Olá Lisboa!

Wow! What a beautiful city Lisbon is! Getting here was a chore but now that we have arrived it is such a treat. Sunday started off with mechanical problems with our plane at London Gatwick airport. After a 2 hour delay we were able to board and fly to Lisbon, finally arriving at 9:15 pm or so. We didn't arrive at our hotel until about 10:30 pm. It was a long day indeed.

View from the hotel balcony

The following day, the first full day in Lisbon, Portugal, was the day that all 16 of us were to be together at the same time for the start of our program. We weren't meeting until 1 pm so we had a couple hours to play around with. So after a delicious breakfast at the hotel, a couple friends and I set out to explore. Hans, our professor, gave us some tips as to where to go and we ventured out.

Parque Eduardo VII

Our first stop was a department store known as El Corte Inglés which was interesting and sold many different goods and reminded me of like a Macy's and Best Buy combined. It was a huge building. From there we just walked and explored the main avenue through Lisbon. We got about halfway to the river, which was a long way, and decided to turn around back to the hotel.

After finally meeting up with our group with Hans at the hotel it was time to start our program. Hans got us taxis to take to the Parque das Nações, the site of the 1998 World Exposition. There were so many things to see. What used to be the worst part of town was transformed in a thriving area. Some of the places we went to were the Oceanario (although not inside), the Portugese Pavillion, Meo Arena (again not inside), on the cable car, and into the Centre Vasco de Gama (a mall) and Gare do Oriente (train station). It was all amazing to see and my favorite to see was the mall and the train station both by Santiago Calatrava.

Gare do Oriente

After we were on our own for a while and regrouped, we got back to the hotel in time to go to dinner next door. It was a quaint little place. We got a duck and rice dish for the entree and our own choice for dessert which I chose creme brûlée. It was all very good. We also had wine, Portugal's grape of choice the Vinho Tinto. We had a lot of it. It was a great time for all of us. We got back to the hotel, got more wine from the hotel bar, and proceeded to catch back up with each other. It was a perfect way to end the night.