Summary: We left the small beach town of Matasinhos this morning and took the metro into Porto, where we caught a bus that took three and a half hours to get here to Lisbon. We toured the city and prepared for our flight back to the U.S.A. tomorrow morning.
Awesome moment: Lara had a fabulous conversation with Strini, a South African man, who shared the bench of our backseat bus ride from Porto to Lisbon. Amon the discussion topics were: politics, travel experiences and trading of tips, US policy, global policies and trade agreements, micro/macro econ, social policies, medical systems, documentaries, of course apartheid, Strini's personal experiences growing up, being Indian (coloured), post-apartheid, his schooling and education, his work now, family background, etc.
Also, on our tour, we learned that in 1755, during a 6-minute earthquake that rocked the city of Lisbon in tremors, followed by a massive wave an flooding, followed by fires among the hills, 40,000 died, and the city was then essentially rebuilt in the latter half of the 18th century. Incredible.
Blooper: Our hotel room is crooked! The walls are not at 90 degree angles, which makes for odd spacing o already rather cramped quarters with two twin beds, a desk, closet, bedside nightstands, and our suitcases!
Cheapest Pleasure: We were both surprised by the fact that our bus driver from Porto to Lisbon was female! It is rare to see female drivers!
Awesome moment: Lara had a fabulous conversation with Strini, a South African man, who shared the bench of our backseat bus ride from Porto to Lisbon. Amon the discussion topics were: politics, travel experiences and trading of tips, US policy, global policies and trade agreements, micro/macro econ, social policies, medical systems, documentaries, of course apartheid, Strini's personal experiences growing up, being Indian (coloured), post-apartheid, his schooling and education, his work now, family background, etc.
Also, on our tour, we learned that in 1755, during a 6-minute earthquake that rocked the city of Lisbon in tremors, followed by a massive wave an flooding, followed by fires among the hills, 40,000 died, and the city was then essentially rebuilt in the latter half of the 18th century. Incredible.
Blooper: Our hotel room is crooked! The walls are not at 90 degree angles, which makes for odd spacing o already rather cramped quarters with two twin beds, a desk, closet, bedside nightstands, and our suitcases!
Cheapest Pleasure: We were both surprised by the fact that our bus driver from Porto to Lisbon was female! It is rare to see female drivers!
Glad to hear it is going well! Safe flight;) and the England postcard came today 7-30-12 while the Lichenstien one was a couple weeks ago LOL
ReplyDeleteSusan says to check the stamp and date, because she may have sent the England postcard from another country.
ReplyDeleteSome of our best learning comes from great conversations like the one Lara had with the So. African.
ReplyDelete