Time in Lisbon

Well I have a few moments, so I thought that I would write a new post before I forgot what I have done! And I want to apologize now for not having any pictures up...technical difficulties with the camera, new one should be in the mail any day(Don't worry there is almost a year worth of pictures still ahead of us!)

Alright, well since the last time I wrote, my time here in Lisbon has been 100% action packed. The second day back anfter one day of relaxation, I met up with my two cousins Marta and Mariana. We decided to meet in downtown since they live on the other side of the city, so I took the metro down to Baixa, which is a little area near the river in Lisbon. Apparently I was not at the spot the expected me at so it took about 30 min or so to finally find eachother! Once we rendezvoused we decided to go for a walk to the castle at the top of the hill near the river called Sao Jorge. I had been there before but it has been years so we walked to the top and got to see the panoramic view of the city, quite a sight! After that we went back down to Baxia and toured around looking for an electronics store so I could buy a new web cam to skype with, Success was ours on that day! Towards the end of the day we met up with their mother Tia Luiza and went to the beach near Cascais and walked along a board walk, similar to the one at home in Carlsbad and had lunch at a little Mexican restaurant. Needless to say, the Mexican food on this continent does not really compare to what we eat back home!!!

The next day was relatively slow in the morning, Grandma and I went for our usual coffee just up the street, came back to the house, relaxed for a while, had lunch with my uncle, relaxed some more...same ole thing! Later in the afternoon, we went to Cascais again but this time to go see a regatta that my uncle and a few of his friends were participating in! I guess this would have been saturday now that I think of it, just to give you a concept of time! We arrived at the marina around 3:00 and waited for the boats to start coming back in. I don't really know why I wanted to go check it out; I guess it didn't occur to me that all of these 40+ foot boats would not be doing circles right in front of the harbor!!! We sat in the scorching sun for about an hour before we wised up and went and got an ice cream and enjoyed the shade under a table at the cafe. We did manage to go back and watch them come in about an hour after that. It was mostly uneventful but nice to be there to support them coming on in. I got to go down on the dock and talk to my uncle Ita and his friend Luis, and a distant cousin Pedro about the regatta; apparently they did not do as well as they did the say before, but they all had a good time. After that we went home, had some dinner and went to bed, man the sun just takes it out of you!

On Sunday, my Grandma woke me up around 11:30 because my uncle Ita had called and wanted to know if I wanted to go out on a friend of his' boat for the day. He came and picked me up and we went down to the marina around 1. There were 5 of us on the boat: Me, Uncle Ita, Aunt Po, and their friends Fernando and his wife Isabel. I had never been on a big sailing boat before, this one was 36.7" long. We left the marina, put the sails up and were off towards the ocean (we started up the river Tejo a little bit). After sailing for about an hour and a half we stopped and had lunch near a beach. This by no matters was a tough sailing trip! For lunch, Isabel had prepared: bread with prosciutto, patte and fresh cheese spreads to start with; a green salad with Tuna, hard boiled eggs, olives, and cherry tomatoes; and fresh fruit and cookies for desert. Whoops and I forgot, champagne to enjoy with all of it! Tough life it was on the boat. After that we went all up and down the coast looking at Lisbon from the water, seeing the different forts that were used in the early days of the city, the palaces that were on the water for old kings and kings to use, and all the different statues and state buildings that were breathe taking. That night we went to Ita and Po's house for dinner. Grandma met us at the house and we had a little family dinner at their new house. I had never been there before, but it was really nice, closer to the river than grandma's house so it stays a little cooler, and the building is relatively new so everything in the apartment was really nice. After dinner a few of the cousins, some friends of theirs and I all went to go see the movie Glorious Bastards. I thought it was pretty darn good, Gorey...Yes, but it was action packed and cool!

Yesterday, again woke up around 11:30 and went to coffee with my grandma up the road and had a little pastry. After that, we went to go visit a great aunt of mine Tia Pepa. She lives a few blocks away so we walked to her house and spent half an hour or so chatting with her and catching up. Later in the afternoon, my cousin Teresa called to see if I wanted to go to the beach...of course! I went over to her house and went to the beach with her and the rest of her family (Aunt Nicha, Cousin David, Maria, and Teresa of course). At the beach a few other cousins met up with us: Francisco, Miguel, and Pedro. There were not any waves like we have at the beach, but it was nice to splash around and spend time with the cousins. Well as always had a nice dinner, this time with their family at their house about 15 minutes from grandmas. Came back home late and went to bed!

Today, not much has happened. Grandma came to wake me up to go to coffee, but I had to pass; I was to darn tired, and it was the first day that my room was not burning up hot in the morning. I eneded up going an hour or so later by myself...couldn't get the day going with out it! We just finished up a lunch of CaraPao (little fish) that are fried, one of my favorites. Everyone here eats the whole fish head and all, so I went for it today...ate the first head and freaked myself out! Had to stop doing that pronto, wasn't real bad tasting per say, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it again!

Well we are off to the family farm to pick some grapes from the vineyard. Apparently there are some areas that the machine can not get to...be gone for a day or so back tomorrow night! I hope everyone is doing well, and are enjoying the posts.

I Miss you guys.

Phil