Passport Watch 2007 is Over

I have been checking the passport website ever since I sent it off but it never showed up in their system. My co-workers can attest as I would inform them everytime I looked and it wasn't there. I checked at least once a day, and more often than once, twice a day. However, guess what showed up in the mail today? My brand new passport! So now I can leave the country should any great trips come my way.

Passport Watch 2007

It's hard to believe but it has been 10 years since I first got my passport! It also means it is expiring this year and it is time to renew. Unfortunately with all the new rules, this is probably one of the worst years to renew! It is taking forever! I finally bit the bullet and sent in my passport, with the extra money needed to expedite the process. Supposedly, with expediting it, I should get my passport within a couple of weeks, as opposed to a couple of months. Since it is still a few months before my next vacation out of the country I'm not panicking yet. However, I continue to check the passport status daily and so far mine has not shown up in their system. But they have cashed my check so I know they at least have it!! If by mid-July it hasn't shown up (either in the system or at my house) then I will be calling my local congressperson and have them track it down for me. Until then I will keep checking the website!!

MAD LIS

Jana had the idea to call our trip MAD LIS as the airport codes for Madrid & Lisbon are MAD LIS respectively, and that's how our trip became the MAD LIS trip.

There were will be several references to Rick throughout this commentary so I probably should mention that Rick refers to Rick Steves, author of a set of European travel books. I usually will get his books when I'm going someplace, as I like the style of his books and the interesting tidbits he has. We generally speak about his book (and the information contained within) as if it was the man himself telling us where to go and what to see.

Day 1
There were no direct flights to either Lisbon or Madrid so we both ended up connecting in Newark. My flight from Seattle got in a little earlier than Jana's (from Houston) but before long we were boarding our flight to Lisbon. I slept off and on until the sun started coming through the windows (I forgot to put on the eyemask!) and then I was awake. We landed in Lisbon and made our way to baggage. Jana got her suitcase fairly quickly and when the number of suitcases coming up slowed down I began to feel a little anxious. Was my luggage going to be lost again? Jana pointed out that there were still a number of people waiting so most likely they were waiting for another cart to unload. It took awhile but sure enough more bags started coming onto the conveyor belt and finally I had my suitcase. It had been cheaper for us to fly roundtrip to Lisbon and then fly from Lisbon to Madrid than to fly into Madrid and out of Lisbon so that's what we did. We headed to the check-in area and checked in for our next flight. It was while waiting for this flight that we both decided it probably would have been worth the extra money to fly directly into Madrid as the jetlag was starting to hit us. Finally it was time for us to board our flight and I think I was asleep before the flight attendants had finished their safety briefing. The flight was only an hour long but it seemed a lot longer than that, probably due to my half asleep, half awake state but we finally landed in Madrid. This time our bags were one of the first ones on to the conveyor belt. We hopped in a taxi and were on our way to the hotel. The hotel was nice and our room was large, especially by European standards. We had realized on our last trip together that we had sides of the room. Jana's was generally the side closer to the door, while mine was the more inside and the side closest to the window. This room was set up a little different with the window next to the door. Me not being by the window didn't quite seem right, but the other way seemed more wrong so we didn't change. After dropping our stuff off, we went out in search for food which did not go so well. The restaurants were closed for the afternoon and would not open up again until dinner, which meant about 8 p.m. as they eat later in Spain due to the siesta in the middle of the day. We did find a convenience store and picked up a couple of snacks and headed back to the hotel to rest until 8. By 8 we were both hungry and went out in search of food. There was a pizzeria just down the street from our hotel and that's where we ended up. After dinner we went back to the hotel and crashed.

Day 2
Museums were the order of the day! We found what turned out to be a Spanish fast food restaurant (Pans) down the street from our hotel and stopped in for breakfast. We then made our way via Puerto del Sol (which would become a great landmark for us) over to the Prado. The line was long! And wasn't moving at all. We are about to head over to another museum and come back to the Prado later, when we decided to ask Rick (who will sometimes let you know of another way in). Sure enough, there was another entrance at the south end of the building. We headed over, deciding that if this entrance was as crowded as the north entrance we would go with Plan B and head to a different musuem and come back at lunchtime (when, according to Rick, the lines weren't as long). The south entrance had no line and we went right in. The Prado was great! It is known for Velazquez's Las Meninas which is really interesting - it's a view into the painting of another painting. We finished with the Prado and headed to the Renia Sofia, a more modern art musuem. We had lunch at the cafeteria at the Renia Sofia, but it wasn't very good, and it wasn't very filling. After lunch we started exploring the Renia Sofia. The layout of the musuem was very confusing and neither of us were very excited by the art. We did see Picasso's Guernica, a commentary on the horror of modern war. It is considered Spain's national painting. After what seemed like a long time we finally made our way through most of the museum and left. For me, this is museum I really don't ever need to see again. There was one more musuem in the neighborhood but both of us weren't super excited to see it after the Renia Sofia. But before we made our decision whether or not to go to the Thyssen we decided to grab a bite to eat considering our lunch wasn't that great. We found a restaurant still open and stopped in. I got spaghetti and when it came it was the worst thing I had ever eaten. I tried to keep eating but couldn't. Jana took a bite and agreed with me. It tasted like a dirty sock and is now a point of reference for how bad a meal is - is it as bad as dirty sock pasta? At our second lunch we decided to go to the Thyssen and we were glad we did. The works of art contained there are major works by minor artists and minor works by major artists. They had several rooms of Impressionist paintings which made my day! With the musuems out of the way we made our way to the Temple de Debod, passing the palace on our way. Spain had helped Egypt rescue monuements and as a thank you Egypt had given Spain a temple. It was really cool to see an actual Egyptian temple, in Madrid of all places! After finishing at the Temple we made our way back to our hotel until we could eat dinner. We ended up back at the pizzeria. I had been thinking of trying one of their pasta dishes but after the dirty sock pasta episode I decided to stick with my old standby, Pizza Margarita. We finished dinner and walked back to our hotel.

Stair count: Each museum had a number of stairs but I didn't count them so no official count today.

