Fatima

• by Krista Cornish Scott

This day was really the peak and culmination of our trip in terms of being meaningful and also the biggest part of the reason I wanted my mother to be able to come join us. My first visit to Fatima was incredibly moving and I wanted to get to share that joy of the first visit to a major Catholic pilgrimage site with my mom.

Brett and I had discussed a couple of times whether or not to take the whole family, meaning mainly Serrin. The two hour bus ride, three hours spent in a place that while not Unfriendly to kids, isn’t really aimed at them, and then two hours back, plus subway and walking on either side…. it really just sounded like a hideous recipie for a major meltdown. On my part.  So instead we gave each child the option of coming with me or staying with Brett. Aedhan and Kenna both chose to come, and Colum decided he wanted to go to the zoo with Serrin, as his memories of Fatima were really clear and he didn’t feel like he needed to go back, as long as I promised to buy him a new rosary, which I did.

We set an alarm for the first time in many days, and got up and moving sooner than usual. Luckily our subway stop was the same for us to catch the bus to Fatima, and for Brett to take the kiddos to the zoo, so we all hiked down the hill to Martim Moniz and then grabbed the subway together.

(I’m finishing the draft post several years later, so bear with the scant details)

On the way there in the bus, Kenna barfed! Poor girl. We were able to clean her up pretty well and give her some water. The guy sitting in the middle of our family on the very back row of the bus was not impressed however. Oops. Seasoned mom didn’t even switch seats. I was like, Aedhan, hand your sister this roll of paper towels. Kenna, clench your jaw and look out the window. We have another hour to go! We washed the shirt in the bathroom and used the hand dryer and sponged the skirt as best we could. And of course with the free WiFi on the bus I even posted about it on Facebook!fat

Once we got to Fatima, we took some time to go to the Basilica of the Holy Trinity, which is the newer church on the opposite end of the plaza than the other one we’d gone to the last time we visited.  It’s very austere and modern and I thought it was lovely. 

Then it was time to go out into the main plaza. It was raining a little and we had umbrellas so walked around a bit. I had intended to do the prayer “walk” on my knees the whole way for the intention of my sister Kerri being able to conceive. It…. was really hard, lol! Seriously. That marble under my knees was pretty challenging. So I’d kneel-shuffle as long as I could and then I’d stand and then kneel again.  While I did that my mom walked around with Aedhan and Kenna.

We then made our way to the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary.  The most powerful thing for me both times was getting to visit the graves of Francisco, Lucia and Jacinta. I loved the artwork above the graves that was done before Lucia died, so I believe was meant to represent Jacinta.

Outside the Basilica is a fountain with a tap where you can fill up your bottles with water to be blessed as Holy Water.

My mom really loved this part of the trip and it was very moving for me to be able to take her there, her first big pilgrimage to a really big Catholic holy site.

The chapel of the apparitions is very modest and has a statue that is reportedly on the spot where Mary appeared. It contains a bullet in the crown that was given to the shrine by Pope John Paul II, that was the assasin’s bullet that almost killed him

Outside the shrine there is this amazing selection of classic Catholic kitsch, which I love. Glow-in-the-dark Mary statues, wax representations of body parts that you’re praying for, it’s all there. And gazillions of rosaries. We had a lot of fun picking out souveniers to bring home. I do really love the red beaded rosaries that smell like roses even if it’s heavy perfume.

If I were to advise anyone traveling here, it’s just to leave time to BE and not expect to see a lot of stuff. Plan around going to mass, there are masses in a bunch of languages so google to see what time the English one is. Be prepared that you will be expected to take communion on the tongue. But also try not to go during one of the feast days or anniversaries as that is the most crowded time to visit.

Thieves Market & rest day

• by Krista Cornish Scott

Tuesday we had already decided was going to be a rest day after packing so much into our day on Monday, plus that walk up the hill to our apartment made us all NOT want to go back down to the subway. So we stayed close to home.

Walking down our little Travessa das Monicas we passed such a rich variety of shops, from expensive recycled bag boutique type stores and handicrafts, to tiny little mercados run by immigrants and stuffed with everything from Fanta to batteries to the omni-present Portuguese tourist items: tile fridge magnets, stuffed sardines and soccer (futbal) apparel. On our walk yesterday to the Martim Moniz subway station, we walked by some Chinese import type places and I was finally able to find a paper craft “thyme bush” for St. Anthony celebration purposes. I am already planning and looking forward to adding some St. Anthony party ideas into our family traditions next June, and this little decoration will definitely be a centerpiece!  (See top left hand corner, not my picture, found on the internet.)

Also on our walk, Aedhan bought himself a somethingsomething team Portugal soccer ball, (I’m a bad soccer mom) and Colum begged us to buy him an Automat cheeseburger. I couldn’t quite get over the ick factor of automat food so I denied him this exotic European experience. (Side note: anyone else read that book about the kids who ran away from home and stayed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC? That was my first introduction to the idea of an automat and it did indeed seem adventurous and exotic to me as a child. But still, no.)

So we wended our way over to the Feira de Ladra: The Thieves Market. The amazing diversity of goods there was really fun. Some tables were exactly like you’d see at a fine arts market, with hand-made items, paintings, pottery, crafts, jewelry. Some tables were full-on antiques, tiles from BEFORE the earthquake (rare and expensive) and many beautiful icons and decorative tile pieces meant for incorporating into house designs. Brett and I dithered a lot about whether to spend 50 Euros on a really nice set, but I kept reminding myself that we have two sets of tiles that we bought LAST time we were here, that are still neatly wrapped and sitting in storage waiting for eventual use. Some tables were full of kitsch and trinkets. Some were total backyard garage sale type items, broken Barbies and old puzzles and games.  A lot of used clothing. A lot of Indian and Chinese import clothing. I had to keep reminding myself that I wanted to buy Portuguese things, not scarves made in China or earrings from India, although it was all very tempting.

