Monday morning we got ready for Amber's little Valentine playdate with a few friends. Only 2 of them ended up being able to make it as 2 others were sick. Not with what Amber had, but just not feeling well. So it was Amber and 2 other friends who decorated cupcakes, did some Valentine's worksheets, played a few games and then the boys had set up a freeze dance with songs already picked out and Jacob had it all lined up on the ipad.
The boys even made a little video clip for the kids about them being the DJ's for them today. It was cute and they had fun doing it! Once the kids left Amber and I took the goodie bags and cupcakes over to her 2 friends that couldn't make it. By the time we got back it was dinner time. Jason just worked from the house today. As far away from the noise as he could get!
I finished packing and got everything ready for our trip tomorrow.
Tuesday morning a painter had to come over to estimate for the painting of the house that Jason's company will have to do when we move out as per the contract for the house. He was here at 9am. Jason was up late last night and was still in bed. While the guy was on the second floor measuring I had to go upstairs and wake him up! Someone was suppose to come over and take the guest bedroom closet today, so this morning I got it all cleaned out. Well never heard from them today- ugh!
After lunch we had chiropractic appointments and then in the afternoon got cleaned up, had an early dinner and left for the airport to fly to Lisbon, Portugal. We were meeting some friends there and looking forward to some sunny weather! We are also excited to see how we do with the Portuguese since we still remember a bit from Brazil! Our flight was late- 8:30pm it left here and landed a little after 10pm their time. I had scheduled a transfer so we got there a little after 10:30. Our apt. was great. All hard wood floors, 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, nice kitchen, family area and dining area and nice views out the window and little balcony. So it was perfect for us to be able to spread out! Our friends had already arrived and had left us some art work by our door- too funny!
So we just got settled and then went to bed.
Wednesday morning we slept in until about 7:30 or so when the kids started waking up and then our fresh bread was delivered in rolls in a bread lady that hung on our door.
Our friends had gotten in earlier yesterday and had picked up some water and milk for us. They were in the apt. right above us and they brought that down for us. I had packed some cereal boxes so with this and the bread we could at least get something to eat before leaving for the day to explore. Once both families were ready we headed out for the day. It was very hilly and lots of steps in between the buildings to get up the hills without having to walk on the streets. The street our hotel is on is a tiny narrow little street. When a car stops to pick up or drop off anything at the hotel or wherever it blocks the whole road. So we started out by walking more uphill and spent the morning walking around the ruins area of a castle.
View from castle.
From here we walked to a neat church on the way out to lunch in another neighborhood.
This was mostly downhill now. Tile is everywhere here. Here it is on a building.
We found a Portuguese restaurant and enjoyed a nice meal there. Look at the tile picture on the wall in the restaurant.
Our Portuguese is slowly coming back. It is pretty easy to understand them as well. From here we walked along the riverfront to a big square.
It had a big arch at one end. It was a very pretty square. From here we started walking back uphill to a church where a man had brought gold from Brazil to decorate the church with. It was covered in gold. That would be one heavy suitcase!
We stopped and got ice cream from the step uphill walk. Then back down hill and walked through some more nice squares
and then to the tiny store front at the bottom of our street to get some food for us. It was slim pickings so we got some basics and all headed uphill to our apt. It was mid afternoon now and Jason had a lot of work to do so he spent the rest of the day working even through dinner. The kids enjoyed running back and forth between the apts and playing. Then we headed out for dinner, minus Jason, and went back down all the steps to an area with a bunch of restaurants. We did an Italian one this time as the other family really likes that type of food. It was funny b/c a lot of this trip was just me and my kids and their family which has 4 kids. A girl Sean's age, then another girl, then Amber's BFF, and then a little boy. So a total of 7 kids between the 2 families. They get along great. But we looked really funny walking around with so many kids. We were laughing saying people are going to think we are from Utah or something! After dinner we hiked back up all the steps and brought Jason the left overs so he was happy for dinner delivery! The area we saw today was the old town and I felt like everything was really on top of each other, and there were not many places to eat, besides this one street of a group of restaurants together. View of the castle where we started out today.
Views from our apartment.
After walking around the city all day I had the kids all get cleaned up and ready for bed.
Thursday we got the warm rolls again for breakfast and this time enjoyed some jelly with it! This morning after we all got ready we headed out and walked to the tower/elevator that was built by the same man who built the Eiffel tower. This one not quite as big or pretty but a lot easier to get up!
The elevator was a big wooden panel room, neat.
Pictures from the top of it.
Here was an old church with a man guarding it and a neat door. Maybe there was something more too it?
From here we took taxis to the Belem Tower and now it started to rain. This was an old watch tower. So we walked around it and up the levels of the tower. It is along the river.
In all the castles and tight stair cases we have been in over the course of 3 years I have never seen this electronic stop light on the stairs! It is a good idea. So before each entrance to the stairs was an electronic arrow keypad and it said how much time was left to go up or down depending if your light was red or green. After here Jason left and went back to the apt. to work and the rest of us took taxis to the aquarium. Next to the aquarium was a big Brazilian steakhouse. So we ate lunch there. Everyone loved the rice and beans. Our friends had never had that before. After this we spent awhile in the aquarium. It was neat. They actually had some big ice formations on the rocks in the penguin exhibit. We also saw another family from school there!
