Amazonia Lennox/Estoril

... way they were going to put up with one more question from him. I do appreciate his willingness to jump into the most foreign of exchanges with an attitude of adventure and fun. He is great traveling company.

We then sauntered along the riverfront to the Aquarium. The path took us along some great water-inspired art work that I'm sure was not given its best justice on film. The Aquarium was truly knock-your-socks-off-AWESOME! I ...

Well, this blog is late in coming, but that's a good thing in that it means I'm keeping busy and not sitting around my apartment bored and lonely! Before I start it, though, I just want to let you know I've added a picture to the blog about Jalama and the one about my apartment.

So, a couple of weekends ago, we had a long weekend and I went to Lisbon and Sintra (a small town outside of Lisbon). Wow, did I like it!! Everyone here ...

... intimidating, but all went well. I got a couple of questions at the end of my talk from two people in our field who are known for being rather feisty, so that made things interesting. I was able to answer their questions, which actually ended up being rather straight forward, so all was well. The rest of the meeting has consisted of sitting through many talks, poster sessions, dinners, lunches, and evening outings. All ...

... granted at least they have an underground system unlike the **** we have in Melbourne) complete with a rude little train inspector who kicked us off a train for having bought the wrong ticket (******* knew full well we could not understand Portugese and that we thought we had the correct tickets.) Consequently all I can say is Lisbon - meh - there are better places to see... like, say, Italy... might just head there tomorrow!

... break and it really rejuvenated everybody. After that we walked back to the school for another lecture, this time on the theory and practices of printmaking as a primary mode in the modern art movement in Portugal. This one was a little harder to get into; the first speaker read his speech and I had a hard time following the second and third because the first made me so tired. Unfortunately I don't remember much of the lecture. After ...

... Zolangzamerhand ken ik elke bout en het is dan ook niet onverstelbaar dat het waterpompje binnen een uur met de nieuwe V-snaar is geinstalleerd. Als ik de motor start en in het wierbakje mijn keteltje water leeggiet, hoor ik een geweldig slurpend geluid. Dat zit goed, dat geluid heb ik al een tijd niet gehoord, met een voldaan en geruststellend gevoel sluit ik de motorkamer. Om half negen is de havenmeester er al en is, samen met ons, blij dat alles goed is verlopen. Maar hij raad ons af ...

... by heart. This was the only amusing part of the trip. We passed by an area called Caba da Roca, it is the most western point of Europe. You could stare at the horizon far off into the distance. There was nothing but ocean to look at. It was funny to think that at one time people assumed this was the end of the land and the rest of the world was just water. I guess, because of their lack of knowledge and the view from here, we could understand their thinking. In ...

... weather updates via satellite e-mails. When problems arise on a 155ft sailboat or when weather starts changing, things get bad at an exponential rate, so we adopted the six P's strategy of thinking ahead; proper preparation prevents pretty poor performance. Reducing sails before the wind came or changing course to avoid the worst conditions a few days ahead. As a photographer, it is challenging to shoot life on a boat. It helps a lot that in such confined conditions relationships ...

I made a connection in Lisbon, Portugal -- from what I could see, it looked nice -- where we got to see some action. The airport here doesn't use those loading terminals; instead, we load the Airbus like George W. does. When our transport bus arrived from the terminal to our plane there was a commotion at the top of the stairs. Two Russian guys (who resembled Rugby props) were ...

... down what must be their version of the Champs-Elysees because I was surrounded by Louis Vuitton, Versace, and Gucci shops all advertising their summer Promocoes - me and my backpack didnīt really fit in. My little hotel here is up a very steep hill (yes Tom, with a Tram) on a narrow cobbled street. Itīs an old house converted in to a little hotel with polished floorboards and little chandeliers...itīs ...