One of the kiddos took this, it may have been Serrin! Love all the jewelry here.

Tons of clothes of every kind.

Fun retro typewriters that aren’t English QWERTY either!

Really cool vintage Tintin briefcase.

What the what? Quebec license plate?

Antiques waiting to be loaded in.

We actually gone to the market on the first day we moved to this new apartment, but it was kind of overwhelming and I couldn’t take it all in. I had a few things that I knew I was looking for, and it was good to have had Saturday to get a sense of what was there.  On my treasure hunting list was:

1. A gift for my sister Miri
2. A first communion dress for Kenna
3. Failing #2, at least some nice accessories for First Communion
4. Some tile jewelry for me
5. Anything related to Asterix

I managed to find everything on my “must” list and a few extras. BUT the thing I was most proud of is my scavenging skills in digging through bin after bin of old (what I must assume were) McDonald’s or Burger King toys to find these little Asterix and Obelix figures.

At the second place I found them, I asked the guy how much. He said “1 Euro each…. But then you must say to me, 1,50 for both! Because at the Feira de Ladra, we always negotiate!” That was fantastic. 🙂 Once I saw these little guys then I was motivated to dig through ALL of the piles to find more, and I was rewarded.  We also found this dusty old fat Obelix plush but I wouldn’t let Aedhan pay the ridiculous price the vendor was asking.

That reminds me of walking on our first day in Lisbon, before my mom got here. We were near the square and a very, VERY pushy street vendor came over to me, took my OWN sunglasses off and put another pair on my face!!! She was not having any of my No. So then I said how much and she said 20 Euros…. I laughed and kept walking. Always say no to the first price, ALWAYS. Then suddenly it became 10 Euros, which I paid, knowing I was still overpaying but hey, she was selling sunglasses on the street and I was jetsetting to Europe on a vacation.  The very next day, we were going back to the same pasteleria that had the giant Nutella buns, and she was there again, THIS time, she sold us two pairs for 5 Euros each. By this point we all had sunglasses and I felt better about legit saying No to her. Kenna was really offended and a bit freaked out by how strongly the vendor was approaching us, so it was a good chance to talk to her about street sellers and also how Portugal’s economy really depends on the tourist dollars, etc. At the Thieves Market was another chance to talk to the kids and also model both a) the fun of bartering around the price and b) not really bartering TOO much, because frankly, we are pretty privileged and this is their means of income.  (Aside: I am still, STILL surprised when even after living in the US for so long, I catch myself speaking Canadian and didn’t realize the words were different. The Canadian/British word barter means dicker, negotiate, etc. But my American readers will assume bartering means an exchange of goods/services. Here endeth the  lesson.)

So with that, we came to a rack of clothes that my mom had spotted had a fancy white dress on it. We’d been searching and searching both times we came to the market, but my memory that it had many white summery dress options for Kenna last time was either incorrect, or it was earlier in the season and now most of those things were gone, because the pickings were slim and I was afraid we might not find anything for her. But lucky for us, the dress was exactly what Kenna wanted, it was in her size, it was used but gently so, and using my “say no to the first price” rule, I talked him down from 20 Euros to 15 and still felt like he was making out like a bandit on the deal. 🙂  Win-win.

Aedhan spotted some street musicians sitting by a café, and one of them had a violin. He was just ACHING to go talk to the guy and ask if he could play, so I walked over with him and said hello, found out they were from Ukraine. I told the violinist that my son was a Irish fiddle player and very good, and had left his violin at home…. Would it be okay if he played for a minute? “Of course! It’s like your third arm, you must be missing it!” and he handed it right over for Aedhan to play, to the delight of the people around us who probably don’t get to hear a whole lot of Irish fiddling. It was a really beautiful little moment.

Kids at that point were getting tired so Brett walked them back to the apartment and mom and I stopped for a little meia do leite and lemonade. I don’t even remember what we were laughing about here but I like this shot of my mom.

One more thing on my list, I wanted to go back to a table I saw that had really wonderful photographs, some of the neighbourhood we were living in. I was excited to find a picture of a particular window I had noticed and thought to myself, wow that would make a fantastic postcard! I also found a perfect gift for Rebecca who was checking on our mail (allegedly “held” by USPS but um, nope) and who is a Simpson’s fan, a shot of Simpsons graffiti on a Portuguese wall. There are so many things that I associate with Portugal, that were captured in these beautiful photographs. Now all I need is the right way to display them, a cool collage frame or something. Perhaps my Pinterest-y friends will chime in and tell me what to do.

By this point it was early afternoon and we had sworn to ourselves that this was going to be a day of rest, so we went back and rested, and we really needed it. Another prime thing about this apartment was the enclosed garden that we could kick Serrin outside to play in and kick the soccer ball or sit on the chairs and do a puzzle or other things. It was great to take advantage of the absolutely perfect weather, warm and sunny, breeze every day to make sure it never got too hot or oppressive.

WINEBAR DO CASTELO

That night, Brett and I made a return to a wonderful little winebar that is near the castle, called appropriately enough, Winebar do Castelo. Same owners and same staff as five years ago! Quite a compliment to the establishment. I wish I could say I had a refined enough palate to appreciate the different types of port that I tasted but they all just tasted good to me. I settled on a ruby and Brett had a tawny, and then we worked our way through a large plate of sheep and goat cheeses, olives, bread and pork products. We even brought home a little doggy bag for mom so she could have the gourmand experience without the 30 minutes of up and downhill walking to get there and back.

All dressed up with someplace to go!

Right before we got to the Winebar we also stopped in at some higher end stores with gorgeous jewelry and crafts, and I found a cork necklace (cork is a major export for Portugal) and some matching earrings. We again felt the pull of the tile sets that were a complete St. Anthony icon or similar, but again decided that “next time” would be ok. I absolutely can see us coming back here again. But just knowing how things change, and how the high schooler’s life is going to get busier and busier, I feel like this might be the last/only big vacation like this that we take all of us together. I honestly think the next time Aedhan goes back to Europe, it will be on his own. Gulp.