Day 3
Our first night the room had got really hot and I had gotten up in the middle of the night and turned up the air conditioning. The second night the same thing happened, except when I turned up the air conditioning nothing happened. Our room was on the inside of the hotel so we couldn't really open up a window to allow at least some air flow. By the next morning, neither of us had gotten a lot of sleep because of the room being hot. After breakfast at the hotel we made our way on the metro over to one of the bus stations. I must say the Madrid metros have to be the cleanest metro I've seen! We bought our bus tickets and were on our way to Toledo. Yes, that's right, as in Holy Toledo. One of the myths/rumors behind the origin of the saying Holy Toledo is that Toledo was the most "holy" Jewish city in Europe. We arrived and started walking up the hill into town. At the crest of the hill we could either choose to go to the left or the right. Not really seeing a path on the right and seeing what we thought was a castle on the left we started across the bridge to the left and up another hill. This was not the right decision. We got up to the top and the castle was not a castle, at least not one open to the public. Now remember, we are both operating on little sleep (due to the air conditioner being broken) and we've just walked up a steep hill for what turns out to be no good reason. Toledo was not making a good impression on us! We hiked back down the hill, across the bridge, and found the path up the town. At the top of the major part of the hill there was a museum in an old church. Now the best part about this museum was it was inside and cool as the sun had started to beat down on us. And it meant we could take a break from walking up the hill! It was actually a really interesting museum and they even had the tusks of a mammoth in the basement. Lunch beckoned us once we had finished with the museum and we ate tapas at restaurant in the main square. After lunch we set off again, up another hill to see the castle, which turned out to be closed to visitors as it is being renovated. We stopped in a couple of shops before heading towards the cathedral. The cathedral entrance was down this little winding road and didn't give off the impression of being very big which was quickly dispelled once we stepped inside. It was massive!! According to Rick it is the 3rd largest cathedral in Europe behind St. Peter's & St. Paul's. We finished touring the cathedral and had 2 things left on our list - a visit to El Greco's house (the painter) and a tour on the tourist tram which was supposed to have great views. The tram left on the hour so we decided to try and find El Greco's house. We were following the signs to his house when the signs stopped. It had started pouring rain at this point so we ducked into a doorway and looked at the map and tried to figure out where to go next. The rain let up and we set off again, running into some fellow Americans. We asked if they had seen El Greco's house and they had but couldn't direct us but they could take us back to the tourist information. We decided that was our best bet and followed them until we saw another sign for El Greco's house. Thinking we'd find it this time we said goodbye and went in the direction the sign indicated. When we reached the bottom of the hill hadn't found it we doubted that Rick had ever been to his house. He probably couldn't find it either which is why there weren't better directions in his book! But we had found a convent which we stopped in. We decided to give up on finding El Greco's house and decided instead to head towards the main square and catch the tram. It ended up not being our day as the tram was sold out and we would have to wait another hour for the next one so we decided to head back to Madrid. We took a taxi back to the bus station and got on the next bus. We had dinner at a place down the street (but not the pizzeria!).

Forget the stair count, what we need today is a hill count! Up to the bridge, up to the castle that wasn't, up to the town, up to the castle that was closed, up to El Greco's house #1, up to El Greco's house #2, up from the monastery - whew! That was a lot of hills!

Day 4
We started off with breakfast at the hotel, and it was today that we realized breakfast was 15 euros a piece. Oops! With that revelation we decided we would eat someplace else for breakfast for the rest of our time. On the agenda for today was the town of Segovia. We were wandering around the metro station looking for the bus station until one of the workers directed us across the street to the bus station. We arrived in Segovia and learning from Toledo, we stopped off at the tourist information and got a map of the town. Map in hand we headed towards the Roman Aqueduct. It is a pretty amazing structure, especially when you think it's around 2,000 years old and was made without cranes or forklifts or anything like that! We left the Roman Aqueduct and headed for the cathedral. The cathedral was just off Plaza Mayor. After we toured the cathedral we went back to Plaza Mayor to have lunch. Unfortuantely the weather wasn't the greatest, otherwise it would have been fun to eat outside. As it was we found a little place and ate inside. We finished lunch and continued on towards the Alcazar (castle). The castle was on the edge of a hill overlooking a valley, very picturesque. We could take pictures in the castle (which is a rarity) so both of us took advantage of that! When we finished with the castle it was time to climb the tower. 152 steps later we were at the top! The view was great - in the distance you could see the cathedral and in the way far distance, the aqueduct. We climbed down from the tower and headed back into town stopping by the aqueduct once again. We arrived at the bus station just in time to see the bus back to Madrid pulling away. Oh well, it was only 30 minutes until the next one. Back in Madrid we were once again faced with the question of what to do for dinner. We looked around but since it was Sunday not a lot was open and so we ended up back at the pizzeria.

Stair count - 152 up to the tower

Day 5
Most sights are closed on Monday so we had saved the palace for today as it was one of the few things open. But first we went to see the royal tapestry factory. It was a little way outside the center and so we didn't really have a great map of the area where it was located. Rick had given vauge directions which we followed but we could not find it. We walked down the block and back and were about to throw in the towel when we decided to walk up a block and back over to the metro station and there was the street were looking for! The museum was not quite what I was expecting but it was interesting. We actually walked through the factory floor where people were working on various rugs and tapestries. We learned that it takes 7 days to make 1 square meter of rug and 4 months to make one square meter of tapestry. The next stop on our agenda was another museum. Once again it was not quite in the center and we didn't have a good map of things outside the center. After walking a few blocks in the sun and realizing we probably weren't going to find it we decided to forget abou this museum and continue on towards the palace. I had just realized that I was hungry when we both spotted a pizzeria across the street! You apparently don't have to be in Italy to eat lots of pizza! After lunch we continued on back through Puerta del Sol and to the palace. The palace was immense! It is the the third largest in Europe. The chandeliers were beautiful! They even had the Royal Farmacia that you could walk through, complete with jars of herbs and medicine. We finished up the day shopping at El Cortes Ingles, a Spanish version of one-stop shopping, with everything from groceries to clothes to electronics to a post office!! And yes, we did venture down to the post office (which was in the basement) but when we saw how long the line was we decided we would come back another time. We dropped off our purchases back at the hotel and rested until dinner. Dinnertime rolled around and once again the question of where to go came up. Having a good pizzeria near our hotel means never having to look hard for a place to eat dinner. Yes, that's right, once again we had dinner at Tuscania (the pizzeria). In fact, we were thinking if we wrote for Rick Steves we would have a section on the best pizzerias in each city!

