Much Better! (2/25: Lisbon, Portugal)

Today was a much better day. Woke up early, got to Heathrow and through ticketing/security by 9:30, and had 40 minutes to kill before having to head to the gate. Went over to a cafe and got an apple juice with the funniest labelling I've ever seen. Ingredient number one: "3 varieties of apple lovingly hand pressed". I'm not kidding, that's how it was listed on the label. Next, finally found a Vodaphone kiosk and was able to get a sim card for the phone I'm using (thanks Ming!). Board the plane, and get good service: a chicken tikka sandwich and a beer. A free beer. On an airplane, at 11:30 in the morning. Between the juice label, the phone and the flight, this was already by far the best day of my vacation.

After arriving in Lisbon, headed over to the Meridian hotel -- saw the Sporting FC stadium on the way -- dropped my stuff off, and headed down into the Bairro Alto (Old Town) part of Lisbon. Wandered around there, stopped into a Pastelaria (cafe) for a bite, and then walked over to the Baixa (Union Squarish) part of town. Spent a couple hours over there, and then took a cab out to the Doca Santo Amaro area, which I can only describe as the Fisherman's Wharf of Lisbon. Had dinner there, and now back in the hotel, and getting ready to crash.

So far, Lisbon mostly reminds me of Lima, Peru. Very similar sort of architecture, same humid atmosphere, it's a port town, really green, and lots of large open plazas with big ornate statues in the middle. Also, while everything looks very modern, much of it doesn’t actually work (TV remote, wireless in the hotel, etc.)

Regardless, I’ve decided to pretend the last two days never happened. This is the first official day of my vacation, and so far my vacation is going pretty well!