In the evenings Aedhan and my mom have been watching Doctor Who episodes, now that they were back on a good wifi connection, the one in our first apartment kind of crapped out the last two days and the laptops wouldn’t connect to it anymore. In my pure perfect mothering moments, I feel like we should have left all screens at home and just soaked in the travel, but the more practical side of me appreciated that after long days full of sightseeing and walking, the kids had something familiar to relax with. And the Kindles were very useful during the long train and bus and plane travel, for sure. Hooray that we managed not to LOSE any of the electronics we brought with us!

Tomorrow: Fatima!

Oceanario and the Parque

• by Krista Cornish Scott

One of the things we loved on our last visit was going to the  beautiful Oceanario out to the east of Lisbon. Again, travel is SO easy here, the subway line goes right out to a large stop there. This was also the site of the Expo ’98 and Portugal, unlike some other countries, really planned well to use the space after the Expo was over. The whole complex is massive, a stadium, multiple parks, a long boardwalk, a “telecabine” (aerial gondola), little pools, wonderful tree planting, a huge mall nearby and tons of other things we didn’t have time to see.

First  we had to Walk. Down. The. Big. Hill.  This was a challenge for all of us, not least my mom in her mid-seventies, but we just took our time and rested and stopped when we needed  to. The Martim  Moniz subway stop is a ten minute walk pretty much straight down with no flat bits. Don’t even get me started on the walk UP.

The neighbourhood between us and the subway stop is very interesting, it seems to be a big place for especially south Asian immigrants. We saw a restaurant called The Yak and the Yeti which looked interesting! Many other little Chinese import or Indian import type stores, a Halal carne store and other fun places to poke our heads into if we’d had time. Always needing more time.

I wish I knew what all of these said! I think this confirms my assessment about the make-up of the neighbourhood, as this is the local subway stop.

There are little knights and bishops and horses down in the station also, named after historical figures.

Subway art at the Oriente station where the Oceanario is.

Some fortification before we enter the land of expensive cafeteria food.

Gorgeous elements like this abound in the Parque.

This was a very long thing maybe a cannon or a telescope thing? Kids liked it. 🙂

We had to walk a far ways from the Oriente station towards the river and west to the Oceanario, but we just took it slow. It was a gorgeous day again in Portugal in June… mid-70’s and a nice breeze.  The line was long to get in because I hadn’t ordered our tickets online, but it was such a nice day everyone just sat and enjoyed other park elements until I purchased the tickets.  Then we all traipsed up this LONG ramp into the Oceanarium itself.

View from the boardwalk.

The mascot Vasco. Vasco da Gama. GET IT. 🙂

It  was actually a much nicer day than this pic shows. Looks grey and gloomy but it was really nice.

SUN FISH! SUUUUN FEEEEEEESH! This guy was a baby five years ago when we visited and now it’s huuuuge. The baby one is behind him.

Last time we visited, their large sun fish had JUST died and we only got to see a little one. He’s chunked up in the last five years so was satisfying to see but not the biggest specimen he could be. Maybe next time he’ll be record breaking! There’s a great pic on their website.

So many great exhibits, I’ll try not to bore or overwhelm with pics.

We watched the otter feeding for a long time.

Many gorgeous displays that my camera doesn’t do justice.

Kept trying to get a pic with the sunfish but he wouldn’t co-operate. This guy wanted to be in one though.

This poet, whose poems are everywhere in the Oceanario, is who our “View”, the miradouro, is named after in our neighbourhood up here on the hill. This stanza talks about the “Rota do Oiro”, the gold route traveled by the Portuguese in search of treasure, where instead they sometimes found terrors.

Can anyone hear the word cuttlefish without hearing Ze Frank pronouncing it? Yes? Ok go watch this then. WARNING NOT SUITABLE FOR EVERYONE. Watch it first and then decide. 🙂 You’re welcome.

Also, Brett later ate fried cuttlefish for lunch. It kind of felt like eating dolphin, after seeing this video.

MOAR PICS OF STUFF!

Next we went to a beautiful exhibit that was like an underwater forest with atmospheric music, etc that was pretty stunning in its scope. We needed some fortification after a long time viewing the aquarium stuff so had some excellent cafeteria food. I really have not visited a single cafeteria type place in Portugal that didn’t have good food. Maybe they’re just less tolerant of crappy food here.

After a snack we headed down to the Telecabine. We decided not to try and wedge the stroller in with us so Brett took a long walk down the boardwalk with Serrin and the rest of us jumped in for about a five-minute ride along the river. It was amazing, just as much fun as last time. Great view of the Parque and all the really lovely things they’ve done with the space.

WOO! Telecabine!

Oh Europe. Fat naked statues are totally your thing.

There was so much greenery and lovely spaces to sit or walk, there just wasn’t enough time to explore them all.

We still had a mission to go to the big Vasco de Gama mall that my mom wanted to visit, so we trekked around a bit and eventually found it. We bought  a few fun things in a great kids store and while my mom was adventurous and ate something local-ish at the mall, we all went for boring Western comfort food.

Mom by the Vasco de Gama bridge. Are you sensing a theme in the naming around here?

Then we went home exhausted on the subway. And were idiots and walked up the big hill and  I can’t even believe we did that. The woman we rented from even advised against walking up the hill, LOL! But my mom did it. And then we needed  the next day to rest and recover from our big Monday.