Stair count - not sure but the palace had a number of stairs

Day 6
We had originally planned to take a daytrip out to Sevilla today but when we looked closer we decided we probably needed a few days in Sevilla and so decided to stay and finish up in Madrid. Jana wasn't feeling so well so she decided to sleep in and we would meet up later. I had breakfast at Pans (the Spanish version of fast food) and went back to El Cortes Ingles hoping that the post office line wouldn't be as long. I was wrong, it was just as long but I waited and got my postcard stamps. From there I contined on to Puerta del Sol, as not only was this a great landmark, but I had recently read, it marked the very center of Spain. I stood in the very center of Spain, and of course, had to take one of my feet pictures to prove I had been standing in the very center of Spain! I continued on to Plaza Mayor, one of the largest and grandest public squares in Europe. I sat on a bench for awhile and people-watched before moving on. My next stop was the Basilica de San Francisco el Grande, which has the largest dome in Europe outside of St. Peter's in Rome. It was very beautiful, but not as peaceful as you might imagine as there was a group of schoolkids there at the same time I was and they were running wild around the church. I walked back towards the palace from the church and stopped to admire the palace once again. While I was admiring the palace I realized there was no better place to write my postcards, so I sat on a bench and wrote. With my postcards written I took a turn in the palace gardens before setting off again. I had three things left to do on my list for the day, two of which were closed for the siesta. Because one of the things (a convent) would only reopen for a short period of time, I wasn't sure I had enough time to do the third (the archeological musuem) before the convent reopened. I decided to take my chances that I could get in and out of the convent fairly quickly and would still have enough time to visit both the archeological museum and the church that held Goya's tomb. The mistake on my part was assuming I could get through the convent fairly quickly. I arrived at the convent about 20 minutes or so before it reopened and already there was a fairly long line. I'm not exactly sure when they reopened but it was several minutes late and then they were only letting a few people in at a time to buy their tickets and then you had to wait until 20 people were in as they would only let you go through the convent in a tour of 20 people. By this time I had already waited a while and so I was determined to see it through. I finally made it to the front of the line to find out the tour was only given in Spanish. Again, since I had already waited this long I was determined to see the inside. And at least Spanish is a romance language so I could understand words such as Austria, Portugal, Matthew, Mark, Luke & John, monastery, and Ministry of Finance. Finally the tour was I over and I made my escape. By this time I really could only do one more sight and I chose to see Goya's tomb. I got on the metro and made my way to the Chapel of San Antonio de la Florida to see Goya's tomb. The chapel not only housed Goya's tomb but the dome was painted by Goya. There are mirrors set up in the church to get the full effect of the paintings. I left Goya's tomb and set off back towards the metro. I probably could have made it to the archeological museum, but I wouldn't have had a lot of time so I made my way back to the hotel. Jana arrived back at the hotel not too long after I did. We had some time before dinner and it was still so nice out so we walked over to Puerta del Sol and the center of Spain and then made our way over to Plaza Mayor where we were asked by some American college boys if we had any floss. It was just so random that we were both cracking up over it. It was nearing dinnertime and we were determined not to eat at the pizzeria. I had seen a restaurant on my way to the monastery that seemed like a good choice. We were shown to a table in the back. Since it was our last night we decided to have paella and sangria, both of which were excellent!

Stair count - I was going to say no stairs but then I remembered the stairs to the garden, the stairs in the monastery and the stairs in the metro station. So not out of the ordinary but there were definitely stairs involved.

Day 7
Our flight to Lisbon didn't leave until 1 p.m. so we got up, packed, walked down the street to grab one last breakfast at Pans, checked out and then got a cab to the airport. Once again the hour long flight seemed to take much longer than an hour but we landed on time. It must seem longer than it is because of the long descent, or that's my explanation anyway. We collected our luggage and got a cab to our hotel. We walked into our hotel room and I think both of our mouths dropped open as we saw the terrace!! The terrace was huge, with a table and chairs, looking out over Lisbon down to the water. You could see the castle, the bridge and the statue of Christ across the river. Things got better when the hotel employee told us we could have our breakfast on our terrace every morning, free of charge! The hotel room was okay, nothing spectactular, but the terrace turned this into the best hotel I have ever stayed at. We got directions to the castle (follow the tram tracks) and started off. With the trolleys, the hills and the bridge, Lisbon is a lot like San Fransisco. We faithfully followed the tram tracks as they led us down the hill. Passing by a church, Sao Vicente, we decided to stop in. Behind this simple facade lay a huge building! It had all sorts of exhibits, including one of fables which were interesting to read. We climbed to the top and gazed out on another fantastic view of Lisbon. Leaving the church we continued following the tram tracks through these narrow, windy streets. We stopped off at another viewpoint and looked back up at Sao Vicente where we had just come from before continuing on up to the castle. All that is left of Castelo de Sao Jorge (St. George's Castle) are towers, ramparts and a few other remnants. We climbed up several of the towers for a different view of Lisbon. After we explored the castle we continued following the tram tracks down towards the waterfront. We got to the cathedral just as they were closing the doors and so continued on to Praca da Comercio, a large square at the water's edge. We explored the area (known as the Baixa) and came across several Hell's Angels from California. We also found the Santa Justa Elevator, which was built by a student of Eiffel and connected the lower city with the higher city. We rode up and climbed the staircase to the top. We ran into a few more Hell's Angels, this time from Switerzland. How can you be in a biker gang when you are from Switerland, the home of neutrality, Swiss Miss and Ricola? California, definitely, but Switerland? At the top we saw more fantasic views. It was neat looking up at the castle and thinking we had just been up there. We finished gazing at the view and rode back down. We stopped off at Rossio square, where there is a statue of Pedro IV. What is interesting about this statue is that it didn't start off as Pedro IV. The statue began its life as Maximillian but when he was assinated it became Pedro IV! Rick had recommended a restaurant but it could be hard to find as it was upstairs in a nondescript building and easy to miss. We were pretty impressed when we found it, especially given our track record so far, however the door was closed and there was no other way in to the building. We debated on ringing the bell and decided against it and wandered around looking for another restaurant, all the while keeping an eye on the closed door. A few other tourists stopped in front of the closed door and they did ring the bell but nothing happened. We ended up going to a pizzeria! Yes, we can find a pizzeria just about anywhere! After dinner it was dark and not knowing exactly how to get back to our hotel we took a taxi.

Stair count - 130 in Sao Vicente plus stairs at castle

Day 8
I woke up and headed to the bathroom to take a shower. Simple enought, right? Wrong! I could not figure out how to turn the shower on. I could figure out how to run the water, but not how to turn the shower on. I must have pulled, pushed, twisted, and turned every possible button and knob I could find. After at least 20 minutes of trying to figure it out I finally gave up woke up Jana who figured out what knob to pull in about 20 seconds. Our mornings are generally pretty random, for example on this morning our conversation went something like this:

Jana: Did you know they spell bikini with a Q?

Me: No.

Jana: I had "Yellow Polka Dot Bikini" in my head, that's where that came from.

Me: Well, I woke up with "We need a little Christmas, right this very minute" and it's not even Christmas, let alone Christmas in July!

