Category: Personal

Today was a travel day.  We loaded the bus and took off for Evora with a stop in Monsaraz.  On the way, Jesus pointed out cork and olive trees.  The cork trees are harvested (think skinned) every 10 years.  Wine corks but also purses, hats and wallets can be made out of cork.  Debbie was not impressed until she got to touch a cork product and then became quite excited.  She was able to fight back the urge to buy a purse at the truck stop when she saw the price and instead took pictures.

Our lunch stop was Monsaraz.  It is high above the border plains, a tiny village, fortified and contained in a walled village.  It has two main streets which some people insist on driving down.  If you are a pedestrian and see a car turning down the street, our advice is to run.  You feel a little like you are in a James Bond movie running down the street or throwing yourself against the wall.  There is a Roman tower as proof that the Romans were once there that you can see as you run by.

A bullfighting ring exists that everyone checked out.  We can’t figure out how you get any bulls up to the ring.  Charlotte took a quick power nap outside the bullring.   While only two streets, Debbie did manage to get lost for awhile until she discovered the group while running from a car.

 The tour group decided that they could never storm the castle as they could not make it up the hill especially carrying any armor.  We also had lamb and a lot of wine for lunch which may also contribute to not being able to make it up the hill.

We begin our day with getting hit on the head with the shower head and surviving.  Saturday was the first real touring day. The awesome bus takes us to our stops.  Our planned stops  are:

• Tower of Belem. –  The towers was originally built to protect Lisbon from pirates.   (Note: Pirates have been replaced by pick-pockets)
• Monument of Discoveries – Commemorating Portugal’s seafaring and literary history
• Jeronimos Monastery
• National Palace at Queluz – Former summer home of Portuguese royalty

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We went to dinner at a restaurant  that had Fado performers.    Part of Portuguese culture, Fado is a usually melancholy series of songs about unrequited love, longing, and unfulfilled dreams.

What did we lean today? 

• Order a ham sandwich with fries and gets a steak sandwich with chips – Check server’s English skills
• The Second in line to the throne gets a pretty fine house but has to give the big rooms to his Mom and Dad (Queen and King)
• A whisper is a communication system that the tour guide speaks into and you hear on your headset.  You must be within touching distance of the guide for it to work .  If you are not within touching distance, one might get shocked by ear splitting static making one gasp and clutch their heads
• They bring you things to eat you did not order and then charge you.  Following is an actual conversation that took place.
  • Charlotte: “Can I eat that bread?”
  • Waiter:  “You can if you want to.”
  • Charlotte:  “Are you going to charge me for it?”
  • Waiter:  “Well if you eat it”
  • Charlotte:  “Take it away”
  • Debbie:  Looks longingly at the bread as it leaves
•  Bathrooms often charge an entry fee.  Larry has this problem a lot
• Taxi drivers should not drive and listen to soccer games at the same time.  It causes them to almost run lights, miss turns and pound on the steering wheel.
• Charlotte is a social whiz.  She knows everyone’s names.  Larry and Debbie know names as well. Two names, Charlie and Charlotte and use them quite often even if your name is Tom and Pat.
• They put tiny fried eggs on your meat.  The entire egg is one inch in diameter. Debbie didn’t know chickens could lay eggs that small.  Tonight we were asked if we enjoyed the quail eggs?  Our reply was “Oh”. 
• Fado performers all seem to wear black
• Larry and Charlie are not overly fond of the Fado Genre.  This causes one to be the first to leave.

By Friday night, almost everyone in our group had arrived.  Charlotte and Charlie arrived in Lisbon early Friday morning.  They got settled, found Starbucks, the train station and went on a day trip.  Debbie and Larry, meanwhile, are sitting in Amsterdam waiting for their flight to Lisbon.   They find that they need a geography lesson.  Debbie thought that Amsterdam and Lisbon were a hop, skip and a jump apart.  Well, let me tell you they are not.  Debbie spent the 2 hour 45 minute flight dozing off and bumping into Larry waking him up.  They finally dragged into the hotel around 4:00 in the afternoon. 

Debbie and Larry had a very hard time unpacking for 2 days.  Their room looked like a clothes explosion.  Every discussion went something like this. Person 1 – Expletive!  Have you seen my (fill in the blank?) This is followed by frantically unpacking a bag, a backpack, searching through all drawers.  Expletive!  “Oh I found it”.  Next  step, repeat process above. 

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After fighting through the room issues, we meet the other members of the tour.  There are 23 people in our group.  We were missing 3 with a passport issue in Frankfurt.   Our tour guide is Jesus.  He gave us an overview of the trip and said he was a “Foot Specialist.  Charlotte finally had to explain to Debbie that he was a “Food Specialist”.  At the meeting after “Food” recommendations from Jesus, we made our meal choices for the trip.  We are all curious how this is going to work.  They usually come out and say who ordered the “fish”? We can’t remember what we ordered except Debbie’s tactical error of “Pig Cheeks”.   I can’t wait for that meal.  Everyone fell into bed exhausted.

Debbie and Larry began their trip early with good cheer.  Lindsey graciously agreed to drive them to the airport.  On the way, Lindsey coached them with some key Spanish phrases that they might need on their trip.  Debbie feels that she can now say the following:

“My name is Debbie.  I don’t speak Spanish.  Where is the bathroom?”  This outburst is followed by the pronouncement “you have trash”.

Lindsey did not help us with Portuguese so we are on our own.  We are hoping that we do not find any trash that needs pointing out in Lisbon.

Lindsey also suggested that we be more forceful when we speak and that probably no one would understand us.  It was suggested that perhaps we should download the app that shows pictures on your phone.  Nonetheless, she did not seem unduly worried about us.  We are not sure if that is a good or bad thing.

We have made it to Atlanta!