Paris!

Maybe I am just oblivious but I always have had the impression that Paris was synonymous with the Eiffel Tower, and vice versa. When tourists go to Paris they are going to spend all of their time at the Eiffel tour, eating crepes and pastries, because there aren’t that many more main attractions unless you love art museums. This past weekend I was proved very wrong and quickly learned that there is MUCH more to see than just the Eiffel Tower. Paris is a huge city packed with beautiful and influential monuments and buildings along with some of the most fashionable people you will ever see in your life.

After meeting up with Jack in the Paris airport (he was on fall break for the week) we made our way to our hotel which was located right across from the Moulin Rogue. When we first arrived and were walking around the area, I was a little skeptical that my research about where to stay had led my in the very wrong direction. Surrounding the Moulin Rogue were blocks and blocks of sex shops and peep shows- all with huge fluorescent, tacky lights that were impossible not to look at. Clearly in the ‘Red Light District’ of Paris, I was a little concerned that it might be really sketchy at night. However, I remembered reading in the reviews that the Moulin Rogue was towards the end of the district and that on the other side was Montemarte which is an area that is known for having many cute little shops and restaurants. It is also on a hill and if you follow the streets all of the way to the top there is this beautiful cathedral – the Sacre Coeur, and beautiful views of the city. Determined to find the top, we set off walking all around the area and followed other tourists in the right direction. When we finally reached the top I could definitely see why so many people recommended to make the trek to the top. It was just starting to get dark out and we had a panoramic view of the whole city just starting to light up. The steps going up to the cathedral were already filled with people sitting in groups and eating or drinking or just socializing. We made our way up the steps and went inside the cathedral which had beautiful stained glass windows and huge sculpted columns. The exit to the cathedral led us into these small streets where there was a farmers market- almost like a little fair- going on. There were hundreds of little tents set up with locals selling all different types of wine, food and crafts. We walked around the area for a little but then it started to rain, so we headed back down the hill and found a place to eat dinner.

 The Sacre Coeur

The next morning we were a little disappointed to see that it was overcast and supposed to rain most of the day but we put on our raincoats and grabbed our umbrellas and headed for the metro. As I mentioned before, Paris is a HUGE city but has a really good metro system that we found was fairly easy to figure out so we relied on that most of the time which was cheaper and more convenient than taking taxis. We decided to get off at the ‘Jardin des Tuileries’ stop and then see where we wanted to go from there. Walking up out of the metro station we were both shocked to be surrounded by such massive, elegant looking buildings. We decided to first walk through the Jardins before it started to rain. The Jardin is a huge park that lies between the Lourve and the Palace de la Concorde, so is always filled with tourists. There are lots of different fountains, sculptures, little cafes, and playgrounds inside of the park and although it was a cold, rainy day I could definitely picture how crowded it would be during the summertime. We followed the park all the way to the Lourve- the art museum where the Mona Lisa is displayed. Although I’m not very interested in art, and had heard that the Mona Lisa was kind of a let down it started to rain and we figured that we had to go inside if we were right there. The entrance to the museum is underground so it is hard to tell how big it is from the outside but once we got inside it was huge with many different wings dedicated to different styles of painting. If you really loved art, you could definitely spend a whole day exploring all of it. After waiting in line for tickets, we found which wing the Mona Lisa was in and headed in that direction. On our way we saw the statue of Nike, the Greek goddess (what the Nike logo is based after) which was really cool. We knew when we found the Mona Lisa because there was a huge pack of tourists (mostly Asians- they are everywhere!) around it. Although people had told me that the painting was pretty small, I didn’t actually think it would be THAT small. It’s crazy that just because of its fame, so many people were pushing to take a picture of it (including me, haha). After seeing that we had had enough art for one day and left the museum to find that it was pouring rain outside. We quickly found a restaurant and stayed there until the rain passed.

 The Louvre

 Nike Statue 

The rest of the afternoon we just walked along the Sine River which runs by most of the monuments and later that night we took a river cruise along the river to see all of the monuments lit up at night. Although it was really cold and raining a little it was so pretty to see all of the monuments and gave us an idea of where else we needed to go the next 2 days.