Opening the curtains, we were greeted with a beautiful sunny day which meant it was perfect for us to have our first breakfast on our terrace. The maid brought us the tray which had coffee, bread, meat & cheese. I would have been very happy with this but then she brought another tray with fruit, cereal, orange juice and yogurt! We enjoyed our breakfast on our terrace with the fantastic view (can you tell how much I love our terrace?). We finished breakfast and followed the tram tracks back down the hill, stopping by the cathedral. This time it was open so we stopped in and admired the inside. We continued on down to the waterfront and caught the trolley to Belem, a suburb of Lisbon. Our first stop was at the Coach Museum. There was coach upon coach ranging from the simple to the extravagant. From there our next stop was the Monastery of Jeronimos, a huge complex. We toured the church first, where Vasco da Gama's tomb is located. Next, it was on to the Archeolgocial Museum before wrapping up our visit with a visit to the Maritime Museum, where we learned about Henry the Navigator, who never actually sailed but was still called a navigator. At the Maritime Museum we ran into another Hell's Angel, this time from Italy. Italy I can buy, an Italian biker gang makes more sense than a Swiss biker gang. We went to the Tower of Belem next, which was down the street. We climbed to the top of the Tower for more views of Lisbon. We finished up our day in Belem with a stop at the Monument of Discoveries. Out in front of the monument is a huge marble map of the world, which was given to Portugal by South Africa. We took the elevator up and looked back down at the map - it was amazing! The monument is directly across the street from the monastery and the it was neat to see the whole monastery - it really is huge! No wonder it took us so long to go through the whole monastery. We took the trolley back to Lisbon and made our way back to the restaurant area we had discovered last night. We decided to try the restaurant Rick recommened again (Casa da Alentejo), and this time the door was open! We went upstairs and Rick was right, it was good! The decorations had a real Moorish feel, and the atmosphere was great! After dinner we decided to take the trolley back up the hill, well as far up the hill as the trolley went. We walked up the rest of the way to the hotel and sat outside on our terrace listening to someone down the street playing some sort of polka until we went to bed.

Stair count - 120 to the top of the tower (per Rick)

Day 9
No shower issues today, and breakfast was on the terrace again. The first thing on our agenda was to visit Cristo Rei. One of items on my list of things to do before I die is see Christ the Redeemer in Brazil so when I found out there was a similar statue in Lisbon I was determined to see it. We followed the tram tracks down the waterfront and past it to the ferry terminal where we caught a ferry to Cacilhas. According to Rick, we could catch bus #71 at the ferry terminal which would take us up to Cristo Rei. We walked all over and looked at all busses but could not find a #71 bus. So we took a cab up to the base of the statue. The views of the 25th of April bridge were fantastic - I'm running out of adjectives to describe the amazing views we continued to see so if I start repeating myself I'm sorry. The bridge is called the 25th of April to commerate the date of Portugal's revolution and liberation. We took the elevator up to top of the statue and admired another awesome view of Lisbon from Belem to the castle. We learned that Lisbon's statue was actually copied from Brazilian statue. They liked it so much they copied it! We took the elevator back down and went to the bus stop and waited for the #101 bus, so Rick needs to update his book. Back across the river we got on the metro and went out to the Gulbenkian Musuem. The Gulbenkian is a facinating museum, covering 5,000 years of history. As we were leaving the museum we noticed several police cars, black cars, guards and lots of poliemen. Several minutes later, it was a full fledged motorcade leaving the museum and going around the roundabout. I wonder who was at the museum with us? We took the metro back to Baixa where we took the Santa Justa elevator. Only this time we weren't going up to admire the views, instead we were using it to get up to the upper part of town to visit the Museu Archeologic do Campo. The really interesting thing about this museum was the building it was in. It was in the ruins of an old church, Convento do Carmo. The church was ruined in the 1755 earthquake. Our next stop was the Basilica da Estrella. We took the metro and walked up the hill in the direction the sign appeared to point us in. Well when we got to the top of the hill we realized it was not the right direction so we set off back down the hill. We started up the right hill and finally made it the Basilica but wouldn't you know it, mass had just started as we got there. So we took a quick peek before leaving. We took a trolley back down to Baixa and ended up having dinner at the pizzeria. We took the trolley back to our hotel and sat outside enjoying our terrace.

Stair count - 20 here, 30 there, I'm sure they added up but no official stair count

Day 10
Breakfast was served on the terrace. Boy, I could really get used to this! But instead of following the tram tracks down to the waterfront we walked down a different hill to the metro. We took the metro to a train station and caught a train for Sintra, a town about 15 miles north of Lisbon. I will say this before I get into too many details for this day, I probably took more pictures today than I did in all of Spain. It was my favorite day of our vacation. At Sintra we took a bus up to Palacio de Pena, a palace way up high on the hill. The bus only took us so far and then we boarded a tram which took us the rest of the way up the hill. The castle is an interesting mix of fantasy castle and Moorish elements. It's also extremely colorful! We walked around the palace, admired the view, and toured the inside. We took the tram back down and had lunch at the little store at the entrance. It wasn't the greatest, but it was no dirty sock pasta! Our next stop was the Moorish Castle, which was down the road. To get to the castle we had to follow a path through the woods. Before long you could see the castle through the trees. I was so busy looking at the castle, as opposed watching where I was going, that I tripped over a drain and I went down. Jana heard me falling and braced herself so I wouldn't tumble to far. I was just hoping I wasn't going to take her down with me. As soon as I stopped falling I jumped up as quick as possible! Fortunately, I was not hurt and just ended up with a couple of bruises. Note to self, while walking around castle ruins, keep eyes on the ground! We finally made it to the entrance of the castle. Inside, we were able to explore all the ramparts and towers to our hearts content. We started up what I thought was I short set of stairs but when I got to the top I saw that it turned and the stairs continued up as far as the eye could see. These stairs were extremely uneven and rocky and given my recent track record I took it slow and easy as I continued climbing up. The climb was so worth it. I know I've waxed on about all the fantastic views but they didn't hold a candle to the view at the top of this rampart. You could see the Pena Palace in the distance and we realized we had taken a picture from the palace looking down at the castle and now we were at the castle taking a picture of the palace. We sat up at the top of the ramparts and just enjoyed being in Lisbon. We met a couple of girls, one who was celebrating her 30th birthday. I shared that I had just celebrated my 30th birthday. After resting and enjoying where we were, we started down and then up the other side. This was my favorite thing we did the entire trip. I just loved climbing all over the castle ruins and the view! We made it down just in time to catch the bus and arrived back in Sintra. There was another castle in Sintra, and if we had more time we would have visited it as well. But instead we took the bus out to Caba da Roca, the most westernly point in Europe. And think, at some point, people probably thought it was the most westernly point in the world! We got the certificate, proving we had been at the most westernly point! We caught the bus to Cascaish, a resort town, where we caught the train back to Lisbon. We decided to have dinner at Casa da Alentejo. Are you surprised it wasn't at the pizzeria? And we ended the night with a trolley ride back up the hill. Halfway up the hill there was a car parked a little too close to the tracks. One of the passengers had to get out and direct the trolley past the car. The trolley did make it past the car, with inches to spare! There was an "official" viewpoint just above our hotel and I had wondered if the view from the viewpoint was different from the view from our terrace so we climbed up past our hotel to the viewpoint. The only difference I noticed was that from our terrace you had a better view of the castle, while from the viewpoint you had a better view of the bridge. We walked back down to our hotel and packed.

Stair count - 165+ up the first rampart, 70+ up the second rampart, not to mention several hills

Day 11
Our flight left on the early side, but not too early that we couldn't enjoy one last breakfast on the terrace!! I took one (or two) last photos from the terrace before we left and headed to the airport.

