Lisbon

Don't believe people when they tell you that Portuguese is just like Spanish - it's not!!! There are a few similarities, but mostly it's different and the pronunciations are VERY different. Just a warning!

Lisbon is similar to Barcelona in some ways - hilly (although Lisbon more so), by the water (although Barcelona on the Mediterranean and Lisbon on a river that flows right into the Atlantic) - and very different in others. For one thing, there are far fewer Americans in Lisbon!

Since I went back to back on the same trip, people keep asking me which city I liked better. I would have to say Lisbon but only by a tiny bit. They are actually very hard to compare. The people in Lisbon were much nicer in general (although the Spanish were very friendly, so nothing against them) and seemed extremely happy that you were visiting and trying to speak their language. In Barcelona it almost seemed as if they expected visitors and were actually somewhat overwhelmed by them. Which is understandable given the sheer number of tourists there.

Tile (like the ones above) are traditional in Portugal. There are whole buildings covered in patterned tiles and sometimes they put them together to make pictures. There is a lot of seafood to be eaten (yummy!) too. My favorite part of this trip was the beach at Cascais (pronounced cash-kish (long i) I think). There are several beaches all strung together with a boardwalk, but our favorite was the first one from the train station.


The city had a broad avenue running down the middle. We stayed right off this, so got to enjoy it every day. It had garden areas in the medians and beautiful sidewalks. I imagine they'd be pretty slippery when it rains, but thankfully we didn't have to find out!

Lisbon has a statue of Christ similar to the one in Rio de Janeiro. El Cristo Rei overlooks the city of Lisbon from across the river and was erected in thanksgiving for Lisbon escaping WW II. We took a ferry across and then a very hot bus trip and then an elevator ride to the observation platform. As in any city with hills, there are lots of great view spots, but this one was my favorite in Lisbon.

We had time for one other day trip to Sintra. There are a lot of palaces and elaborate houses there. Also, the gardens around some of the houses are like tropical forests! I loved wandering through and seeing how dense everything was and so beautifully put togehter. It actually reminded me a lot of Colorado, even though it was manmade.

View of Castelo de Sao Jorge at night

Barcelona

Last Thursday (almost 2 weeks ago now!) I headed to Barcelona with two of my friends from Denver. Two more of my friends joined us there and we had a great time. The weather was mostly nice, although sometimes rainy. My favorite part of the trip was the bike tour we took. It ended up being a private tour for the five of us as no one else showed up!

Barcelona is a city with lots of beautiful architecture. The most famous architect in Barcelona was a man named Gaudi. He designed many houses, a park and a church. The church is called La Sagrada Familia and has been under construction since 1882! It is not scheduled to be completed until sometime around 2030...or so...

La Casa Pedrera - one of Gaudi's houses which you can tour inside

The roof of Las Casa Pedrera - so cool!

The streets of the Old City are small and cobbled

Biking along the boardwalk

Park Guell - one of Gaudi's parts of Barcelona. There is amazing glass work and tiling everywhere. The park overlooks the city from a high hill - quite a climb!

La Sagrada Familia - I went up in one of those towers. There are a lot of great places for views in Barcelona, but this probably the most fun!

From the top of the tower!

Part of the market

Week in Review

Well, I've been sick again this week. This time with a sore throat and sore ears. But I managed to have a good time with friends this weekend. I checked out a fabulous brunch place and did some shopping. I am preparing for a trip to Barcelona and Lisbon starting on Thursday as well! Today a couple work friends are running in the London Marathon, but I decided to stay home and recuperate rather than venture out to cheer them on. I'm sure they'll understand.

The weather has been very interesting the last couple of weeks. Generally it is in the low 50s, but it rains at least once a day and often several times a day with sunny periods in between. It doesn't feel very warm, but the clear blue skies are a treat when they peek out from the clouds. The weather report doesn't give any indication of much change in the near future, so I keep my umbrella, scarf and sunglasses close by.

Last night I was able to see some Denver friends who live up in Birmingham (2 hour train ride north of London) and some other Denver friends who are in the UK visiting them. We had a good time catching up! I will hopefully be taking a weekend trip with Chad and Laurie soon. I'm also planning a long trip to Italy in June!

