HAPPY BIRTHDAY MEGAN!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Mike and Megan's Honeymoon: Day 5 - Olá Lisboa!

July 2nd

Megan boarding the slow train to Lisbon (or Lisboa as the locals call it). It was interesting going through the rugged interior of Portugal.

TAXI! Take us to our fine hotel!

We're pretty excited because the hotel is right next to St. George's Castle. The taxi driver pulls up the the castle gate and says, "I'm sorry. I don't think I can go any farther. Your hotel is though the castle gate. Take a right and then a left after a couple streets." WHAT! We're in the castle. The only downside was having to pull a 200 lbs. (90.7 kg) suitcase uphill several blocks. Where's a mule when you need one?

Ahhhh... Getting the honeymoon treatment at Solar do Castelo in the Alfama neighborhood. It was a wonderful place to stay with great amenities, location, staff, food, and so much more. Plus, it use to be the kitchen of St. George's Castle. How can we complain?

Portugal is full of these hole in the wall sandwich shops. Two sandwiches, a pastry, some kind of fancy coffee, and a beer for 3 Euro ($3.87 US). Guess where I am going to retire?

Sé de Lisboa was built in 1147. Think about that for a bit...

God lives here...

Portugal is the mythical land your grandfather told you about (sort of). You know when he told you the stories about having to walk to school every day in a foot of snow uphill both ways? Well, Portugal is uphill in every direction without snow. Just beautiful sun that will melt your flesh...

Praça do Comércio is the centerpiece to a rebuilt Lisbon after the earthquake of 1755

King José I by Machado de Castro. He was in charge when the 1755 9.0 magnitude earthquake knocked down most of Portugal, caught on fire, and finally hit by a 20ft. tsunami. They thought they were being punished by God and it's difficult to argue against that. He put Marquis of Pombal into a near dictatorial role of rebuilding the city, mostly the Baixa district.

The arch leading to the Baixa shopping district, which is auto traffic east-west and pedestrian north-south.

Us

Getting our transit passes and finding the coolest escalator in the world. Albufeira had one outside helping people climb a huge hill. This one went flat in the middle and then continued up. It was like lazy surfing.

TILE! TILE TILE! That's what you need to know about Portugal. They tile everything and you should learn about it when you are there. The Museu Nacional do Azulejo (National Tile Museum) is well worth the stop and should be done first.

These are all from churches and houses and whatever else they built

The museum is in an old convent called Convento da Madre Deus and here's another section they are planning to cover in more tile.

a huge church interior they saved and rebuilt

Everything that isn't tile is gold from Brazil. Something else you will notice...

Looking south from Rossio Square.

The electric tram. "Watch your wallets tourists!" is what we were told a million times. I like the ad on front saying "Be stupid." I don't know what the product was, but it's good advice.

A beautiful little park in Alfama overlooking the Tegus River.

The pointy tile building on Rua de Alfandega

A Baiuca at Rua de São Miguel 20 is a Fado restaurant. Fado is a kind of fisherman folk music of Portugal. This tiny place was where I had one of the top 5 moments of my life.

The band warming up while we get our order

The Portuguese Mick Jagger.

The food was delicious.

This is Michael from Newark playing his first night in Portugal. We are his biggest fans.

This lady was awesome. She sang, she danced, she cooked, she served, she had a tank top of a girl with a rabbit head, and did it all excellently in heels.

Singers would come in off the street. The cooks would dance. It was great. Everything in Lisbon was great and it's only day one!

Mike and Megan's Honeymoon: Day 2 - Beach Day In Albufeira

June 29, 2010

BEACH DAY!!!

Made it to the beach!!!

But first, Megan had to write the details of our wedding and travels in her diary looking over the Atlantic Ocean from our balcony.

On the way to buy an ugly beach towel with dolphins and probably lead lined sandals from "China Bizarre," I found this hat. Does anyone know what "Chicago Red Bowl Lineman" means?

Sand sculpture by a guy that helped up with directions earlier in the day.

He sculpted my lady!

Me as a large woman

Finally, the beach!

Take off the zoom...

Better...

Putting the third or fourth layer of suntan lotion on at the pier, which proved to be completely useless. You'll see...

Hey! That's a topless woman in my picture! We found this going through these a minute ago.

a screensaver shot

a picture featuring Megan's elbow...

Crazy plant life!

This was taken when the sun was at it's peak. It was like the light of God was upon us and burned us to our souls. Neither of us have ever experienced sun like this before. After this day, we would hide under trees or rocks at this time of the day.

Megan's favorite flower tree of Portugal on our way back to town to prepare for the Portugal vs. Spain World Cup match

I call it "cloud pine."

Our place is at the top, Hotel Boa Vista. This is taken from Rua Sir Cliff Richard.

You'll see more about this later. But, many buildings have or are covered with tile in Portugal.

This is restaurant, possibly owned by a Dutch guy, at Largo Eng. Duarte Pacheco and Rua da Liberdade. I forget the name of it, but the food was great and we could watch the first half of the World Cup-Portugal/Spain. This is when I started to realize that ALL meals in Portugal come with french fries. I was truly where I belonged...

Where we watched the second half of the World Cup-Portugal/Spain. Portugal lost (if you haven't been paying attention my American friends). But, all eyes were on the game in Europe.

AFTER DINNER FUN! What a great idea. Paddle boats with a slide!

Look at how red my knees are. It's a sign of things to come!

A view of the main square of Albufeira from a road to the north.

Looking at Rua 5 de Outubro from the road above the beach tunnel.

Creepy cemetery, right? Wait until you hear how I almost died here the next morning!!! How is that for a teaser?

Thanks again to everyone for helping with the wedding, coming to the wedding, congratulations for the wedding, and all else. It's been a wonderful experience