And so ends my vacation. Until next time!

Random 8

I was tagged by Mandi so here are 8 random facts about me!

1. Even though electronic tickets mean I don't need a ticket I will check over and over that I have my e-ticket receipt and passport (or driver's license). Literally I will be in the car on my way to the airport and I will check and 2 minutes later check again. I blame this on the vacation my family never had - we were halfway to Portland when my mom realized she had forgotten the hotel vouchers and we turned and came home.

2. I did not get my driver's license until I was 18.

3. My favorite flowers are tulips.

4. I need to be at least 5 - 10 minutes early. I will then sit in the parking lot until I will be right on time.

5. My thumbs are double-jointed.

6. My goal is to write a book someday.

7. I once killed a plant that was supposed to be "unkillable". I do not have a green thumb at all.

8. My favorite Disney movie is Sleeping Beauty.

The directions are:

“Each player posts eight random facts/habits about him/herself and then tags eight other bloggers to participate. In turn, the folks who are tagged write a post listing their own eight facts/habits, along with these rules, and then tag eight more people . . . and so on.

Each blogger must list the eight people they are tagging, and visit their sites, leaving a comment notifying them that they have been tagged and inviting them to read your entry.”

Instead of tagging 8 people I will issue an invitation to those who do read my blog to join in the fun if you feel so inclined!

Training

I signed up for the Danskin triathlon again as soon as registration opened. However after signing up I didn't do anything else. I had grand plans of beginning my training program early (well, if I'm perfectly honest I had planned to keep up my training after I finished my first triathlon but that didn't happen). Aiding and abetting my procrastination was the fact I didn't start training last year until late June and I now have one triathlon under my belt. But I was reading on Mandi's blog how she has started training for the NYC Half Marathon by getting up early to run and I was inspired! So tonight instead of heading to the gym I headed to the pool. I had forgotten how much effort it takes to swim!! After my second lap I was about ready to say that was enough, at least I'd gotten into the pool. But I continued on. I lost count of how many laps, but ended up swimming for about 20 minutes. At least it's a start. And from now until the triathlon (August 19th) I will be at the pool (or lake) at least twice a week. Now, all I need to do is start riding my bike again and I'll be really on my way.

What a View!

A sneak preview of the pictures from my trip. Here is the fantastic view from my hotel room in Lisbon. The picture does not do it justice!

Home Again

I'm back from my trip to Madrid & Lisbon. I had a really great time. I liked Madrid, but I loved Lisbon!! It is in my top five favorite cities! Of course, this could have something to do with our hotel room terrace (and the view from the terrace!). I will try to post pictures and a commentary about my trip in the next week or so but until then I will leave with you some of the menu items from the hotel restaurant in Madrid. Their menu was posted in the elevator and was no end of amusement to Jana and me. Something must have gotten a little lost in translation! :)

Hake to the Roman
Cod to the Oven
Cod to the Ember
Sirloin to the fat salt
Tomato to the fat salt

Mm, Frappuccino

It's funny how these silly little quizzes can be pretty accurate. I think this one comes close! Plus, it thinks I'm a frappuccino, and I love to drink frappuccinos! Speaking of which, I just tried the new Orange Creme Light Frappuccino and it was really good (and the light version is only 2 weight watcher points!).

You Are a Frappacino

At your best, you are: fun loving, sweet, and modern At your worst, you are: childish and over indulgent You drink coffee when: you're craving something sweet Your caffeine addiction level: low

http://www.blogthings.com/whatkindofcoffeeareyouquiz/

Congratulations!!

Congratulations John!! My brother graduated this weekend from Washington State University with a degree in Electrical Engineering. It's been a long, hard road but he made it! Yay John! And in honor of him I will say one thing I rarely say... Go COUGS!

Hm

I woke up this morning with the song Motownphilly stuck in my head. Why, I'm really not sure. Often I will wake up with random songs in my head but usually I can trace it back to something - I heard it the night before, it was on the radio when I woke up, it was in my dream but not this time. Don't get me wrong, I like the song, just can't quite figure out why it was stuck in my head. Really, no explanation.

The Big 3-0, it's official!

It must seem as if I've been celebrating my birthday for awhile now. Probably because I started celebrating a month in advance! But as of 12:54 PM on April 29th I have officially entered into my 30's! I celebrated all weekend - and ate my through the celebrations!

After all the anxiety I had about turning 30, when I woke up on Sunday it was just another day. The hardest moment I've had with my new age was at the gym when I had to enter it in on the elliptical machine and I couldn't put 29 anymore and instead entered 30. But I'm slowly moving past the whole shock of being 30 and instead will focus on enjoying the next decade of my life!

Wanderlust

Main Entry: wan·der·lust
Pronunciation: 'wän-d&r-"l&st
Function: noun
Etymology: German, from wandern to wander + Lust desire, pleasure: strong longing for or impulse toward wandering

It doesn't take knowing me long before you realize how much I love to travel. I try to go on at least one (sometimes two) week long vacations each year. In fact, it's usually not to long after I get back when I start planning for the next one. This year, however, I'm taking it to another level! Hm, I wonder if it has anything to do with turning 30! Or more likely, my avoidance of accepting the fact I'm turning 30. This year I've haven't been able to stay in one place too long before the need to travel wells up in me. It was probably only a week or two after I got back from WDW that another trip presented itself and here I am preparing to leave again. At the end of May I will be going to Spain and Portugal (Madrid and Lisbon, specifically) with my friend Jana. I will probably have another 2 trips (Cabo in September, Europe in November) along with at least one or two Houston trips to visit my Houston family. I am suffering from some serious wanderlust this year.

Tiptoe through the Tulips

Yesterday I traveled up to annual Skagit Valley Tulip Festival. This has become an annual pilgrimage since I moved back to Washington. Tulips are my favorite flower and to see them in so many colors and spread out in fields for as far as the eye can see is truly a glorious sight to behold. The other fun thing about the tulips is they are great models for me to practice my photography skills, or lack thereof, on. As usual, some turned out, some didn't. I've posted a few of my favorites. The rest can be seen at: emily77.shutterfly.com/action/?a=8AZuG7Nu2aOHWQ

Bonn/London March 2007

I was in Bonn, Germany & London for work. I'll just share a couple of the highlights.

Our German colleagues were great hosts, taking us to some really good restaurants. Sunday night we went to Indochine, an Asian fusion restaurant. Monday night we went into Cologne to eat at a brauhaus. I had a dish called Heaven & Earth and I'm still not sure exactly what it was - some type of sausage and potatos - but it was really good! Tuesday for lunch we had Italian, and I of course had my staple, margerita pizza. And Tuesday evening we left Bonn and headed to London.