Oh, I don't think I told you about last weekend. After I took Friday to see Windsor Castle, Saturday was back to the normal spring dreariness we've been having. I took a walk to the east and visited Hoxton Market and a random museum called Geffrye Museum. It is a history of English interiors for the last 400 years and basically has displays and information about what a middle class living room would be like during various times and how it has changed over the years. I thought it was very interesting to see how people lived and used their homes and how those things changed so much! After that, I ventured into a Vietnamese restaurant. The pho was very good and very cheap, so it may become a favorite of mine! Saturday night was my birthday dinner combined with another girl at work whose birthday was near mine. We had a great time and it's always fun to get to know people a bit better outside of the office.

Sunday I woke up to giant snowflakes! This is only the second time it has snowed since I've been in London, but the first time it stuck. I decided it would be a good day to stay in and relax - so I did just that! I watched 2 or 3 movies and sat on the couch most of the day. I ordered in Indian food and had a great day. It's great to have some time to just relax and get ready for the week ahead.

My work load has decreased significantly as busy season comes to an end. I spent a lot of time this week tying up loose ends and doing scheduling tasks for this summer and fall. It looks like I'll be staying plenty busy this summer, but of course there will be time for vacations! I'm looking forward to officially ending busy season on Tuesday and then visiting with my friends from Denver and exploring in Spain and Portugal. That means exciting new photo posts in a couple weeks!!!

Windsor Castle

I took Friday off and treated myself to a belated birthday trip to Windsor Castle. The castle was a really neat experience. Once again, I felt immersed in places and stories from hundreds of years ago. I was learning about things that were going on in this castle before America was even discovered by Europeans! I couldn't take pictures inside the buildings, so you'll all just have to come and see for yourself the history and lavishness that surrounds the royals of this country.

On the inside of the castle, you can tour a room that contains Princess Mary's dollhouse. The dollhouse has fully functioning electricity and plumbing! There is also a smallish art gallery with drawings and an exhibit of the royal weddings that occured from the current Queen Elizabeth II going back 100 years before that. Last year was the Queen & her husband's (King Philip? Prince Philip? See how many things I don't know and/or forget in all of these history lessons!) 60th wedding anniversary, so this exhibit celebrates that. Soon they will be changing to an exhibit celebrating Prince Charles' birthday this year (60? Yet another thing I didn't pay close attention to.)

I also toured the State apartments which are mostly refurbished or kept the way they were about 300ish year ago. These room contain the king's and queen's drawing rooms and dining rooms and also official banquet halls and receiving rooms that are still in use today for state dinners. Across the way are the queen's apartments, which of course you are not able to tour, but you can see the entrance from the quadrangle.

I arrived at the castle in time to see the changing of the guard. There was alot of pagentry involved with that, none of which I understood. But I did find it interesting that the guards guarding the queen carry scary looking semi-automatic guns and not one London policeman carries a gun. Curious...

In another part of the castle area, you can go to St. George's cathedral, which is the official church and saint of the Knights of the Garter, a very prestigious ranking given to special knights. Some of these knights actually live on the grounds of the castle and I guess they do knightly things, whatever that may be. The thing I found interesting about this part of the castle grounds was that you could definitely see how the whole castle would have been a self-sufficient city at one time. You can imagine the cobbler's shop and the butcher and the ladies' rooms and you could see where they could walk on the massive grounds around the castle.

I kept my eye out for royal sightings, most especially the princes. But I had no luck in that front, even though the queen's flag was flying from the round tower, indicating she was there that day.

The weather was perfect - the best day I've had so far! I also wandered around (and shopped!) the town of Windsor and took a short tour of Eton College, which is a posh boarding school for high school age boys. Princes Harry & William both attended there and once again the history and the stories told were fascinating. The boys were on the English equivalent of spring break (Easter holidays or mid term holidays) so the school seemed pretty empty and dead.

I'm very glad I took this trip. I got a special stamp so I can go back to the castle free for a whole year if anyone wants to go!

Inside the castle, walking up to the changing of the guard. That round tower on the right is where the flag flies showing the queen is there. If she's not there, the normal Union Jack (English flag) flies.

Some of the gardens inside the castle - beautiful! There were also extensive grounds outside the walls which had paths, wilderness-y areas and playing fields for rugby or soccer.

Some of the guards leaving during the Changing of the Guard. I bet they were glad to be going to lunch!

St. George's Cathedral, which is inside the castle walls. Again, no pictures inside, but there were some famous people's graves here (i.e. Henry VIII) and beautiful architecture as always.

Looking back at the castle from across the river.