Probably our last post in Europe - next stop - America!

The last few days have gone really quick. Hard to believe that we leave Lisbon today, fly to Frankfurt this afternoon, when we get there, we are checking in our stuff straight away for our flight to America early tomorrow morning. And once we have gone through security etc, we will get some supper, and relax for a few hours before heading for our departure gate. Our aim is to sleep on the plane, as we arrive in Seattle at lunchtime(!) their time, and we want to last until bedtime!

Anyway, while Glen has been attending the conference here, the kids and I have moved at a more relaxed pace, generally spending the mornings sleeping-in and slowly getting ourselves sorted, and then heading out to explore Lisbon for the afternoon. Poor Glen is a bit tired though!

We walked up the hill behind us, looked at the cathedral on the way, then up to Castelo do Sao Jorge, (St George Castle), which was amazing. The courtyard areas were really lovely, and thankfully very shaded with big trees, as it was a hot day. We had a late lunch at the cafe up there, joined by numerous pigeons (including Jeremy), and lots of peacocks, and a few cats! The kids loved it. The kids had fun climbing in and out of the castle itself and thankfully most of it was accessible. We spent about 3 hours in there!

From the courtyard of Castelo Do Sao Jorge


Lunching at the Castle


Walking/Resting on the castle walls

We also successfully navigated our way through the subway system (2 different trains), and without Glen's help, to get out to the aquarium. However once we stepped outside of the subway at our destination, we had no sense of direction and no idea which way we were supposed to go from there. After half an hour of walking round in circles and getting frustrated with eachother, Stefan proved that he is just like Glen with his ability to navigate through a foreign city and convinced us all that he knew what he was talking about, and sure enough, he was right! So we got there (we were actually never that far away from it), and it was an amazing aquarium. Quite big, and a huge range of sealife to look at. We all liked the sea otter, which was very playful and about 4 times the size of the otters that we see at the zoos in New Zealand.

The playful Sea Otter



Looking at the main tank

We also found a shopping mall to look around, and spent a few hours looking round the old streets of Lisbon, and at one stage managing to end up miles from where we thought we were! I'll stop short of saying we got lost, because we easily backtracked to where we wanted to be! So anyway, Lisbon is quite an exciting and vibrant city, and I've probably seen more tiles in the last few days than I've seen in my life to date, and the weather has been rather hot too! Average of around 30 degrees! (sorry to rub that in)

Refreshment stop on the streets of Lisbon

The hostel we have been staying in here is really interesting. It is an old building, but updated inside, and the service has been excellent. The staff have been really helpful and friendly, and nothing has been a problem. However it is also one of the noisiest places we have stayed too. Despite the fact that our bedroom is on the other side of the building to the bathrooms, we can hear the showers running as if they were in the same room as us. The noise from the street is constant, and all the floors creak too. Lots of the floors don't seem very "level", and some parts sag a bit. And the guests are amusing too. When we first arrived, there were a couple of young ladies here who liked to spend lots of time parading around the bathroom naked! There was also a very strange looking old lady hanging round for a couple of days, who was really weird, but liked to clean up after people, there are a few young couples here who are really lovely, and a youth group from France, most of them being teenage girls, and they seem to "take-over" the place when they are here.

Anyway, we must sign-off for now, as Glen is due back soon, and we will then be making our way to the airport.

Next time - AMERICA!