Things I learned today:

1. Always take the cab. (My new motto in European travel. When it doubt, just take the cab. You already spent $1000 on the stupid ticket, spent $15 more on the dang cab.)
2. Strollers are awesome except on subways.
3. Sometimes you just gotta eat McDonald’s even though you’re saying to yourself OMG WE ARE IN EUROPE DON’T EAT MCDONALDS but just do it and survive.
4. If the first person you ask doesn’t know, ask another person. It’s ok. You can do it.
5. ……………….. don’t forget to sleep….. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Sunday on the hill

• by Krista Cornish Scott

The festivities the night before just Did. Not. End. It was incredible. There was a constant stream of people going up and down the hilly street on the back side of our apartment. Many were crowds of people that were going from street party to street party. Many seemed to know very loud cheers and songs that they would let loose at full volume. Everyone else slept in the back rooms but I was in the front bedroom with Serrin and I didn’t fall asleep for EVER. Packing list: big thing of earplugs. (Aedhan in fact did pack his own, he slept fine!)

So I was pretty groggy that morning and happy that mass wasn’t until 11:30. Walked the short half block up to the Igreja and Brett and I took turns playing “give the toddler five minutes in mass then take her outside again” until it was over. Someday. Someday all six of us will be in a pew, together, for the entire mass. But today was not that day.

The church is amazing but 2.5 wks into Europe travel, I don’t even see the churches anymore! It’s true. They just blur into one big amazing mosh of beautiful statuary, art, marble columns, priceless antiques, blah blah blah it’s shameful! But happens to me every time. So basically what I’m saying is, I didn’t take a bunch of pics. 🙂

We had a lovely lunch out on the… I don’t know what to call it. The plaza of the miradouro of Sophia has tables and chairs set out, for this little café. You can order coffee, beer, ham and cheese grilled sandwiches (which were delicious) and little savory pastries. Mom ordered a tiny tuna filled one and the European eyeroll she got when she asked him  to serve it to her heated (“but…. the flavour… it will not be as good…..” “I’m okay with that! I’d like it hot!”) was pretty spectacular to behold. Well played, Euro-waiter, well played.

After delicious lunch at the café, we girded ourselves for a trek to the castle. There pretty much is no direct way to get there from here, and as Aedhan discovered when he took the archeological tour, that was on purpose. The first Muslim inhabitants of a structure on top of this hill were smart and didn’t want anyone to just be able to ride straight up to the castle and fight. The streets are very maze-like and difficult to navigate, and hard to march or even walk up! Excellent plan, dudes. It works on tourists just as well as invaders.

So Granna took out her walking poles and we slowly followed the GPS up to the castle. I bought some jewelry outside the castle walls from two young women vendors and they were very nice, helped me pick out a matching set, and correctly identified I was from Canada as they noticed my maple leaf earrings.

Once inside, we just loved everything. The view. The cannons (that Kenna loved on her last visit also, and remembered), Aedhan did a tour of the active dig site that they discovered when trying to make a parking lot outside the castle walls. While I waited for him to be done, I send the others down to find their way back to our apartment and start dinner.

This is Aedhan breaking the rules climbing up on a castle wall because OOPS the sign saying yo, don’t do that, it’s dangerous and you might fall, was on the OTHER bit of wall.

Oh look! there’s the sign! Right behind Serrin!

Europe with Serrin: HUG ALL THE THINGS!

We could see both of our apartments from this castle!

We were all pretty pooped that night BUT the festival was still on! So we had to participate of course. I took Kenna out first.

She was so delighted to have a Kenna-Mama special date time. She has been very sweet and thankful and grateful, often saying “Mom thank you SO much for spending millions of dollars on this trip! out of your OWN POCKET!”  Aw. 🙂 You’re welcome.

Then I took the boys out. Mainly to get Nutella-stuffed fried things. Aedhan loved the party atmosphere and took a bazillion selfies. Colum and I mostly hung together and just enjoyed some time out. He got very snuggly and grateful also. I keep emphasizing to them that it’s up to them what they get out of this trip, these experiences. We people watch a lot. We talk about everything we see. I don’t want them to be afraid of being somewhere that isn’t home, of talking to people who may not speak your language. I may pay for this dearly in worry later on when they are old enough to go explore the world on their own but I really WANT this for them, I want it for all of my kids. Go see something new. Go meet someone new. Go get another view besides “XYZ IS THE BEST!” and see how echo-chamber-y things get when you stay around people who only reflect your own culture views. We’ve talked a lot of politics, also, my boys and I. They’re asking and caring about all the things I view as “right”, and I’m glad to see their thoughtfulness. But also reminding them that I come with my set of biases.  Wow. From Nutella waffles to politics in a short blog paragraph. All important things. 🙂

I leave you with a final shot of our view, cloudy with sardine smoke from every dang neighbourhood in Lisbon throwing a party this weekend!

The smell was actually awesome. We’re so lucky to be here in Lisbon at just the right time for the festival.

Moving up to Graça & Santo Antonio starts for real

• by Krista Cornish Scott

(While researching this post, I finally figured out why I kept seeing São for some saints and Santo for others, and many wrong examples of both! Santo is for saints that start with a vowel and São is for ones that start with a consonant. So I’ve been saying the festival name wrong, but no more!)

Saturday morning I kicked Granna, Kenna and Aedhan out the door to go walk down to the end of our street, Rua de Santa Justa, to get in line for the famous elevador, to go see the amazing view of the city. Any time we’d walked by there, there was a huge line, so I figured early on a Saturday after the start of the festival many tourists would be sleeping in. Aedhan was brave and went up to the very top, while Granna and Kenna stayed at the level where the elevador lets you off.

View from the bottom!

View from the top!

Ruined convent church that was never repaired after the earthquake.

Buddies!

On top of the world!

Looking down our street, Rua de Santa Justa

Rossio square, with St. Anthony statue and fountain we’ve had other pics beside.

King of the selfie. 😉

Then we checked out with Mr. Mario our kindly landlord with the questionable English skills (I really should have just spoken German with him I think he deals more with German tourists) and I tromped down to the Praca to get two taxi’s to follow me back to pick up the horde of luggage and people.