The next morning we decided to go to the Palace of Versailles which is located a little outside of the city. We were able to take the metro and a train to get there and although we got a little lost and ended up taking way longer to get there than should have, we finally found our way. The Palace of Versailles is where French King Louis XIV moved to and designed and was the Royal Family residence for about the following 100 years until the French Revolution began. The moment we saw the palace, everything I had learned in my high school AP European History class started to come back to me and I remembered what an important symbol of absolute monarchy the Palace had been at its time. Today the Palace is mainly used for a museum, however, there are occasionally government meetings held in the Hall of Mirrors.

 Outside of the Palace 

The palace is massive, so we decided to take a guided tour through King Louis’ apartments and then were able to continue on through the Queens apartments and a few other major parts. What I found most interesting, and remembered learning about in school, was that the house was divided into the King and Queen parts. The only times when they really spent together were for some meals. Also, it was really interesting to learn about how King Louis XIV loved the public’s attention and the public would watch him wake up and get dressed every morning and he had a large staff to help him do so. Also, in the King’s apartments, there were rooms for his mistresses which were publicly acceptable for him to have. After touring the King’s apartments we were able to see the chapel which was inside of the palace and really beautiful. The king always stood from a balcony high up so that people were always looking up to him.

Lastly, we went through the Hall of Mirrors which is considered one of the most famous rooms in the world. It is literally a huge room with one wall completely covered with these large, elegant mirrors. King Louis XIV had it built because at the time mirrors were one of the most expensive things you could own and should a sign of social status. So, because he wanted all of the public’s attention, he would walk through this room every day. Overall, the Palace was very impressive and almost kind of overwhelming because each room was so elaborate. 

Hall of Mirrors 

After the Palace, we walked through the Gardens which are located behind the palace and extend very far out and to the sides. Even though it was raining, the Gardens were so beautiful and had many fountains and statues and music playing. Also in the Gardens is Marie Antoinette’s Estate. Marie Antoinette was the wife of King Louis XVI and unlike most women in the Royal family, had a very strong opinion and disliked living in the extravagant palace. Louis XVI built her her own estate located back in the gardens which is where she spent most of her time out of the public eye. We decided that we had had enough of the rain and didn’t tour her estate but headed back into the city and spent the rest of the night in the Moulin Rogue area and got banana and nutella crepes! 

 The Gardens 

Monday morning we were pleasantly surprised to see that it was sunny! I was glad that our flight was not until later that day so that we could see some of the city without umbrellas and puddles. We took the metro to the Eiffel Tower to see it up close during the daytime. I think that it was much more impressive when it was lit up at night, but it still is pretty amazing how big and unique it is. Although it was still morning, there was a really long line to take the elevator to the top, so we decided to skip going up and rather go see the Notre Dame.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame being one of my favorite movies, I was especially excited to see if the cathedral actually look anything like it did in the cartoon. Although it didn’t really bring back many memories, it was still so beautiful and had such cool and unique architecture from the outside. Inside was even more impressive because it was filled with stained glass windows and with the sun shining in from the outside which was so beautiful. I think it might be my favorite cathedral that I have seen from the inside.

We walked back along the Sine river until we reached the Champs de Elysee which is the main shopping street in Paris. It was fun to walk down and great people watching. I thought it was interesting how there were both very high end stores and just average stores all mixed in together, but I guess this way it appeals to basically all types of people. At the end of the street is the Arc de Triomphe which was again, so tall and massive and incredible that anyone could build a structure like it. Once we reached the Arc, we had to take the metro back to our hotel and head to the airport. I was definitely glad we got almost 3 full days in the city because I definitely underestimated the amount of things there are to see and I am so happy that we were able to make it to Versailles because it was definitely my favorite! 

Venice, Italy

This past weekend I flew to Milan, Italy to meet up with my good friend from Richmond, Laura. She is studying abroad there and lives with two of our other friends from Richmond. Unfortunately I had class on Friday so wasn't able to get to Milan until Friday night and didn't get to see much of the city, but it was good to see my friends. Saturday morning Laura and I took the 3 hour train from Milan to Venice deciding that we both thought that the 6 hours total train for less than 24 hours in Venice would be worth it. We had purchased our train tickets ahead of time and when we boarded the train a few minutes before we were supposed to leave we started to walk throughout the 2nd class cabins, surprised by how full they were. Not seeing a single seat open, we had to keep walking and soon saw that people were just sitting on the floor on their suitcases- a clear sign that in fact there were not enough seats for everyone. We were shocked that the train could just oversell the tickets and expect people to sit on the floor for 3 hours. We decided that an upgrade to first class would be worth it because we couldn't even find room to sit on the floor! It definitely was worth it and we were able to sleep for most of the 3 hours.

