Shrek and Donkey

Have you seen the second Shrek? Joe and I love the relationship between Donkey and Shrek, and we quote them regularly. A favorite is when Donkey said something like, "That's right... Shrek and Donkey off on another adventure!" We really relate to that. Last Tuesday we woke up to sunshine, so we decided to head for the beach. Dressed in layers, with my new tank top on under my long-sleeve t-shirt, we headed out on an adventure. This is when you have to decide how to react to obstacles. Adventure or ruined plans? If you set out to see what the day will bring—even if you made plans—it's possible to take a side step and see what's going to happen instead. (I'm building this up too much.) So, we hopped on the greenline metro by our place and went down to Cais de Sodre, the regional train station. We exited, swiped our passes and went straight to the train entrance in the same building. 

All of the turnstiles had a red X instead of the preferred green arrow. All of them. People milled about in confusion after trying to swipe their passes even though the red X made it clear that wouldn't work. We got an espresso and asked the barista. He didn't speak English, but he said, "Greve!" and walked away. I pulled out my translator to find out that greve means strike. Well, crap. An 8x11 piece of paper explained what was happening on a wall. A pissed off Portuguese woman standing by me said, "Until Thursday!"

The trams weren't on strike, so we went to Belem (our old neighborhood). It was a beautiful day and warm. Near our old place was an enormous park surrounded by a construction wall. The wall had been removed to reveal a gorgeous park directly in front of the Geronimo Monastery. As you know, I love statues. I fell in love with these horses.

We walked down to the ferry station to have a cheap beer and a glass of wine and watch the world go by. And, though this will mean nothing to most of you, a Honda Prelude pulled up in front of us… I've never seen one in Europe. It was in mint condition too. A very wealthy looking man got out and walked away. I sent a picture to my Prelude at home in the garage to tell her that I found her brother. It turned out to be a very relaxing day. We ended with pizza at our old pizza place (I got to put my tank-top to good use) and came back to Lisbon on the standing-room only tram.

Wednesday, after swimming at the pool, we went out in front of the Oriente Train Station mall and wandered along the bayside towards the Vasco da Gama bridge. We discovered a whole new area of restaurants and parks.

Thursday we still couldn't go to the beach because of the stupid strike. I did a little research to find out where some of the more special churches were. San Sebastian was my first goal. We got on the redline metro and went to the San Sebastian stop (the end-of-the-line). We looked ignorantly at the several stairwell exits and chose poorly. We ended up in a mall designed to trap you inside it for the rest of your life. I'd actually read about this place online. One man said it was the most complex Escape-Room he and his family had ever been in. It took us thirty minutes to figure out how to get out. After ending up in the garage, the food court, the children's books, and the intimates section, I finally asked an employee. He pointed us in the right direction and told us to go up two floors. We did that and got lost again. I asked another employee and she pointed us in the right direction and we escaped! Unfortunately we just missed the opening hours of the church.

I looked on my map and found their version of Central Park nearby. What a find! 

We wandered down to another church, Igreja de Sao Roque. This is the most elaborately decorated church I've seen in Europe. It's almost as fancy as the cathedral in Puebla, Mexico. We walked by the outside of the convent that didn't survive the 1755 Quake. It's frame is majestic against the blue skies.

Down the winding streets we went to search out the Fado House I'd read about… Lisboa em Fado. This place is unique in that they don't serve food with their show. Those places are expensive and serve a huge amount of food, or they have places where you don't have to buy food and the people are packed in like sardines.

It was a good show for 19 Euros. It started with a video of the history of Fado and then the singers came out. It was truly amazing. I'm sorry to compare it to anything, but for my American friends, it was a mix between opera and country-western. Do you remember my blog about Saudade? This was Saudade in song. Soulful, yearning. A couple of doors down was an English pub, so we had a hearty meal and watched soccer.

Friday was pool day again and we didn't have to share our lane with anyone. I've come to realize that I'm a princess when it comes to sharing my lane… I loathe it. We went to Alameda Park so I could write and Joe could read. When we got bored, we looked around for a street we hadn't been up yet and off we went. We walked by this huge ugly building that reminded us both of the Capital of Panem in the Hunger Games. It was clearly some sort of federal building but had a lovely garden to wander through, which we did, of course. Turns out that our host works there.

Our quest was a big round building I'd seen on Google Maps. It was even better than we imagined. I think it's an auditorium for shows and concerts, but restaurants skirt all the way around the exterior. We went in one door, but I don't think we were supposed to be inside. We walked around anyway. We snuck out through another door and found a bar frequented by the college age crowd. We eventually found our way home and I made big hamburger patties with a sunny-side-up egg on them. Very Portuguese and delicious.

Saturday, we walked down to the central plaza. I wanted to buy a new pair of shoes. Unfortunately they're either too expensive or they didn't have my size. It was a fun day anyway. We decided to hike up to the thieves' market again and I bought an Ecuadorian pullover jacket, which I absolutely did not need. Shrug. Joe says I'm addicted to shoes, scarves, and jackets.

A week ago we booked another Airbnb for two nights in the sunny beach town of Parede. This is the area of the coast near Lisbon we like best. I bought a pair of shorts for the trip, plus I had my tank-top… I was set. Unfortunately, as the dates drew nearer, the forecast changed to rain. This was a major set-back for me at first. I wasn't happy. Then I searched for another way to look at it—all I could come up with was; now we'd see what our favorite area was like in the rain. We made it to a cliffside restaurant for dinner between cloudbursts.

So here I sit in our adorable little tiny home. I can see the rain falling on the bright blue pool just outside my door. We went for a walk this morning and stopped at a little old café for a delicious cup of coffee, and Joe had a chocolate croissant (total $3). Then the electricity went out in the café. A guy came over from the construction site next door to get a couple of beers. The gal gave them to him and told him to come back and pay for it when the electricity came back on.

We headed for the cliffside promenade in spite of the rain. I love the ocean waves, especially in a storm… though this wasn't a storm, just a light mist. We walked about half a mile before Joe realized he'd left his backpack in the café. It was remarkable to both of us how unconcerned we were. So, here I sit… damp, cold, and content in our room with big windows.