We checked into our hotel and headed up to our rooms. This is probably one of the most interesting hotels I've ever stayed in. All the hallways were narrow and twisting going up and down stairs. And this was before I got to my room which was extremely small. The roof was sloping down. I nicknamed it the "Harry Potter" room as it reminded me of the room under the closet Harry had in the first book. We went to dinner at a Greek restaurant down the street.

The next night, after our conference, we went to see Wicked. I've never been a huge fan of the Wizard of Oz but had heard good things about Wicked. It was amazing!! I loved the story (which is told from the Wicked Witch of the West's point of view) and the songs were great. The lead actresses were excellent.

Friday we toured around London. After beautiful weather in Germany and even our first few days in London we were hoping it would continue but Mother Nature had other ideas. It was overcast and before long it started to rain. But you've got to expect rain in London!

Saturday we split up and I ventured out to Bletchley Park, where codebreaking was done in WWII. I had wanted to see it since I saw the movie Engima, which takes place at Bletchley Park. The house is an electic mix of different architectural styles - the original owner got ideas from places he had traveled to and incorporated them into his house. The lady who gave my tour actually worked at Bletchley during the war and one of the women on our tour did as well. It was neat to hear their stories. It's unfortunate that Bletchley is not a government-run museum, it's funded entirely by donations, as it lacks the efficiency and organization you normally find in a museum.

Sunday we left and came home.

Happy Birthday to ME!!

This honestly needs to start with once upon a time as it was once upon a time Michelle and I decided for my 30th birthday we should go to Disneyworld. So without further ado, once upon a time in Houston, Michelle & I were talking about our mutual love of Disney and the fact I'd never been to Disneyworld. And so the plan was born that in 2007 we would go to Disneyworld. As the time got closer we began planning and decided to go in March. I'm still not sure how it got to be 2007 but it here it was 2007!


My dad had United Airline miles he wanted to use up and so offered them to me to use on my birthday trip. I was grateful for the free plane ticket even though it meant a red eye flight connecting through LAX. Diane met me at my house and my mom drove us to the airport. We landed in Orlando a little after 6 a.m. on March 17th (St. Patrick's Day!). I'd planned ahead and worn green. I find it funny that so many grown-ups will wear green on St. Patrick's Day. It can't be fear of being pinched, can it? But I digress. We made our way through the airport. Because we were staying at a Disney property we were able to use their Magical Express service which meant we didn't have to pick up our luggage and they took us straight to our hotel. We were pleasantly surprised when the hotel had a room available for us. After showering we headed to Downtown Disney in search of breakfast and coffee. We had breakfast with the Earl of Sandwich, however we never found coffee. Where is a Starbucks when you need one? Shopping beckoned after breakfast and then it was back to the hotel for a little nap that turned out to be a little longer than 40 winks. After we woke up, we headed to the Magic Kingdom. Walking down Main Street a huge smile started at my mouth and continued to my toes! It really is the happiest place on earth. In a bakery on Main Street our quest for coffee ended successfully. Not quite Starbucks but it definitely hit the spot. We started off in Adventureland, fastpassing the Jungle Cruise (one of my favorites) and waited in line for Pirates of the Carribbean (another favorite - in fact you should probably get used to me saying such and such is my favorite as I say it about a lot of things). Big Thunder Mountain Railroad had a 50 minute wait so we decided to go for it and wait in line. About an hour and 15 minutes later we boarded our out of control train. We were trying to decide what to do next when Michelle called to let us know they had landed and were on their way to the hotel. Not knowing how long it would take us to get back to the hotel we set off. Walking through the masses of people, green was the predominant color of choice. Again, it's funny to me how you are never to old to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. On the bus ride home we learned that Daisy Duck has three neices - April, May and June which is something I never knew.


Not to long after we got back to the hotel, Michelle, Stacy & Bailey arrived. We had dinner at our new favorite spot, The Earl of Sandwich and then dessert at Ghiradelli's. Yum! After we got back tothe hotel Janette arrived (Michelle's mom) which was wonderful as we weren't sure when she was going to make it with the winter storms in the east.


Magic Kingdom Day! Angie met us at the hotel & we set off. After breakfast at the bakery while watching a mini parade, it was time to begin. I had gotten a button that said it was my birthday and one of the park workers told me happy birthday. When I said thank you he told me to get used to it and he was right! Everyone told me happy birthday that day, including people standing in line with me. The day started in Fantasyland on the Winnie the Pooh ride. Pooh and the gang are probably my favorite group of Disney characters. It was on this ride we discovered my ride karma as it stopped a few times. Snow White was next, followed by It's a Small World, and then another favorite, Peter Pan! I think part of the reason I love the Peter Pan ride is flying over London. We then went to one of my new favorites, Philharmagic. It's a 3-D experience with lots of songs which of course I sang along too! With Fantasyland basically complete it was time for lunch in Tomorrowland. We split up after lunch. Seeing that Space Mountain had a huge line Diane and I fastpassed it and went to check out Buzz Lightyear. It was a very fun ride, but once again the ride stopped in the middle, which allowed us to rack up a lot more points. We then hurried over to Adventureland and Splash Mountain with a stop at the teacups. Splash Mountain and I have a love/hate relationship. I hate the anticipation of the drop but I love the ride and at the bottom I'm always glad I did it. It had gotten hot by then so the splash was actually a good thing. It was time to meet up with Michelle, Stacy and Angie for Haunted Mansion where once again the ride stopped in the middle. As I was the common denominator on the rides that stopped we figured out it was my ride karma. We headed back to Tomorrowland to use our Space Mountain fastpasses but before going on Space Mountain we rode on another new favorite of mine, the Blue Line ride or the Tomorrowland Transportation Authority. What was so great about this ride? You got to sit down and relax! Before getting on Space Mountain we pastpassed it again for that evening. After Space Mountain we headed back towards Main Street to watch the nighttime parade before watching the firework show above Cinderella's castle. I took probably about a gazillion photos in hopes a few would turn out - and I think some of them really turned out well. It was Magic Hours that night for Magic Kingdom which meant we could spend an extra 3 hours at the park since we were staying at a Disney property. I immediately spoke out and said "oh, there is no way I'm going to be here until 2 a.m." So when we left the park at really close to 2 a.m. I had to eat my words but the extra time was worth it! We rode Space Mountain, the teacups, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Splash Mountain and Pirates of the Carribbean without really waiting in line at all before doing a little shopping. By the time we got home it was after 2 and by the time we were asleep it was probably closer to 3! Climbing into bed, I felt like my body was still moving and I was still on some sort of ride.