Our next apartment is about a ten minute walk from the first, but the cab ride costs almost as much as from the airport due to the twisty turny one-way streets and many traffic lights and much  festival traffic. I have never cringed so much on a cab ride! It always seemed like we were inches from scraping something.

We got up to the Travessa dos Monicas and met the very sweet housekeeper who takes care of the rental for our VRBO (Vacation Rental By Owner) hostess, Catarina Garcia. Catarina grew up in this house, her bedroom is the one Kenna is sleeping in with a cute little bedroom set, and I’ve had many emails back and forth with her already she’s been extremely helpful and made excellent suggestions for tips on the area.

So we walk into the sweetest little inner courtyard garden and traipse up the stairs. Again, you never quite know what you’re getting when you book online especially a VRBO or airBnB so I was a bit nervous. Apartment looked great, small kitchen but spacious rooms, lovely big living roo…… OH MY SWEET LARD WILL YOU LOOK AT THAT VIEW!!!! I shrieked aloud! I hugged the landlady! I mean…… COME ON!!!

I MEAN COME ON!!!!!

SERIOUSLY!!!! I can’t even with this view.

So after I calmed down and stopped staring out the window, we decided to go explore our new neighborhood, called Graça. We are to the northwest of the Castle or Castelo district, and north of Alfama. We are a half a block away from a church and this amazing Miradouro named after a famous Portuguese poet, you can read about her here.

After a quick trip to the Thieves Market (I’ll post about that later, related to our second trip there) and a lovely dinner in the garden we headed out for some St. Anthony partying, our first of three nights in a row up here of party time!

Yes, it’s an amazing garden for dining al fresco BUT HAVE I MENTIONED THE VIEW????

This was the early crowd, when you could still walk and see pavement. Later on it was insane packed busy.

All I wanted in life was a Sardine hat but alas I didn’t get one.

I’ve never had a fresh grilled sardine before but it was amazing! And the sangria was pretty tasty also.

Ginja (cherry liquor) shots in chocolate cups! Yes please!

We really can’t believe our luck in this second apartment. Despite the billowing clouds of sardine smoke and the VERY LOUD revelers until 5 am Saturday night, the charm of this real slice of Portuguese neighbourhood life has been really unique and so different than our more sterile hotel-ish tourist life downtown. The ease of getting around downtown was really great, but the benefits of being up here are also pretty amazing, so, give and take.

This is the view a half block up from our apartment. There is a Miradouro and a little café we are making ourselves regulars at right away, and fun views of some neat graffiti, not just the city. 🙂

The Gulbenkian and the start of Sao Antonio festivities

• by Krista Cornish Scott

Friday morning was the start of the St. Anthony festival or Sardine festival or Lisbon festival or whatever else the guidebooks are calling it. So of course on the day I needed to get out and find some cream for Colum’s shoulders, all of the Farmacia’s were closed. Blargh.

Colum was still not feeling up for a tourist day, so I sent everyone else out to the Gulbenkian art museum to enjoy the treasures, and for Serrin to get a chance to run around the beautiful park and see baby ducks, etc.

Last time we were here, we had quite the little episode. Little five year old Colum was walking around just minding his own wee business when TRIP! AHHHHH! SPLAT! he tripped over the slightly raised display edge in the furniture room and fell full torso onto a gorgeous antique 17th century bench much to the horror of Brett, me, poor Colum and the security guard who I swear did this Matrix-y slo-mo “nooooooooOOOOO!” towards him in vain as it happened so fast. SO EMBARRASING! Yet thankfully the bench seemed to be undamaged. Well I was curious about that bench. And here it is. Notice anything about how far back from the edge it is now? Yep, we’re pretty sure they moved it. A kid could trip on the edge now and face plant on the floor before reaching the edge of the bench.

I don’t mean to brag, but my child helped redesign an exhibit in the Gulbenkian museum. (Scroll down, the bench is the last pic in this set. The ledge is on the ground flush with the white sign.)

Lyceum friends: Kenna burst out with THE MING DYNASTY AND THE CHING DYNASTY when she saw these!

This was clockwork and moved around as they watched.

So then to the outside, for much playing in the gardens and drinking of “Leite do chocolate” and Serrin stealing the camera and taking many adorable pictures of her wee feet.

Later that day, we went out walking to enjoy the festivities. Mom wanted to try some real Portuguese food so she took Aedhan out with her and they had sardines and other delicious dishes. The rest of us went to the Kebab Mahal for some cheaper greasy spoon fare where we ordered Indian food, burgers and a doner kebab! All were happy.

This first apartment we’ve stayed in has been PERFECT for our needs. Easy to walk to lots of interesting things, just a block from a metro station and big grocery store. And excellent windows that shut out the noise of evening revelers. We went back to the river side in the early evening so Serrin and Kenna could play on the beach. Brett and I just sat on the sand and enjoyed the music, the breeze, the girls having fun, the boys were with Granna and all was well with the world.

Aedhan has been getting a lot of freedom from us while here. We’ve send him out on errands, finding his way alone in both Germany and Portugal. He has had free run with the camera and has taken some amazing shots of buskers and festival stuff. But then he did take off for an hour not remembering that I asked him to meet us at the river and this free range mama confesses to many thoughts of kidnapping and mugging ending with I WILL KILL HIM and oh look there he is. I know all of this is important and he and we his parents continue the dance of protection/freedom. He also knows that he gets more freedom both here and at home than many friends. But we’ve also talked frankly about issues like (oops, awkward! Hi mom reading my blog. And dad I guess too, depending on the Wi-Fi in heaven.) my family of origin and the way I was brought up to be more fearful in the way I viewed the world and to always think of the worst possible outcome. I have made conscious choices to move away from that way of thinking, and model it for my children. I think I do a pretty decent job of not letting that be a large part of my parenting. But it’s deeply implanted and I can’t always get rid of that first impulse. However I AM good at letting that first impulse just be in my own brain, and not speaking it aloud. But you know… here we are in Europe with the kids and I’m not spending each day in worry. I consider just that fact a great success. Worry is a mother’s work. But I don’t have to place that worry on their shoulders. They’ll get it for free someday when they become parents.

