Lisbon Portugal Final

Three of us at Palacio da Pena in Sintra, the hilltop retreat of the last kings of Portugal.

We spend most of our last day in Sintra visiting castle and wondering around. I had been to Sintra a few days ago and found out later that Sintra is 'one of the a thousand places you should visit before you die' (book). I would go back again even thought I have been there twice.

Torre de Belem - What a attitude Josh & Celia had.








Monument to the Discoveries.

Meet the Youngest of the Wang Family - Lisbon Portugal Part III

Celia (Hsin Yi), smaller version of Ally per Josh (precisely33 pounds less), was expected to meet us at the hotel lobby latest 8:30 p.m. We saw no Asian arrived since I got there. We got worried and went checking her flight schedule. Delay! What a surprised. Finally, she arrived almost 10 pm. After greetings and dropping of her baggage, we headed to a highly recommended seafood restaurant. Our expectation of the restaurant was low if you have seen the fish picture in Part II, you would understand.

OH NO!! It's 10:30 pm and the waiting line was long to outside of the restaurant on the sidewalk. I guessed we passed the tourist dinner time (6-9 p.m.) and were in line with the locals (10-1 a.m.) Thankfully, we didn't wait too long. The smell was so good, we were starving, and we had Portuguese menu. While Josh and Celia were trying to use their limited Spanish to understand the Portuguese menu, I was thinking...let's just order whatever other tables had. They all looked so good. So, we had clams, some oysters, 2 big crab (regular and spider which we couldn't tell which one was which), and unlimited buttered bread.

The dinner was so good and funny. Picture this - hammers up and down, crab juice spill, crab shell flying all around you and the tables next to you. It was quite a first impression dinner for both Josh and Celia. We had a good time making fun of ourselves and teased Celia about her great cooking skills (she never cooked before this trip.) The dinner turned out to be our BEST dinner in Lisbon (and Celia's best meal over a month.) Family and seafood...best combination!!! However, I probably would NOT recommend meeting 'the family' over 'crab' dinner.

Fun with colleagues - Lisbon Portugal Part II

After the first day of encounters, I stayed at the hotel and hung out with Josh during his breaks for a couple of days. It was relaxing... no house works. One time during his lunch break, we jumped on a cable car and let it took us wherever it went (typical us... no specific destinations.) We came across a street performance (actually it was in the park.) It was very interesting and attracted many children and adults. The show was good but we couldn't stay long.

At night, we explored different restaurants with his colleagues. A very fun group of people. This picture was taken after the 'chicken' restaurant. According to Rick Steves, the chicken dish is the best in town. We all ordered the famous 'chicken'. However, Josh and I seemed to have different opinions. After all, we are not fans of chicken.


Here is another picture of a fish taken at a restaurant in the Doca area under a bridge looked just like the Golden Gate. The waiter was trying so hard to sell us the fish. He brought it up three times and we kept saying NO. He was very disappointed. We thought he must want to get ride of 'the month end inventory' since he did the same to other customers as well. If you thought the fish I cooked looked gross, you should have seen this one. I didn't think it would have been fresh or testy. Especially who knew how long it had been there!!

Josh and his buddy Tom. We had a great time of making fun of the fish and what it appeared to be 2 cups of too much butter on our dishes instead of just seafood!!

June 27 Wednesday night, everyone had a break from work and had a little fun. We hiked up to Castelo de Sao Jorge where had the finest view in Lisbon. We walked along the reconstructed ramparts and waited for the shopping group to reconvene. Some couldn't help stopping at shops on the way up. I was not one of them...Surprise! In the castle, there is a restaurant where served great food. All I remember was... good food, plenty to drink, and lots laugh. After dinner, we experienced the 'Portugal style of night life'. Here was what we were told - people don't start bar hopping until 2 a.m. and clubbing until 5 a.m. Can you believe that? We could only manage to experience the early part of night life. I was amazed how crowded the bars, streets along the bars, and clubs were. And it was only Wednesday. Can you image what weekend is like? We all wondered how they could function at work the next day.

Josh takes Ally to Lisbon Portugal Part I

Exciting... the first trip out of Germany together. However, Josh and I took different flights. Josh's flight was at 8:30 a.m. and had a 10 hour lay over in Frankfurt and I had a 3 hour direct flight at 10:55 a.m. (Since he is considered a US employee, his ticket was purchased through the US side. Josh got my ticket through one of European airlines Germanwings. What a good husband!)

Fist encounter --
I landed around noon Lisbon time, got my baggage, and waited for a taxi. I saw a man behind me holding a piece of paper appeared to be the same hotel as Josh and I would be staying. I asked him if he would like to share a taxi with me since I was going there too. So we did and on the way we chatted about the reason of visiting Lisbon. I told him that I was coming with my husband, but he had to take a different flight and layover in Frankfurt for 10 hours. He immediately said "Joshua!" "Yes!", I said and thought...lucky me to ran into someone Josh knew. Joyachim (His name I learned in the taxi ride. It is pronounced like "Yoahim") checked in the hotel and I checked my baggage at the desk, then we went out wondering around the city together.

Second encounter --
Joyachim and I took a subway to downtown and changed to a bus to Belem. There were not that many people got on or were on the bus. However, just we were trying to figure out how to purchase bus tickets (there are two ticket vending machines on each bus and they only take coins.) we suddenly got a lot of pushes around us. I felt like everyone suddenly was in line and buying tickets at the same time while we were figuring the system out. Then, I saw a ugly hang hiding underneath a coat was approaching my wallet. I followed the hand, looked up with a unbelievable stare, and started thinking out loud in English... this is crazy... how can they be so brave... stealing people's money on a day light! Blah blah blah... I was going nuts... until I saw Joyachim holding his wallet like holding a life preserver. I realized that I was blabbering. I calmed down finally and was glad that Yoyachim was with me. Later, I took money out of my wallet and put them in my frond pocket and checked if they were still in my pocket every 5 minutes.

The rest of day went well. Yoyachim and I wondered around in Belem. We saw the Monument to the Discoveries, Torre de Belem, and Mosteiro dos Jeronimos but didn't get inside. I thought I could do that another day when Josh is working. Then, we took a bus back to downtown and wondered around Baixa area. There are a lot of shoes stores...I was like...YA! I am in heaven! I love shoes shopping. Joyachim was like...Josh should keep your credit card for you. A smart guy!! (Apparently I was thinking out loud again.) We also ran into a gay parade. It was interesting. (Later that night back in the hotel room, I saw they even had a live concert in the center of downtown that continued from the gay parade earlier.) Joyahim and I ended our day with a local traditional meal. I had Fresh Seafood Rice...Yummy.

Josh arrived at the hotel around 10 p.m. and told me that he had an interesting day too. He ran into people who were coming to the HP conference and had a great time with them too.

What an interesting day for both of us! I wondered what the rest of the trip will be!!