Happy New Years!

My German friend Steffen and I decided to go to Lisbon the Wednesday before last weekend, Two days later, we were on a nightbus heading east.

We slept on the bus, came into the Portugese capital at 7am, and headed to the hostel to drop off our stuff. A young lady greeted us and sent us to the kitchen where we got a free breakfast of crepes.
From there, we took a trolly tour around Lisbon and saw what I think was the Lisbon Cathedral:

We visited the Muslim (and later Chriatian) castle:

Then, we went to Lisbon´s ancient district, Belém, and visited the Tower of Belém (the name could have used a little more originality). Of all the castles and palaces I´ve been to in Europe (and at this point I´m starting to take them for granted), this little fortress on the sea was the best thing I´ve seen. From the outside, it was intimidating, but on the inside it was breathtakingly beautiful.

In this picture, the tower in the front is the bronze model of the tower, and the real tower is in the background:

It had a dungeon downstairs. I´m crying because I´m a prsioner who got stuck trying to escape:

Lord of the Rings inspired interior decoration: A view from (near) the top of the ocean:

And looking in the other direction, the city of Lisbon:

I found zen in the meditation turret:

Tired from walking up all those steps, we took a short swimming break:

From the tower, we went to the largest stone statue of a ship I have ever seen and predict I will ever see again. Steffen, the red dot just a bit to the right of the white car, gives some perspective.

We took a trolly back to the hostel to shower and unwind before dinner. There, we met a Portugese guy named Marco who invited us to his birthday party, which he happened to be holding that night at a Fado club. Fado is Portugese folk music, invented, I was told, by melancholy Portugese sailors at sea. Here´s a sample.

We went with Marco and some Chinese and Brazilian people from the hostel. I had "bacalhau" -- salted cod, a Portugese speciality -- and Steffen had octopus, the other dish that you´re supposed to get when you go to Portugal. Both were ridiculously good.

As we ate, two guitarists tuned. Then, the lights dimmed, and the waitress herself sang, backed up by the guitarist. We literally had a private show; for reasons totally unknown, perhaps because of Marco´s birthday, we were the only group let into the restaurant. Soon, the waitress took a break, and the owner sang, and the owner´s wife sang, and the guitarist sang. Everyone pitched in to give us a shot of spectacle.

Here´s a picture of the guitarists. It´s bad quaility, but it gives a feel for how up-close we were. If the guitarist had scratched his neck, he would have knocked over the wine:

We finished dinner around 12:30 and had a drink in Lisbon´s nightlife area, el Barrio Alto. We headed back to the hostel, climbed into our beds, and were asleep in minutes.

The next day, we breakfasted on homemade eggs (this hostel was incredible). We rode the gondola near the Vasco de Gama tower:

After the expo, we saw the naval museum, which might have been more rewarding had I known anything about boats. We also stumbled upon a celebration of the newly signed Treaty of Lisbon:




Near dinnertime, we took a ferry to the other side of Lisbon, and saw the city at sunset. "If you were a girl," I told Steffen, "this ferry would be our first kiss."


Nicely sums up the trip:

We took a night bus back to Madrid on Sunday night, and I had my first Christmas. Two huge meals, one a dinner that lasted until 2am and another a lunch that started at five in the afternoon. (Quite Spanish.) I gave Hector and Dario a stegasauras and a something-else-sauras, respectively, my host parents Ozomatli and Yes CDs, and Margie (the babysitter and housekeeper) a stuffed animal dog for her daughter. My host parents gave me an awesome shirt and a striped sweater (which I´ve needed for teaching at risk of showing my students that I only have one nice outfit in my whole wardrobe).

Last night, I ticked down 2007 at Sol, Madrid´s version of Times Square, with Steffen, the friend with whom I´d gone to Lisbon. There had to tens of thousands of people. We met up with my friend Sophie, also from Germany (but whereas Steffen´s from the part near Austria, she´s from the part near France), and met two British girls who had come to Madrid for just one night (weirdos!). We went bar-hopping, then went back to Steffen´s apartment to unwind watching Scrubs. I left at 6am, and due to major horrible disasterous outrageous ridiculous public transportation woes, I got home a few minutes before 9am. I suddenly realized that everyone on the west coast was celebrating midnight, and I felt nostalgic for LA -- Happy New Years!. Seconds later, my head was on the pillow and I was asleep, a wonderful Christmas break behind me and thoughts of going to Sevilla soon swirling in my head.