Day Three-Four: Newark to Lisbon, Portugal

Monumental, originally uploaded by Rich in Orderly Manor.

We’re in Lisbon! This has been a long day. Up at 10ish in Elizabeth, NJ after getting to sleep at 5.30am… Spent the day noodling around doing work, internet, re-packing and phone calls, was going for a walk but the wind was too crazy. We lift off from Newark airport around 8pm and around 8am i spot the coast of Portugal out my window. The clouds that have blanketed the Atlantic separate and fade away leaving a bright orange sunrise and a red rooftops. We collect our luggage and are ferried right to our rather fancy Hotel Via Galé Opera for coffee and breakfast.

Internet in Europe is not great. Expensive at best, slow and expensive at worst. Its one case where the EU really needs to catch up with the Americans. $30 a day for barely dial-up service! So i’m watching TV waiting for Tricia and Mars to get situated – trying not to fall asleep. Just marvelling at Vanessa Paradis’ amazing moves on Joe Le Taxi. Wow. Now Golden Brown by the Stranglers…Yes!!!

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Spent the afternoon wandering with Mars and Tricia heading west along the riverbank taking in as much tile, cafes, coffee, beer and beautiful historic sights and we could. We saw the Mosteiro dos Jerónimos, climbed the Monument to the Discoveries and the took in the Torre de Belem… Got too much sun, learned how to say thank you (at least) and had a couple of expensive drinks at some restaurant that had a choice of black or white toilet paper in the WC. Fancy.

Out for the evening after quick stop at the hotel. Beat the lag beat the lag. Lag; beaten. Rolled back in to the hotel around midnight after some good chat and food by the harbour. What do european hotels have against double beds? Pass out.