Anyway. Our last night in this downtown apartment before we go up the hill to Castelo/Graca and the REAL partying begins!

Two more pics before I’m done. These two photos could be captioned:  “#1 “Hey Serrin, don’t go under there” and “#2 – “…..you mean under HERE? Technically, am I under?”

Up and Down and Up and Down

• by Krista Cornish Scott

No, not  emotions: streets!

So, Aedhan learned while doing a tour that the crazy streets outside of the downtown straight grid, in  Alfama, are the way they are because of the original Muslim settlement who built the first castle up on the hill. They wanted the streets to not lead directly up there so they wind and twist and false end and it’s very easy to get lost. Congrats dudes, you did a good job! A thousand years later and now tourists huff and puff and cab drivers get to charge good money for going a very short distance as the crow flies.

So I thought I would schlepp my almost-75-year-old mother up some steep hills to look at a view. Well okay we stopped at a couple of churches along the way also, it wasn’t just mountaineering.

Pushing Serrin around in the stroller has mostly been okay. It was a good decision to bring it with us even though it’s been a hassle sometimes to haul it around. She was killing me in the mei tai sling as she’s so heavy, and also it’s hot and sweaty to do that. Plus she really likes her safe place, likes to buckle in, and it’s something familiar in all the change. The real issue isn’t actually the steepness of pushing the stroller around, that I can deal with. It’s that sometimes the sidewalk narrows to such a small strip, basically a ledge shoved up against whatever businesses are on the street, that I can’t get the stroller by. And then the traffic is also squished on the small road not designed for multiple lane car traffic. So sometimes I need to hop on and off several times as we go down a particular street.

In general though, if you’re considering between taking an umbrella stroller that folds up easily but has small wheels, and a jogging stroller with good wheels but is more cumbersome, just try and weigh the issues of how often you’ll need to move the stroller folded up, versus how often will you be pushing for long periods walking around. For us, even though a few times we’ve had to sneak it onto an escalator, or carry it up or down a flight of stairs, the hassles have not outweighed the benefits. Also I felt a tiny bit smug watching more than a few tourist parents struggling with their small wheel strollers on all the crazy cobblestone streets around here. For Lisbon? The choice is clear: big wheels. For Germany? Could have gone either way. Even in Munich there were stretches of paving and not as uneven cobble.

As usual pictures tell the story better than I do. We didn’t take any pictures of the Igreja de Madalena, but then we did at the Cathedral Se of Lisbon and the archaeological dig underneath their cloister (this is where Kenna and Serrin had some gargoyle love), and then a beautiful tree along the way, and finally the Miradouro (Beautiful view) of Santa Luzia.

Cathedral view

Mom with her walking poles (saw a lot of them here actually) posing in front of the amazing cool wooden doors to the Cathedral Se.

Some dead dude. With a creepy awesome dog!

Serrin loved this dog. What is it with my kids loving creepy stone things.

This is the remains of Roman and Muslim structures that they built the cloister on top of, back in the day.

View of the river Tejo out the cloister window.

This is the gargoyle Kenna fell in love with when she was three and we visited Lisbon the first time! She remembered it and there was a happy reunion for both, I assume, but didn’t ask the gargoyle.

…..aaaand now Serrin loves him too.

Another creepy guy! That she loves!

Fantastic carved pillar depicting angels taking people up to heaven. In two cases literally dragging them by their hair.

Aedhan toured the “Treasury” which had cool artwork, “the biggest monstrance I’ve ever seen!” and these spikes which we assume are anti-pigeon measures.

These lovely little altars for Sao Antonio are everywhere because of his festival. Little sardines line the way because the legend goes he was preaching to the Portuguese people and they were ignoring him, so he sez FINE I’m going to preach to the FISH then and all the fish poked their heads up and started nodding and appreciating him. And then they grilled them for dinner, apparently. So the lesson is: paying attention to a sermon is dangerous.

Wish I knew what kind of tree this was, it was massive and growing out of the sidewalk and the girls loved climbing on it.

We kept slogging up the hill, giving mom lots of breaks, and eventually made it up to the famous Miradouro of Santa Luzia. Ironic, given that St. Lucy is known for carrying around her eyeballs! It was truly a breathtaking view of the river, the other side, and the Alfama district. A good excuse for some exercise and getting out of the house on a day where we were all still pooped from the beach and a bit crispy from the sun. Colum stayed home because his shoulders were really bothering him. 😦 Brett had a full day of teaching at the Escola.

Fighting over…..er… sharing a Fanta.

Mom wants me to include this picture to show how the lazy tourists took their steep hill: in a tram. Not her!

Gorgeous pink flowers on that tree!

Beautiful views indeed! I can’t get enough  of the European terracotta tile roofs. In Germany they were all covered in solar panels.. .they need more of those in Portugal, it’s so sunny here they’re an ideal candidate for solar power.

Beach day at Cascais

• by Krista Cornish Scott

Trying to catch up on some stuff since the internet was cruddy in the apartment the last couple of days so I’m behind on blog posts.

Brett really wanted to go to the beach while we were here, so we did some research and decided to take the metro to Cais do Sodre and then the train out 30 minutes to the coast of Portugal, to a beach town called Cascais.  Cascais is amazing, the beaches are gorgeous soft clean sand, the surf is gentle and very family friendly, and there are a whole host of amenities.

We decided to splurge and spend 20 Euros renting two lounge chairs and a large fixed umbrella as our home base and that was a good decision. The area was monitored so we felt ok about leaving stuff there and we walked around a bit also.

Brett went off to grab coffees and buy a little set of sand toys for Serrin.