After this we walked down the street trying to find a cab, but found an ice cream store instead so we made a stop in there. It was still raining and we were all starting to get soaked. After this we went walking again looking for a taxi. Once we got one we took it to this big square we were at the other day. It was really pouring by now. We went to the tourist office and it took awhile to sort it all out but we booked a mini bus for tomorrow for all of us to go to 2 towns that are really popular here, but about 40 min. away. One is a mountain town and the other a beach town. Then we walked about 15 min back home up hill. We were all wet and cold and tired by the time we got home it was around 5pm. Jason had left the apt to go to a University here and meet with the person there who is going to possibly be running this recruiting program there that his company will do. So we hung out at the apt for a bit and then met up with Jason for dinner with all of us.
Pretty building on our walk to dinner.
We went to one of our favorite places!! Hard Rock Café!! It was about a 15 min walk. It is our 9th country eating at a Hard Rock! All the kids enjoyed the American food.
It had stopped raining when we left for dinner so that was nice. Then a walk back up the steps to get home!
Friday we had rented a private tour bus for us to go the mountain and beach towns today about 40 min away. The meeting point for the bus was back in front of the Hard Rock restaurant. Jason walked down there with us but had to work today so didn't come with us. We had ordered a bus for all of us, but I guess it got a flat tire so they came with 2 mini type vans. That was a bummer b/c we were spending the day driving around and wanted to be together and now we had to split up. So I took my boys and their oldest girl, and they took Amber and the rest of their crew. I think Amber has become an adapted member of their family! This is her BFF's family. I took both girls names and combined them to Amvery! B/c they are always together so now it is just easier to call them- ha! So we 1st drove to a lookout point over some cliffs and the ocean. It is the most Western European point. It is the same latitude of New York! Pretty cool. It was super windy here- there went my hair today!
Then off to the mountain town through the forest on the mountain. About 25 min. The road was narrow and windy. There were these huge rocks/boulders in the forest. I had never seen anything like it b/c they look like those smooth white pebble smaller rocks you find, but as big as a house almost. So here we went to see the romantic castle, Palace of Pena. The guy that bought the land to have this built in the 1800's only paid 750 Euros! And he wasn't sure what he future wife would like so he had it built in 6-7 different styles of architecture and then painted 6 different colors! Unfortunately his wife died 1-2 years before it was finished. Then when he married again and they moved in, he died 1 year later. Sad. About 4 years later the state took it over and now you can go in and tour it as it is a National Heritage site. All the furniture and dishes were left and you can see all their furniture from then! We have seen a lot of castles over here but not many with all these great original furnishings! And all the royal dishes in the hutch! Really neat.
From here we drove to the old part of the town. Here we had time to walk around and have lunch. While shopping Jacob and I picked out some tiles that spell our last name. Very popular here. Here street signs, inside house walls, outside house walls are tiled.
A castle in the middle of the town.
After lunch the vans came back and we drove around town.
This elaborate hotel hidden here on a cliff, but it was a good spot for a picture with the castle in the background.
Views from the hotel.
I guess Clinton stayed here once. Rates start at 1000 Euros/ night! From here we drove through the rest of the town and then on to an opened up cave. So it is right on the ocean and over time from the waves hitting it it caused the roof to collapse. Now you could look right down into this water cave. On the other side you could hear the sound of the waves coming in and then this whooshing noise. It was pretty neat.
Lastly we visited the beachy town. It was an old fishing port. The kids ran on the sand.
Then we went to part of the square and got some ice cream- just what we need in the cold! To head back we drove along the coast as long as we could and then back to Lisbon. We got back at around 5:30pm so a long day. Since we were already out I called Jason and we met up with him and ate dinner in a neat square. It was nice.
It was our last night here. After dinner we walked back to our apt and said goodnight and goodbye as our friends were leaving early the next morning.
Sat morning we got up. Our friends left early. We got ready and packed up and then went for a walk down their main street where we had only walked as far as the Hard Rock restaurant. It was a nice morning, so we walked around for a bit.
Our street that our apt. was on.
Just another set of narrow stairs.
Sean needed a post card for school. Then once back at the hotel we checked out and bought our little bread man that would hold the bread for us. We had a bread girl for part of the week, but I liked the bread man better. Then the big van came and picked us up and off to the airport. When we landed here earlier in the week it was this huge area with shops and restaurants so we figured we would just eat lunch there. Well I guess we arrived in terminal one, but were flying out of terminal 2. There were 2 stores and McDonalds. Oh well. Mcdonalds for lunch it was. The flight home was good. Then we ran to the store in the gas station that is a nice store and picked up some things for our late dinner as it was a bit before 7pm. Jason fixed some spaghetti and garlic bread for dinner. It is always nice to come back home!
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