Finalmente! Here is the last installment of the Portugal/ Spain journey (don't cry). First things first: let's discuss spanish food. In one word: delicioso. In two words: muy delicioso. The paella was out of this world, the gazpacho melted in my mouth, and the jamon was...deliciously salty. Our first big meal was at the oldest restaurant in the world, Sobrino de Botin. It was a cute little place (a little rickety, but I suppose that comes with the territory of being the oldest restaurant in the world) complete with a mariachi band (who knew?), an alluring atmosphere, and yummer sangria (though not as good as the sangria that we drank at the flamenco show, but that's a whole nother story...).

Ok, this ham leg is a little bit disgusting, but the jamon is so delicious that you can forgive the unappetizing slicing of the meat.

Such a charming place!
In case ham leg picture didn't convince you that Spain is very serious about their ham, check out the Museum of Ham. I'd like to think that this is what heaven is like.

Oh my goodness, it's so much ham. My mouth is a'watering!

Although the food was certainly a highlight of the trip, the other facets of Madrid aren't too shabby either. The views alone are worth writing home about. First case in point: our view of the Prado museum from the hotel.

The weather was so fantastic that we spent some good time just hanging out on the balcony of the hotel and taking in the view. What's prettier, Diana or the view?

Another of my favorites in Madrid was the main park, el Parque de Retiro. We strolled through on the first day and jogged through on another (and by "jogged" I mean walked). Our first stop in the park was the rowing lake, which is very similar to the one at 72nd street in Central Park.

Next stop in the park: the Crystal Palace. Check this place out! It must get so insanely hot in there. The building actually reminded me quite a bit of Berlin because a lot of the governmental buildings in Berlin are entirely transparent; the clear glass is the government's way of demonstrating to the German people that they have nothing to hide. But seriously, that's gotta get steamy. This part of the park reminded me of something out of Dr. Suess book. Such funny little hedges...
Next stop: the Palacio Real (the Royal Palace). Hi, Mom!

The Palacio was really spectacular. I've visited a few castles in Germany (and we saw some in Portugal), and they all really showed their age. Though many of them were furnished with period pieces, it was hard to imagine what they really looked like in their glory days. The Palacio, however, retains all of its splendor and majesty. I really don't think that I can justly describe it, so I won't even try. But if you happen to find yourself in Madrid, go to the Palacio, it's definitely worth it.

A view of the Palace grounds:

This church, the Cathedral of our Lady of Almudena, wasn't completed until 1993. The artwork and stained glass on the inside are entirely modern (and very angular) - almost Picasso-like. The colors were all so bright and bold, it was quite a contrast to every cathedral I've ever seen. Again, if you're in Spain, be sure to hit this up.

A final stop: The Plaza Mayor, home to many a fiesta, bullfight, execution, and revolution. It doesn't look like much in these pictures, but the square was dripping with history and intrigue, creating an almost mystical feeling.

So how did we go about soaking up the enchantment of the Plaza? We drank a cerveza, of course. Some shots of me and the cousins:

Diana must have resembled some famous Spanish/ Portuguese person, because there were many times when people just stared at her. Like, stared and whispered. It was fun traveling with someone who is maybe famous. Maybe it was those rockin sunglasses (which I wanted to steal, but feared for my life).

!Mas cerveza, por favor!

And thus ends my recap of the trip. Good stuff, eh? I highly recommend going out and finding yourself a couple kickass cousins.

So because I'm in a foreign land, I feel the necessity to be as obnoxious and American as possible today. I decorated our office with American flags and other red, white, and blue paraphanelia (thanks, Liz!) and I put on a temporary tattoo of the American Flag (you read that right, an American Flag tattoo). And now I'm blasting the hilariously awesome Dolly Parton CD, "For God and Country." Oh, the Germans are really loving me right about now.


In other news, pictures of Spain are up on pbase, and a new post about Portugal is listed below. Happy 4th, my friends!

We spent one of our days in Portugal touring a few towns on the outskirts of Lisbon. Bill set us up with a fantastic driver, Gaspar, who knows more about Portugal than you could imagine. He was full of stories and random facts, and even stopped the car on the side of the road at one point and made us get out to inspect a cork tree (which was quite a relief, because I had just finished watching the season finale of the Sopranos and I was pretty certain that Gaspar was going to off us right there on the side of the road in nowheresville, Portugal).

The first stop of the trip was the Pena Palace in Sintra. The palace was so colorful that it looked like something out of a Disney movie (but much cooler). Evidence:


The Palace had so many artistic features. Not only was it colorful, it was also textured...

... and tiled ...We were also able to tour the inside of the Palace, which was especially cool because it was filled with random knick-knacks and tchotchkes. However, we had to find the entrance to the place first, and that proved harder to do than you would think. Theresa and Bill figured it out right away, and had no sympathy for our pathetic attempts at getting inside. They just smiled and waved at us:

Mostly we walked around the courtyard repeatedly...

And also around the parapet surrounding the castle...

(I look so small!) And took fun pictures....

But the view was incredible!

That's the Atlantic in the background.

After the Palace tour we headed back to the center of Sintra for some afternoon wine and cheese, which was followed up with delicious Portuguese pastries and port.