There were beautiful mansions surrounding the beach that  I’m sure had some historical import but we didn’t investigate.

First plunges into the COLD but so very wonderful ocean. My first time swimming in the Atlantic ocean since 1999 during my honeymoon!

Plenty of little tourist places ready to sell us toys, beach umbrellas, swim suits, etc.

We arrived early around 10 am so had our pick of seats and never felt crowded at all. Being a Wednesday and school is still in for a lot of people, I think we didn’t get a sense of a true summer crowd. The weather was fantastic, 31 degrees or more, and some of the Portuguese we talked to were saying this was the first real heat of summer so far. All of the other days have been beautiful but not that hot, it was the perfect day for the beach. The only thing that marred it was Colum got a bad burn despite multiple re-applications of sun screen, it just wasn’t enough for the amount of hours plus salt water and I feel terrible, he had a bad 48 hours afterwards with a few skin blisters too. 😦 And of course on the day I really needed a pharmacy, it was the Sao Antonio holiday and they were all closed!

Hey look Miri… Colum is smiling!

By far the COOLEST thing we did though, was after a bit we walked 5 minutes east down the beach to another swimming area where there was a smaller beach but this really cool Ocean swimming pool! There were shells and barnacles all along the walls, the bottom was sand, but it was created out of concrete and then pumped full of ocean water. It wasn’t any warmer but it was calmer and Serrin was so happy to swim in it with us, she never wanted to leave.

It had a great view of the ocean also, as you hung out by the side relaxing in the salty water.

The border of the pool is where those poles are, there is actually a significant drop and wall there, there are large stairs you can climb down over to the left of the picture, to get to the actual beach.

Serrin and Kenna were just in heaven digging and swimming and enjoying the day. Kenna even (accidentally) found a little white crab that you can see if you look carefully in the next picture. There were lots of big fish to swim with in the ocean not too far off shore, and there were littler fish and teeny tiny minnows that Serrin was disappointed not to be able to catch, swimming in the Ocean pool.

The crab is to the left of her foot as you look at this picture, and a bit above.

So nice to have a brother to play with in the sand! And command.

It was an amazing day.

Travel home, however…… ugh. That  really is the hard part about travel with kids. You have a fun, amazing day and then you have to get back to your apartment. Hungry and tired and hot and in rush hour type metro and train traffic.  And sandy. And, it turns out, sunburned.

So, yep. The idyllic mixed with reality continues.

OH WAIT! Forgot one more thing. We rented a paddle board for Aedhan  and Colum to try and they both loved it. Also Aedhan met some nice Finnish teenaged girls so there’s that. 🙂

Colum  did great and got up on the board pretty much right away with a little coaching from Aedhan.

Mom arrives!

• by Krista Cornish Scott

We really needed those two days. Deeeeep breaths.

And now, Tuesday, Granna Banana aka my mom arrives! Excited flurry in the morning tidying things up and checking flight etc. Walked around the square to make sure I knew where the AeroBus shuttle would let her off. And then picked the most optimistic time she could possibly arrive, and started waiting then. Aaaaand then waited an hour. 🙂 But that’s ok it was a beautiful day and good people watching.

Mom’s flight was good and she didn’t look too disheveled considering how far she had come in the last 24 hours or so. We had a short walk from the AeroBus stop to our apartment only 4-5 blocks so it was a nice little introduction to Lisbon I could just point out a few sites as we strolled in the beautiful blue sky day.

The lift at our apartment doesn’t start until the first (read: second!) floor so schlepping the suitcase up and then calling the slooooowest lift ever to come down made me just anxious to get upstairs where I knew the kiddos were waiting.  And once we got to the door they exploded onto her like little chatty bombs. I kept telling Colum that once we got to Lisbon things would be more relaxed and Granna would be here and it would be chill. And he was very happy to see her. And Serrin didn’t make strange for one second, flew right into her arms, she’s very used to seeing her on Skype and we’d actually Skyped the day before she came just as a little refresher. It’s so fun to have her here in this weird context of us being in Europe.

For those playing along at home, you may remember that on our last trip to Portugal, Brett’s mother Bette came along with us. This time it was my mom’s turn. Glad we are able to host her in our apartment and that she had a long lead time to plan for her ticket and expenses.

We bought some travel games including her favourite: SEQUENCE! So there will be much Sequencing happening in the evenings when we’re exhausted.

Knowing she would probably be tired that first day we didn’t have a lot planned. We took her out to the beautiful old church we’d gone to mass at. We walked down to the river and the kids played in the sand and surf a bit while we enjoyed the gorgeous breeze. We walked over to our favourite pastry café and as a splurge, sat down and had drinks and Sangria instead of ordering and then walking and munching. It was a perfect night and we made plans to take advantage of the next day being the hottest day and we wanted to head out to the beach somewhere and swim in the ocean. (Colum is not sure about that part!)

Took a little video of Colum and Aedhan playing futbal in the square to send to their awesome soccer coach.  And then back home to sleeeeeeep so poor Granna didn’t fall right over.

A little lunch after getting off the plane and shuttle.

Our fav place to pose for photos. The fountain at Rossio!

A Day Where We Didn’t Ride ANYTHING

• by Krista Cornish Scott-

Oh sweet delicious Sunday. A day of rest. A day of vegging out watching bad American TV dubbed over into German. (Our apartment is rented by a company that caters to German tourists…. we have 20 German channels and one English one! Zero Portuguese!) A day where none of us stepped foot onto a bus, train, tram, plane, taxi, or any kind of moving device that was not our own two feet.

It was bliss.

So instead we slept in. We walked around the Praca a bit. We did some grocery shopping. We napped some more. We did loads and loads and loads of laundry. (No dryer of course, being typical Europe, and the laundry lines outside our window give me major vertigo learning out to clothespin the clothes! Aiiiieee!) We just chilled out as a family. It was heaven. And the weather here is paradise compared to cold, rainy Germany. Sorry Germany! You know I love you. I just really needed some down time and some sun.

