237 stairs with the 40 lbs of booze, seeing along the way, the corpses of men who had tried it before. We are intact, inebriated, and as always, impossibly out of control. VERY FUN TRIP! Please see photo gallery for updated photos of Geri being totally out of control.~ Love, Geri and Allison We wish you guys could be here with us! pps - respond to our blog so we can have contact, Rick Hutt, Marcia and Guy are the only ones hollarin!

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Comments

[Chach]

cryin'
I am in tears, laughing at your blog. I am so happy to hear you are safe and having a great time. I cannot wait to hear stories. Al, you should write books, short stories . . . you have a skill!!! P.S. I did write a comment the day you left for your trip (or maybe even the day before you left) . . . check the comments.

[Katie]

re: your new toothbrush thingy
Allison- isn't there always a party in your mouth?? I thought so. Anyway, be sure to wear your seatbelts ladies (esp on zee camel). Take a jump shot for me, okay??? xokt

[Jill]

Hookers, huh?
As I was reading the blog, I couldn't help but to wonder if the cabbie thought that you were hookers. I mean two good looking ladies renting an apartment and stocking up on mass quantities of booze? I bet you could get a really great business going!!! Just kidding!!! Glad to hear you are having a great time... and I look forward to reading up on the adventures to come!!!