Considering the night before (which overflowed into this morning) we were not the most animated group as we left the hotel. But we did manage to make it to breakfast with Winnie the Pooh! Yay! Pooh was there along with his pals Piglet, Tigger & Eeyore. Why Rabbit got left out? I'm not sure. He probably was working very hard in his garden. Breakfast was very fun! We took the monorail from the Magic Kingdom (where breakfast was) over to Epcot. Our first ride was another ride where it stopped in the middle. However, the folks behind us had a plausible explanation (as opposed to Emily's ride karma theory) which was that on the continuous moving rides, when someone with a disability gets on they have to shut down the ride in order to help them on. From there we ventured over to the Nemo ride where we got to ride in clammobiles!! I don't know why but the clammobiles cracked me up! We then waited for Turtletalk with Crush, however due to technical difficulties they had to cancel the show. We tried to fastpass Soarin' (a hang-gliding adventure over California) but all the fastpasses had been distributed for the day. So we fastpassed Test Track and started our journey around the world. In Norway, we went on a Maelstrom, a Viking adventure. We continued on our journey when we landed in Italy, just in time for lunch. Yummy!! After lunch we did Test Track before splitting up - Michelle, Bailey & Janette headed back to the hotel to get some rest while Angie, Stacy, Diane & I finished up our tour of the world where I learned that apparently you don't have to be in France to take a gazillion photos of the Eiffel Tower! We also celebrated a wedding in Morocco (between Angie & the Genie from Aladdin). Unfortunately (or fortunately!) it was only valid in Morocco and as soon as we were in France it was null and void. We finished up in Canada and we really began to feel the effects of the night before and so we too called it a day and headed back to the hotel. Thinking it would be just as quick to head to Downtown Disney and visit the Earl for dinner as it would be to grab some food from the store at the hotel Diane and I headed out. It was just as quick to get there, however, it was the getting back part that took awhile. We sat and waited and waited and waited for our bus back to the hotel. Granted the hotel was not that far away, but it was dark and we knew if we tried to walk, we'd probably end up lost so it was easier to wait. But finally the bus came and we were able to go home and get some much needed sleep!


Today was Animal Kingdom day. After the Magic Kingdom, this was the place I was most excited to visit! Angie was spending the day with her family and Diane left that morning to visit her family in Georgia so it was a smaller crew that set out that morning. I was definitely not disappointed by Animal Kingdom - they really did an excellent job with that park. We started off the day exploring Mt. Everest where we met a Yeti Monster!! Oh no!! The Yeti ripped up our tracks so we couldn't go forward. But thankfully our train was able to backtrack and take us down the mountain away from the Yeti. We fastpassed the safari adventure and watched the Lion King Festival which was amazing!! Very colorful and of course filled with the songs from the movie. The safari was fun - I couldn't believe how close the animals were! It had started raining so we hurried to It's Tough to be a Bug (a 3-D adventure with Flick) inside the Tree of Life to get out of the rain. It was really starting to rain and so we broke down and bought a Mickey poncho - of course, after we bought our poncho, the rain stopped. After lunch we watched the parade, watched the Finding Nemo musical, got scared by a Dinosaur and said good-bye to the animals before heading back to the hotel. That night Michelle, Stacy & I met up with Angie and her sister Mary to explore Pleasure Island. We had dinner at an Irish Pub and then went to an improv comedy club.


We made it to Wednesday!! Our day of rest!! And boy did we need it. Stacy spent the day with her brother, Angie with her family, and Diane was in Georgia. Michelle and I started off the day with a massage. We walked over to the spa and were surprised to find out when we got there we had the time wrong and so missed the first part of our massage. Bummer! Oh well, but at least we still got close to an hour (it was originally scheduled for 90 minutes) and some massage is better than no massage!! After the massage we were feeling quite relaxed and headed over to Downtown Disney for lunch & shopping. Several hours later, and many shopping bags later, we needed a pick-me-up and stopped by Ghiradelli for a sweet treat! Michelle, Stacy & I had dinner at the restaurant at the resort and then headed back to Downtown Disney and met up with Angie & Mary to watch a Cirque du Soliel show (La Nouba). I had never been to a Cirque show before and I was very impressed! Starting with the first act I thought it would be my favorite but then the next act would start and I was sure it was going to be my favorite. Even now, I'm not sure I could pick one act that was my favorite - they were all so good!


Today was Disney-MGM Studios day. The park was designed in the fashion of old Hollywood in the 1940's. I loved it!! We headed directly over to the Tower of Terror, Michelle's favorite ride. Based on the Twilight Zone, it drops you 13 stories. Sometimes having an active imagination is a good thing, sometimes it's not. Had we visited MGM earlier in the week I might have attempted the ride, however having many days to think about it, as well as seeing how tall the tower was from the road, my imagination took over and I pysched myself out of doing it. So while Michelle, Stacy, & Angie were being braver than me, I went and got us fast passes for the Rockin' Rollercoaster. I'm very glad to say Michelle, Stacy & Angie survived the Tower of Terror and we made our way over to the Great Movie Ride which took us through the sets of several movies, including two of my all-time favorites, Singin' in the Rain and Casablanca. We then made our way over to see the Playhouse Disney show where we sang along with several Playhouse Disney characters including Bear in the Big Blue House. Diane arrived at MGM while we were at Playhouse Disney and just in time for our fast passes on Rockin' Rollercoaster. Now this is another one where I wasn't completely sure I wanted to try as it goes upside down but upside down wasn't as scary to me as dropping 13 floors so I sucked it up and I was glad I did. I kept my eyes tightly shut so I wouldn't see when they flipped us upside down and that seemed to work. Lunch was next on the agenda and we had it at the Prime Time Diner. It was a really neat place, decorated like a house from the 1950's. The waiters/waitresses treated us as if we were like family, including telling us to sit up straight and get our elbows off the table. When they found out we were there celebrating my birthday, our waitress, Aunt Elaine, brought out a cupcake. I made a wish but before I blew out the candle Aunt Elaine said my wish wasn't going to come true so I should wish again. Darn! And I had thought it was a good wish. After lunch we headed over to the Drew Carey show which was in total darkness for part of the time. I do have to admit that I closed my eyes for just a second (or maybe a couple of seconds) and was on my way to sleep. When we emerged from the show it was time for Angie to leave to go to her nephew's birthday party. The rest of watched the afternoon parade. After the parade we boarded Star Tours, for a trip to Endor. Diane, Michelle, & Stacy went back to ride Tower of Terror (since Diane missed it in the morning) while I once again chickened out. Afterwards we split up with Stacy, Michelle, Janette & Bailey watching Beauty & the Beast live and Diane & I watching the High School Musical pep rally. We met back up and made our way over to Lights, Motors, Action, an extreme stunt show, where we were all entertained by the hero trying to make his escape from a town on the coast of France. We took a quick trip to New York and San Francisco (by way of movie set magic) before taking a backlot tour. At the beginning of the tour they warned us that people sitting on the right may get a little wet. I was sitting on the left so felt safe, until they said the next thing, which was people sitting on the left will get soaked! Meandering our way through the tour we came across a canyon. Nothing bad ever happens in a canyon, right? Once the train was inside the canyon we were subjected to all sorts of movie magic, including tons of water coming straight towards us! I did get a little wet, but not soaked. Whew! By this time it was getting close to the start time of Fantasmic, a light show on the water. The first time I went to Disneyland, my mom and I stumbled across this show and were amazed! I was very excited to see it again, and to see if it was as good as I remembered it. And it was! I think this show is one of my favorite things to see at a Disney park.