So happy! (yes, and pretty)

After a hearty (and oh-so-healthy) meal of cheese and pastries, Gaspar drove us to Cabo de Roca, the westernmost point in mainland Europe. As I stood at what was once the edge of the world, the ocean wind kicked up a bit of wanderlust and I thought of all the explorers who had stood at that exact point and wondered what lay beyond the great blue sea. It reminded me of the poem by John Masefield:

A wind is in the heart of me, a fire's at my heels,
I am tired of brick and stone and rumbling wagon wheels;
I hunger for the sea's edge, the limit of the land,
Where the wild old Atlantic is shouting on the sand.

Oh I'll be going, leaving the noises of the street,
To where a lifting foresail-foot is yanking at the sheet;
To a windy, tossing anchorage where yawls and ketches ride,
Oh I'l be going, going, until I meet the tide.

And first I'll hear the sea-wind, the mewing of the gulls,
The clucking, sucking of the sea about the rusty hulls,
The songs at the capstan at the hooker warping out,
And then the heart of me'll know I'm there or thereabout.

Oh I am sick of brick and stone, the heart of me is sick,
For windy green, unquiet sea, the realm of Moby Dick;
And I'll be going, going, from the roaring of the wheels,
For a wind's in the heart of me, a fire's in my heels.

There's nothing like the salt water to make you dream, eh? Or maybe it just makes you a little crazy. Either way, I was wishing I had a sailboat.

Cabo de Roca was beatiful, but a storm was rolling in, so we headed on out.

We made one quick stop on the way back to Lisbon in a small town called Cascais. We stayed just long enough to hop out of the car, look at the harbour, and take a few pictures. It reminded me of Naples, but prettier.

It was here that Theresa got out of the car and said, "Can you see this spot on my shirt?" Oh no, Theresa, that's not noticeable at all.

So much laughter...

I'll end the post with a nice family photo:

Portugal & Spain, part 1.

I arrived in Lisbon, Portugal at 10:30 am on Friday morning. I made my way from the airport to the Four Seasons/ Ritz Hotel in downtown Lisbon and up to Vicky and Diana's room just as they were getting dressed and ready for the day. Realizing that they were just getting ready at 11:00, I thought to myself, "This is my kind of vacation." And my kind of vacation it was! We woke at a decent hour everyday, Diana and I usually went for a jog (I thought that I was running so fast and so far on the treadmill until Diana pointed out that the distances were in kilometers, not miles... a huge ego deflation), and then hit up the Ritz breakfast buffet. One day we got so many plates of food that the waiter asked us, very seriously, if we were really going back for more or if we were going to finally sit down. Apparently they don't see the likes of us very often in the swank Ritz breakfast crowd. We did some serious damage to that breakfast buffet, and laughed the whole way through. I think that we burned as many calories laughing as we took in at every delicious meal - not a bad way to spend the day.

Portugal is a remarkably beautiful country. It has the look of the Mediterranean coast and the temperature of San Francisco. We toured much of Lisbon, including the Sao Jorge castle, many busy streets, and a few gorgeous churches. One of the churches that we saw was just the remains of a convent that was destroyed in The Earthquake of 1755. Poor Lisbon was struck by a horrific earthquake, and what wasn't quaked suffered devastating fire, and what wasn't burned by the fire then had to withstand the horrendous flood that followed. Not much survived the quake/fire/flood of 1755, but the city remains strong and striking. Many of the buildings are decorated by the colorful tiles that Portugal is known for, giving the city a year-round festivity that I've yet to see anywhere else.

Portugal was beautiful and entertaining in itself, but without a doubt the highlight of the trip was spending time with my cousins and Bill, who proves to be a fantastic host and traveling companion. The Kost gals are fun, kind, energetic, better at the crossword puzzle than me, generous, and pretty (let's not forget pretty). It was great to get to know them better, especially because now I won't be so shy about inviting myself over for home-cooked meals during exams...

Ok, enough of the summary and family-love. Here are some highlight pictures of Portugal, but the full set is available on my pbase site.

Flying into Lisbon - the amazing Portuguese coast:


Lisbon from the air - note the giant statue that looks remarkably like the Christ the Reedemer cross that overlooks Rio de Janiero in Brazil. It is, in fact, a replica of the same statue.

A view of Lisbon from the Sao Jorge castle - can you believe this view? Are you booking plane tickets right now to go visit? Cause if you're not, you should. Right now. Come back and read this later, it'll still be here. Seriously, go now.

An example of the festive Lisbon streets.

It looks like you could just walk right across the rooftops!

The fountain in the Restauradoras Square in downtown Lisbon. I don't have any photos of the main square in Lisbon that's right on the water (Commerce Square) because despite its reputation as the most beautiful/ memorable square, Diana determined its reputation is undeserved because, "it's just a slab of concrete with a bunch of tents on it. How is that pretty?" She's right though - we drove by it in a taxi and that was enough for me. Back to my pictures: fountain in Restauradoras Square...

Aw, it's true, we are pretty! From left to right: Vicky, Emily, Theresa, and Diana. Notice that Diana doesn't really have a seat in this car and is in no way facing forward. She injured herself on this cab ride, and Vicky's and my hilarious earth-shaking jokes kept her busted gut from healing for quite some time.

The Carmo Convent, lost to the earthquake of 1755. And the fire. And the flood.

Checking out the remains...

Another view from Sao Jorge castle.

And a view from inside the castle, looking out...

Check out this cool tile! I took this picture at the tile museum - yes, there is such a place, and I highly recommend it.

We were excited about the Port Wine Institute, and the port and cigars did not disappoint.

And what's a trip without an elevator ride (or 4) with our comfy Ritz slippers?

Part 2: Sintra, Cabo de Roca, and Cascais.