A Good Move

We have left Nazare three days early for greener pastures.  I am really learning a lot about how to travel best for our family and 10 days in one place with the kids was too long.  At least at the place we choose in Nazare.  So we decided to pack our bags and return to a town I had visited only for a few hours earlier in our trip, but enjoyed.

We arrived in Cascais on Saturday, parked the car and havenºt moved it since.  Instead of being on the outskirts of town, we are now smack dab in the middle.  We are less than a five minute walk to the ocean, one minute to the bakery and internet.  Itºs a cute little apartment in the old part of town. Only downside, the night time noise.  The price you pay.

The girls are quite happy with our move.  We happen to arrive in the middle of a weekend festival where they got to do everthing they would do at festivals in Austin.  They did a very high zip line, rock climbing, face painting, watched dance performances and karate sparring and spent some time playing on the beach. We were in the midst of it from 10 to 6.  And hereºs where the difference comes in.....it didnºt cost me a penny!!!  Everything was free!  What a great day for mom and kids.  I would have spent a good $75 to $100 if we had done all of these things at an Austin festival. Thank you Cascais!

And a side note, one of the things I love about Portugal is hardly anyone speaks english.  And I donºt think weºve run into a single American while weºve been here.  Piper says she wonºt be used to people speaking english when we get home, sheºs used to only portuguese.

A second side note, mom is going to be 70 in November and Iºm very lucky to have a mom who will get her first international drivers licence at 69, who will fly to Europe on her own, and who will be the only adult who does the zip line!  She received cheers as she scaled the two story rope ladder and zipped on down the beach.  Go mom!!

We have one day left before returning home on Tuesday morning.  Iºm going to be sad to leave, and happy to go home.  I think thatºs the best you can hope for.

No matter where you go, there you are.

Ah travel, the excitement of a foreign country and itºs culture.   And what do my girls enjoy most?  Hereºs a list of their favorite things to do in Portugal:
-run up and down any and all ramps, airport or Moorish castle, theyºre all good.
-go the the library and chat with me on IM while I check my email.
-buy the same tacky souviniers I bought as a kid on vacation including the back scratcher, the snow globe, and the animal covered in some kind of fur (I am afraid to find out what).
-nothing
-play Littlest Pet Shop
-give me a heart attack with each crashing wave they get too close to on red flag beach days.
-going to the local playground.

Despite their grumbles each morning as I drag them off on another adventure, they do have a great time, even if they wonºt admit it.  Today will be the Buddha Eden Garden and  the dinosaur excavation site in Lourinha.  I can hear the complaints now. :)

Connections

Weºve been in Nazare for 5 days now.  Our first few days in the apartment, I was overwhelmed with a feeling of loneliness and felt so far away from everyone.  I had just left Jordan and all his family at the airport. I was happy to have my mom and the girls, but I was without a husband (and his family), a laptop and a phone.

In true Portuguese fashion, everything is much farther away from the house than you think.  I donºt know how they can say  "10 to 15 min walk to the beach" when you are so far from town you canºt even see the beach.  Our apartment is very nice and very comfortable, but itºs about as far away from the old town as you can get and still be in Nazare.  This didnºt help with my feelings of isolation.  I was ready to come home.  Iºve had this feeling before when traveling, and have to remind myself to enjoy the moment, Iºll be home soon enough and wishing I was back in Portugal.

In the meantime, I have free internet at the library!  Itºs sort of becoming our morning routine; coffee and pastry, internet at the library, then open market for the days´` fruits, veggies and bread.  I think thatºs what helps to make us feel comfortable in new places, the daily routine.

Until tomorrow.

p.s.
Typos sure to be everywhere.  My entire post is underlined in red because Iºm in the Portuguese google and canºt figure out how to switch, making it very hard to read.

No laptop no intenet

We made it to Nazare!  Sadly I no longer have access to the intenet in our apartment, and even if I did, still no laptop.  Not sure I can post pictures from the library computers.  Iºll ask.  A blog about Portugal just isnºt the same without pics.

Family

One of my favorite parts of an extended family vacation are the times just hanging out together; cooking, playing games, a gelato or coffee out. 

We'll start with Leon (please say this with an accent), the dog who protects the property.  He's awfully friendly to be any sort of deterent.

 Out for gelatto in Lisbon.

 Puzzle time with Piper's favorite souvenier to date.  It's ......interesting......

 Alexis and Francesca at brunch.

 Uncle Shannon and Scout learning a new card game.

 Stopping for produce on a walk.

 Cheers!

 Cheers again!

 The water is freezing!

 Pipes, Alexis, Francesca and Shannon.

 We really are making progress on the puzzle, really.

 Aunt Janie, Jor and another yummy lunch out, it's always good!

Picking limes and lemons from the trees on our property.

Home grown and homemade lemonade.

Grandad and Shannon stop in for a quick coffee.

.

Puzzles puzzle puzzles, Grandma and Piper.

Everything tastes better if it's in a tower

Today we had the best meal in Portugal to date, hands down!  We stumbled into a tiny little place after Scout was about to blow a gasket from all the walking and "boring" sight seeing.  We knew we couldn't make it to our originally planned place, so stopped in the next resturaunt we came across.  And this is where we met George, ex pharmaceutical financier and new owner of Cage of Paradise.