Our last day! The week had gone by so fast. We decided to split up with a plan to meet up later. Diane, Stacy & I started out at Animal Kingdom since Diane had missed it. We fastpassed the safari and watched the Lion King Festival. When we emerged from the Lion King Festival it was time for our safari. Even more animals were out on this safari - we even saw an elephant taking a bath!! We then went back to Mt. Everest where that silly Yeti was still ripping up train tracks. Diane & I headed over to the Dinosaur ride but as we got to the entrance there was a huge stream of people exiting. The ride was broken. But it wasn't my fault this time!! I wasn't even on the ride at the time. We waited for 5 minutes to see if it would open but when it didn't, we left and met up with Stacy at the front of the park. We got on a bus and headed over to the Magic Kingdom. It was at the Magic Kingdom we decided to see if we could visit all 4 parks in one day. With that goal in mind we got our picture taken on Main Street as photographic evidence. The only problem with this was that we hadn't done it at Animal Kingdom. Too bad, if only we had thought of it earlier in the day. After a quick snack at the bakery we made our way over to Toon Town to meet Mickey!! We toured Minnie's house and then headed over to Mickey's and we met the Mouse himself! We had fastpassed Space Mountain and still had time so we headed over to the barn to meet a few more characters - Minnie & Goofy. We still had more time and took a ride on Goofy's plane. Goofy wasn't the greatest pilot and the plane went through a barn before landing us on the runway. It was time for our fastpass so we left Toon Town and headed to Tomorrowland. We did a bit of shopping before saying goodbye to the Magic Kingdom and hello to MGM. After we got our picture taken we headed for the Rockin' Rollercoaster but all fastpasses had been distributed and the line was long. We were feeling "lined" out and decided to skip it. We we went on the Great Movie Ride and walked around before heading over to Epcot. We made our goal of all 4 parks in one day! At Epcot we met up with Michelle, Janette & Bailey to watch IllumiNations. Disney definitely knows how to put on a fireworks show!! Epcot had late Magic Hours so we thought we would hit Soarin', Test Track and Mission Space. Soarin' and Test Track still had long lines so we headed to Mission Space. Once again, I chickened out. Mission Space is a spinning ride and those who are claustraphobic are warned not to ride it. Every once in awhile I get very claustraphobic so I opted out. A group of high schoolers had just finished the ride while I was waiting and several were very sick, and one even needed a wheelchair to leave so I felt validated in my decision not to ride it. Feeling tired, and realizing how much packing we had left to do, we headed back to the hotel.


Diane had a very early flight the next morning. Originally I was on the same flight but instead of flying home I was flying to Germany to meet with co-workers before heading to London for training. So we said goodbye. Stacy left to spend the day with her brother. I did laundry most of the morning and finished up packing before Michelle, Janette, Bailey & I headed to the front of the hotel to wait for my bus to take me to the airport. We said goodbye and I left on the Magical Express bus.


What a wonderful birthday trip!! Thanks to everyone who made my birthday trip so special!!

Back in the US of A

I am back at home after a long 2 weeks of traveling that had me in Orlando, Bonn (Germany), and London before finally heading back to Seattle. Pictures & trip report to follow but it might be awhile.

And on a "shoulda hada V-8" note, my VCR decided it knew better than I did about the time change with daylight savings and changed the time on me so I'm not sure that any of my shows were recorded while I was gone. Just another reason why I need to join everyone else on the planet and get a DVR!

Procrastination

I leave for WDW in about a day and a half and instead of madly packing, which I should be doing, I am watching 102 Dalmations with Chloe (it's really Chloe who is watching - she enjoys barking at the dogs). I always end up packing and repacking and then unpacking and packing once again. What will eventually be the contents of my suitcase are currently spread out across the floor, some in my suitcase, some on the chair. Next commercial I am definitely going downstairs to finish packing!! Really, next commercial.

Countdown

Emily, you're turning 30 this year, what are you going to do next? I'm going to Disneyworld!! That's right, a mere week from today I will be leaving on a jet plane to go visit Mickey Mouse. This trip has been planned for probably close to 4 years so it's a little hard to believe it's really happening. With it only a week away, the official countdown has begun. 7 days and counting!!

It's March BABY!

NCAA, NC 2A, NC Double A - however you say it, it is tournament time! I love college basketball which makes March one of my favorite times of the year. Every year as I sit through nail-biter games, and the eventual loss of my team, I wonder why I continue to put myself through the ecstasy and agony every year. It has been awhile since my team has won the championship, it’s actually been several years since they’ve made it past the sweet sixteen.

Heading into championship week it looks like Duke will make the tournament, even with only a .500 record in the ACC. The (Washington) Huskies will most likely only make it if they win the PAC 10 championship. Gonzaga looks to be in, even if they were to lose the WCC championship. And, surprise of all surprises, the Cougars are not only a lock to get in but a potential 3 seed! 3 seed and Cougars is something I never thought I would say in the same sentance. Normally the Cougars wouldn't really even be on my radar considering I'm a Husky at heart, but my brother is in his final year at WSU and so I've temporarily set aside my cross-state rivalry prejudice towards the Cougars.

So what will this March bring? Who knows? But one thing is for certain, I will be watching!

London P.S.

I realized I had left out a very important part of my trip to London!! The ghost!! Or the psycho TV!! Take your pick. Saturday is when the trouble began. I was watching TV before we left for dinner and the channel changed all by itself. I didn't pay too much attention to it as I figured I had just inadvertently pushed a button. Later that night it happened again. Not a big deal, I just switched it back to the program we were watching. The problem started when we went to bed and the TV turned itself on not once, not twice but 5 times!! Granted, after the first time I should have turned it completely off rather than just hitting the power button but I was warm in my bed and didn't feel like getting out of bed to walk over to the TV. The first time I really noticed it was a little after midnight (midnight:20 to be exact). I made an empty threat that I would unplug the TV if it happened again. The second time was 2 hours later at 2:20. I thought to myself it must be on a 2 hour timer and it was probably near 10:20 when the channel switched. I didn't think on it too much and went back to sleep. The next time was at 3:45 so there went the whole 2 hour timer theory. The next time was sometime after 4, again just turned off the TV and went back to bed. The last time I had apparently gotten used to it and didn't wake up that quickly. It woke Jana up that time but it hadn't woken her up the two times before that. I was fed up with it by that time, fed up enough to get out of bed and turn it off completely. Before we went back to sleep we joked that it must have been the ghost from the castle that had followed us home. The rest of the night passed peacefully until of course the alarm clock went off, but that's another story.