A great experience...am I rested...not a chance

Well Hallelujah I made it back.  I won't bore you with too many pictures but I'll put some of my favorite ones.  Lisbon is very nice and I saw lots.  Lots of hills.  Seven %#&$%? hills and I did them all.  Of course I would take the Tram to go up but always walked down.  I used to take a size 8 in shoes but going down hill and your toes rubbing all the time, I'm now a size 6.  I took some beautiful pictures but it's pretty sad when you have to ask the people sitting at the next table, excuse me, can you take a picture of me, OR if I met people, I would ask if I could take a picture of them so I could tell everyone that I had friends.  I visited every museum, every church, every castle, every monastery that I could find.  You can't go to Lisbon and relax.  There is too much to do.  I would leave around 11:00 every morning and come back around 11:00 every night.  Just one night I got lost and I felt scared.  I went into a restaurant and asked for directions and the waitress figured out that I was scared.  Not sure if it was the tears (just little ones) or the shaking that did it.  Anyway, she drew me a map and walked with me for one block and told me exactly what to do.  Then she hugged me.  She said, nothing will happen to you, don't be scared.  So even in other countries, there are nice people. She was super nice.  I said that I'd go eat at their restaurant but I never found the place again.

Did I ever arrive in Lisbon at the right time.  They had a big open air party for me, best parade ever.  Everyone wanted a piece of me.  Well that's what I thought.   June 12, the eve of Saint Anthony is the most celebrated night of the year and June 13 is a holiday.  I saw it all, I lived it all.  Parades, wine, porto, music, dancing in the streets.  It starts mid-day and ends the next morning.

The parade starts around 9:00 pm and it goes until dark.  The next day, June 13, I was coming down the HILL, again, and people were standing on the side of the street, with praying beads, the women were cleaning their railing and putting out their best linen.  Again, I thought, how nice of them to greet me like this.  I don't deserve this.  Little that I knew that Saint Anthony is the Patron of Lisbon.  They were having a celebration.  Everyone had flowers and giving them to others.  Let it be known that I did not get any.  People were burning candles.  

This is where they were lighting the candles.  I sure wasn't going close to that.

I drank Porto because Louis my friend told me to.  I had a hard time finding the metro.  First sip I took, I felt it go down, slowly right to my toes.  Yes, the same toes that shrunk from going down hill.  Not my favorite drink.

Well I'll have to continue telling you about my trip later this week.  I have company arriving tomorrow.  Joanne and my aunt Pierrette.  I hope they like it here.  Bird's Bed and Breakfast is opened for business.  It will be nice to have family here.  Must go clean house.

Just wanted to give you a little bit of my trip to start you off with.  Will blog later.  Abricada for reading.  See I speak porteguese now.  Things I learn.  Oh, and by the way, the monastery that I visited, I asked the man how much please, he said, oh for 65 yrs old, 2 euros please.  Insulted.  Of course, I didn't tell him the difference so I got in cheap.  I can't believe that I look 65.  I either need a miracle or a facelift.  Now that I think of it, maybe it wasn't my face he was looking at, just the body and he figured out that things are lower to the ground now.  I'm still insulted.