Saboia Estoril

... The Contemporary Art Museum which is a free exhibit by the same local multi-millionaire that developed the park around the winery that we visited yesterday? All I can tell you for sure is that it will involve food and pastries. I've told Dan that I MUST have grilled octopus again before we leave this city -- it is my new favorite local fare (OK that and the hollow fluffy cinnamon-sugar-dusted pastries)!!

'Til then . . .

Ann and Dan

... with the Portuguese was the two nice military men at the military museum. You could tell they were more than happy to help and use their English. They even gave us the map they were using to explain to us where we needed to go! After we dropped our stuff off at our hostel, we headed towards the area of Lisbon called Belen. Walking down the street, it almost felt like we had stepped back in time to the beginning of the 19th century. I ...

... straight home to pack and prepare for our return journey to Canada. I think this went fairly smoothly thanks to all the help and care we received from Cousin Paulo and his friends Joachim and Olga! They are kindly selling our car for us. THANK YOU for everything!

So.... hopefully you have enjoyed sharing our trip with us. Come and visit us a Sunnybreeze Farm in Fenelon if you get a chance! We have lots more stories and pictures to share with you.

... hers and then I saw Stephanie coming out of the store - she was walking across the street when she appeared to slip. Next thing I knew, she was loosing her balance and there was nothing that I could do except watch her fall and it all happened in slow motion. When she fell I was crossing the street with both drinks in hand and heard a loud thump toward the building she just came out of - thinking it was either it was her "Ring" or something valuable I went over to check ...

Some more photos: view of downtown Lisbon from the plane, Praça do Comércio's main portal to the main "shopping" street of downtown Lisbon, a view of the porticoes encomassing the same square; a typical street in Lisbon with "azulejos"-covered façades. Apparently, it was cheap to cover homes with terracotta-glazed tiles (azulejos, pronounced "azuleshos"), as a means of insulation from sun and humidity, as well as decoration ...

... museum we were starting at didn't open until ten so we shopped for a few minutes in a little market on the street to kill time. I bought a new shoulder bag - apparently it's difficult to take wood and leather into Australia for whatever reason so I figured it would be better to have a second bag than to get mine confiscated. I found out later that Vanessa and Gabriel were spying on me to figure out what I liked so that they could buy it for me for my birthday, but then the only thing I ...

... or something. She quickly left after a few basic quenstions, telling us to wait a moment. After a few minutes, the second interview took place, made by a more corpulent woman, probably called by the first one, which spoke less fluently and acted somewhat more bossy (still nice though). This one asked me about my 44-day-long visa, then took both my passports after my explanation. The third interview was by a tall, very thin guy, with very big glasses, the typical chinese cliché you ...

... de Taag is een aaneenschakeling van voorsteden die met prachtige alleenstaande villa's, overblijfselen van fortificaties versieren maar ook met massale flatgebouwen de oever ontsieren. Langzaam maar zeker geeft de brug over de Taag zich gewonnen en komt hij uit de ochtendnevel tevoorschijn. Zeer zeker is dit een hoogte punt van onze reis, op eigen kiel de Taag op te varen en Lissabon aan te doen. Overal wordt gezeild, het zeil seizoen voor de Portugezen moet zijn begonnen. Nooit geweten ...

... and woke to the sound of an anchor dropping into the clear blue waters Sailing was the game I left but it was a business when I returned. There never used to be $43 million yachts. Miles came harder and wetter. Sailors sailed for passion not for money and we listened to scratchy beaten cassettes not Ipod play lists. I would be lying if I said I didn't love it, like some long forgotten prick of a needle. The grime of salt across every surface; coming on deck to a sparkling dawn and a ...

... had actually gained an hour on the trip. Justine, there were heaps of geckos in Merida and they talked to each other all night. The next day we visited The Chapel of Bones. In the 13th Century some freaky priests decided to dig up 5000 graves and build a chapel out of the bones, aparently to show the town their own mortality. All the walls and pillars are made of different bones and theres a weird smell, not surprisingly. We wandered around town making songs out of ...