 Jordan tried to order a cheese sandwhich, but George would have none of that.  He explained vegetarians should eat as well as the rest of the table and the chef made a beautiful tower of veggies and legumes.

We tried to order a simple pizza or sandwhich for Piper (who eats almost nothing but fruit, bacon and bread in Portugal). George insisted on this pork and french fry dish, which she devoured.  In fact, he brought her a second plate of fresh cut french fries.

Scout ordered and ate a whole grilled fish.  She has an adventurous palate and also has tried just about everything Portugal has to offer, including grilled octopus.

Grandma ordered these amazing little fried mackerals.  So so so good! We ate them head and all.

 Alexis, Shannon, Granddad and I all shared this traditional dish Corzido a Portuguea with beef, chicken, pork, blood sausage and vegetables. We died and went to heaven with this one.

George took wonderful care of us, explaining the traditional dishes, the story of the 500+ year old walls in the resturaunt, and helped us to order all the best dishes.  Including amazing desserts!

We had the drunk pear, the best pumpkin pie I've ever had in my life, the cream with red berries and a sweet milk and cinnamon dish.

And all this for only 10 Euros each.  We were shocked to eat so well for so little.  That included many drinks, beer, wine, water and dessert on top of the amazing meal.  Thanks you George!  If anyone ever goes to Lisbon, you must visit Gruta do Paraiso.

p.s.
Every single word is underlined because I'm in Portuguese mode, so please excuse any typos!

Saturday to SIntra

We have continued in our tradition of silly mistakes as we travel.  I really thought I was a seasoned traveler, but seems I'm rusty.  But before we start on that adventure, here's a few more pics from Porto.

Scout took this one.

Jor buying some sausage.......NOT!

The ladies at a market.  This lady got up and gave Scout a kiss on the head.

The girls love love love playing in the ocean.

Both ladies got hair wraps.  Very Portuguese ;)

Off to Sintra on the train!

And here is where the trouble started!  We had to scan our tickets to get through these gates.  First Jor gets through with his luggage.  As I try to get the girls through we keep scanning the wrong pad to open our gate.  It was like some bad game show where the girls are running back and forth trying to get through the gates.  There was another lady trying to help, to no avail.  Then I get through, but the girls back out as I go through. Now they are on one side and Jor and I are on the other side.    Jor gets back through to the other side, opens Scout's gate but she hesitates and as she goes through it closes on her head.  She cries and cries, and Jor and I are on one side and Scout and Piper on the other.  After more of this three stooges type of a mess, we FINALLY get everyone through!

And to top the day off, I threw away all the contact information to our new house and kept the info for the house we just left, oops.  So we trudge off, each pulling their bag on wheels over the cobblestone streets, the girls crying and complaining the whole way.  Jor took them to a cafe for lunch and I spent a good hour walking around town trying to find the internet so we could get the contact info.

Finally, we get our info, the girls are happy once again after eating and a something to drink and we get to our beautiful new house outside of Sintra, where we met the rest of our family.

Here's Francesca and Gramma.  Yeah, we've all made it.  More pics to follow.

Bogging without a laptop

It's much harder to blog without a laptop than with one.  So I'm a few days behind.  But we are now in a big house with all the Weeks' family and there are 3 laptops here, so hopefully it will be better.

So here's a quick update of the last few days. We LOVED Porto, and we bought a pass for the double decker bus, which turned out to be our main means of transportation.  It took us three times as long to get anywhere, but the girls loved riding on the top, no matter how chilly they became.

Here's the gang on our street, outside of our apartment. The weather was perfect, a little cloudy, sun here and there and temps in the 60's. We went out one evening in the rain for sweets from the bakery, but they were closed.  And those are the times when the best things happen.  We found a little bar where the Jor and I had a beer, and Piper had popsicle coated in pop rocks.

Here's my most interesting meal in Porto.  It's white bread with sliced sausage, sliced unkown meat, and a slice of beef, with french fries covered in a tomato sauce and topped with a prawn.  This was on every menu in Porto.

Our final night in Porto, we heard lots of drumming and trumpets and could see a procession on the street across the river. Good bye Porto, we will miss you!!  On Saturday am, we left Porto and headed back to Lisbon, which is a whole new crazy story.

Things I`m thankful for

I´m thankful:
-that despite hurricane Irene we made our connection in Newark with 10 minutes to spare.
-that the only times the girls got fussy on our 22 hour trip was in the long steamy passport control line at 2am Texas time.
-as we watched our train depart as we arrived on the platform, we found a place for the kids to run and a coffee for us as we waited for the next one 90 minutes later.
-the manager of our apartment in Porto loaned us his laptop while we are here, after we left mine on the train.
-I bought trip insurance for the first time ever and my laptop is covered! And that all my photos are stored online, whew!
-that our of all of our luggage to lose, Piperºs was the one we lost. She can wear Scoutºs clothes, but sheºs the only one who can wear anyone else´s clothes.
-that Piperºs luggage was found, and the only thing missing was my toiletries bag.
-for the clouds, rain and cool weather!
-that I have the brains to eventually figure out how to post photos of your trip without my laptop.