Brett met with Paolo who is the conductor here who has invited him three times now to come and guest conduct. He also met with a former grad student who is Portuguese, who he has kept in contact with. When they were out, I went to go meet them at the square and told Kenna I was going to pick up dad, which she interpreted as me coming right back. So instead when I stayed and chatted a while and we meandered our way back home, I came back to her sobbing and upset thinking I’d gotten lost or dad had. She was tired but also had some traveling tension that we needed to talk through. I reminded her that both her mom and dad were pretty smart people. 😉 And that we weren’t afraid to ask for help. So if we were lost, we would get found again really fast.

Our apartment is AMAZING. It’s so great. You just never exactly know what you’re getting when you book online, but it’s really everything we need. Enough space to not be on top of each other. Good beds. Two bathrooms! (No bath just showers but our next apartment has one so that’s ok for now.)  The location is unbelieveable. Five min from train station for Brett to get to the Escola to teach. Close to tons of stuff. And even during the first two nights we expected louder partying sounds from this area but it wasn’t too bad at all, we’ve even been able to keep our windows open and the gorgeous night air cools off our apartment for the next warm day. I would definitely use this company again, their listings really accurately reflect what you’re getting. (In case you’re in the market, the company is http://www.lissabon-altstadt.de/ and we’ll absolutely book with them again!)

Went to mass in this very moving old church that has survived two earthquakes and a massive fire. The whole place is a mish-mosh of repair and I just don’t know how to put into words the feeling inside there. It’s truly a holy space. I was reminded again of the loss of the Latin mass to the universal church. Yes, yes, I know, I get the arguments for the vernacular. But to travel to different countries and go to mass, and just sit there, unable to participate, unable to understand what is being said, the first time I went to Europe it was like a slap in my face of OH. THIS is what things could have been like. This wasn’t just simple “progress!” this actually changed the life of the church and maybe not in a totally positive way. It would have been a different experience for us, going to mass here, if we could have said all of the words along with the congregation instead of awkwardly standing and trying to remember and mumble our responses and prayers in English at the right time. Even participating in the sign of peace, I wished that we knew the right phrase in their language to feel like we weren’t such interlopers. A good thoughtful chew for my kids as well, to think about the bigger issue of this change. Anyway. Uninteresting to the non-Catholics reading this, but definitely part of my experience on that day.

Serrin is much happier with a home base and without so much to do.

Monday we had a similar day but we did a bit of shopping and exploring. We also went down to the river and played in the sand and enjoyed the absolutely stunningly gorgeous weather. We also searched for the Hello Kitty store that Kenna had a clear memory of from our last visit, when she was THREE, but alas, it has closed.

We also tidied up for Granna’s arrival on Tuesday and did a lot more relaxing and bumming around while Brett went to teach at the university. Had a nice home-cooked not fast food or restaurant supper which was also just lovely and comforting.

Then we left Aedhan in charge and went off to the end of the year choral concert conducted by the grad students. First, it started at 9 pm! Started! With nothing else before it! So European. Very chill. Much relax. And then when we walked in at 8:55 the choirs were still rehearsing….. until well after 9! Just doing their thing, running through a few bits of pieces. Concert finally started at 9:15.  Just a wee bit into the concert, Paolo their instructor starts yelling from the audience right in front of us, something at the first conductor, I think it was “hey since you didn’t bother to put together a program, you’re going to need to announce all the pieces, right?” Awkward!

I’m glad I went to the concert. Can’t turn off the choir brain, it was interesting to see the differences in the student conductors, and Brett was telling me things he’d worked on with them that day in masterclasses. One student did part of a set of Philip Glass pieces with Leonard Cohen text and it was a good test of their diction to have two native English speakers in the audience with no program notes, seeing if we could understand their words! They did pretty well, I’d say about 90% I understood. Also these European choirs are just not afraid of languages, they just dive right in and everyone was just as comfortable in Russian as Latin or English or French. German was also on the program, it was quite varied.

It was emotional to see Paolo again. Some of you may remember that about a year ago he suffered a completely unheralded and devastating heart attack, and he was in a medically induced coma, things were very dicey and unsure for a long time about his recovery. He has made what seems to be a miraculous recovery, I do hear some slurring in his speech that wasn’t there before and he looks older than I might expect from the last time I saw him, but Brett and  I care for him a lot and it was good to just get to hug him and be glad he’s still around to talk shop and gripe a bit and joke and just be here.

It was also just lovely to have some time alone with Brett, riding the train, etc, walking home from the gig afterwards. We stopped for the most amazing Chocolate Quente that I have ever had, it reminded me of the good old days at U of R when I worked at a coffee shop that served this crazy drink that was chocolate sauce, chocolate chips and cream all blended together with the steaming wand. Thermo-nuclear-chocolate-bomb-explosion-extravaganza it was named, and it lived up to that moniker. Slurp.

Ok midnight and I need to get to sleep! Kind of boring two days but we needed the boring. Oh we needed it. So happy to have that time.

We are here during the time of the Sao Antonio festival complete with large statues everywhere and a lot of sardine-themed stuff going on.

Just look at this window. We’ve eaten our way through half of the offerings already.

This is Rossio train station and that blank spot in the middle is where an old priceless statue used to be, that some d-bag tourist knocked off and SMASHED while climbing up the side to try and take a selfie!!!

The amazing church of Sao Domingo. Unbreakable. (Try not to sing the Kimmy Schmidt theme  song now. You’re welcome.)

Dinner in our apartment

One of the young grad students at the Escola conducting  a two-choir  piece.

We love this Belgian fries shop right underneath our apartment!

Chilling  out at low tide enjoying the sand squishing between our toes and the amazing weather. Serrin is so happy in this picture! She and Kenna ran and ran.