Blogs from Portugal, Europe - page 235

Sunny and warm! Do I miss the snow? The sight of it, yes. The cold, no. Today I wandered around in the Bario Alto, the high part of the old city. Up in the old town, I went to a church and tagged along with a group of school kids and listened to the teacher explain the architecture. I understood quite a bit. It was evidentally one of the few places that the 1755 earthquake didn´t totally destroy. That earthquake was the downfall of Portugal as the major city of the time. However, I have to say it is really beautiful now. The second part of the day I spent out at the site of the 1998 World Exposition - can´t spell in English anymore. The most fantastic part was the Oceanario -- huge aquarium. Here´s ... read more

I always did like surprises - and this year Brendon has really done himself proud - with over a week full of surprises - all for me! But before I start.... For those of you keen to know about Norway, I promise you that a blog is coming. Yes there are tonnes of stories, crashed cars, snowstorms, houses burnt down and a shed load of money gone up in smoke - and despite all of that we still had a good time, but I don’t want to share them with you until we can show you some photos too. Photos? Um, well. Yes. We forgot our camera. And while Lars & Rachael kindly lent us one, in all the drama surrounding our leaving there was no way to copy the photos over onto CD. So ... read more

Lucky for us, an extraordinary exhibition of Cartier (1899 - 1949) - The Journey of a Style was being temporarily exhibited at the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon. The gorgeous jewelry, clocks and other pieces of craftsmanship were tremendous. We finally know the secret of how the Cartier Mystery Clocks work...all very hush-hush you know! The wide selection of paintings, antiquities and artifacts collected by Calouste Gulbenkian over his lifetime was impressive. We spent a sunny, but very windy afternoon at Parque das Nacoes (Expo site) , along with every other citizen of Lisbon. We visited the Oceanario of Lisbon after navigating the Lisbon metro system and the Vasco da Gama Mall. The diverse sea life at the Oceanario was amazing. There are over 400 species of animals and plants! The exhibits were extraodinarily life-like with ... read more

Three days ‘til I leave! Yikes! Pretty much everything’s ready to go. The cold weather and wind here in Alaska reminds me why I scheduled Portugal in March—to actually experience spring which I haven’t really seen since I left Sedro Woolley in the summer of ’98. As all my Alaskan readers know, spring doesn’t much happen here. We get “break-up” when the snow thaws, and the frozen ground morphs into mud and turns unpaved roads and driveways into deep brown sink holes. Anyway, I’m counting on Portugal to remind me what spring feels like. This doesn’t necessarily mean I’ll miss “break-up,” which can happen anytime from the end of March ‘til the end of April. We had lots of snow, so it should be a doozer this year. For sure, I’ll be back in time to ... read more

Ok, ready for part 2? I'll try to make it short for your sake and mine. To start with I'll give you a quick overview of Lisbon. Sun, sun, sun! A few more modern buildings than Porto and more variation of neighbourhoods. Replacing the 8 foot wide buses on 9 foot wide streets of Porto was the 28 tram which was slightly less scary and a little more scenic. Top 3 foods: Churrasco chicken in Porto (and Lisbon), caldo verde soup in Porto, carmelized pecans in Lisbon. Top 3 attractions: Parque das Nacoes (site of Expo '98), Mosteiro dos Jeronimos in Belem (a 16th C. French and Spanish built monastery), and a traditional Fado club in Lisbon. Other notable things we saw in Lisbon: 1: Castelo de Sao Jorge, the castle in the middle of the ... read more