I had seen pictures of Venice before and knew that it was all on the water and had lots of canals, but I was shocked by how many little canals and bridges there were! It was so cool and really amazing that all of the buildings are still standing because they are literally in the water. First, we decided to find some lunch and after looking at a few menus it was clear that most places were typical Italian food, advertising either pizza or pasta so we chose a place that had seats right on the water. The pizza actually turned out to be some of the best I have ever had with huge roasted vegetables on top! While eating, we were on the main canal and watched all of the different boats pass. We saw many water taxis go by, carrying everything from babies in strollers to luggage- it was pretty funny to watch! And of course, there were lots of gondolas giving rides to tourists, the drivers all dressed in the stereotypical white and black striped shirt. We also saw that there was a big ferry type boat that served as Venice's public transportation. 

 The Main Canal 

Italian Pizza! 

After lunch, we started to explore the streets in the hopes to make our way towards San Marco square. I have walked through many narrow European streets before but these streets were way more narrow than any that I have ever seen. Like one person could barely fit through! It was crazy. And also very easy to get lost, but we were happy to be able to just wander around and see all the intertwined canals and bridges and the many gondola boats. In the streets were apartments, restaurants and lots of shops. All of the shops were of 3 different types- leather, masks, or colorful glass. The first is pretty explanatory- Italian leather. The second, masks, was a little bit of a shock to Laura and I. All of these stores were literally filled with all of these different types of masks from ones decorated in feathers to some resembling different types of animals. We later learned that this is the traditional wear for the Venice Carnival every year. The last, colorful glass, were filled with beads, dishes, jewelry and sculptures, all made of really colorful glass. I had read before about the island, Murano, which is right next to Venice and is world famous for making this colorful glass. If we had more time, we could have taken a boat over to Murano and seen the glass blowing... but guess that means that I will just have to go back! 

Exploring the small canals 

After winding through many narrow streets and trying our best to follow the signs, we began to see many more tourists and knew we were getting close to the square. We turned a corner and found ourselves in the middle of Saint Marks square facing the Basilica. The Basilica had really cool architecture and seemed to be more Arab than Italian and was surprisingly huge for being tucked away into such tiny buildings. Unfortunately they were doing renovations on most of the church so we couldn't go inside but instead went up to the top of the bell tower right next to the Basilica and were able to get a view of the whole city which was awesome. 

The Basilica 

View from the Bell Tower

We explored the area by the main river and it was starting to get dark so it was really cool to see everything all lit up. We went to find dinner and had some more awesome pizza and salad and then of course finished it off with some gelato! (although I do have to say that the gelato I've had in Spain is way better). For the rest of the night we just walked through the narrow streets more and saw all of the boats and water taxis lit up and went into some of the shops. 

The next morning we had an early train back to Milan and then I had a flight back to Spain. Although it was a lot of traveling for only a short time in Venice I am still really glad I went and was able to see such a unique and beautiful city! 

OKTOBERFEST (Munich, Germany)

Oktoberfest: The weekend of 5 pound beers, giant pretzels and aggressive German security guards.

The day before I left for Germany, my German friend from class made me promise her three things: 

• 1. To eat as many pretzels as possible
• 2. Not to mess with the security guards
• 3. To remember that not all Germans are as crazy as the hundreds I would see at Oktoberfest

Having planned this trip many months ago, it was one trip I had highly anticipated and was practically mandatory for any American student studying abroad in Europe in the fall. The weekend definitely lived up to and exceeded all of my expectations and I was so glad that I got the chance to experience such a crazy scene. In addition to my German friends rules, my friends and I had also heard some American rules of our own: 

1.) Cram as many people as possible into one hotel room. 
We definitely followed this rule- cramming 5 people into our 2 person hotel room. However, we were surprised to see a king bed as we had all gotten used to the standard tiny twin beds that are typical to Europe. We were able to fit 4 girls in one bed, no problem. A little awkward when the 2 of us when to check in and asked to leave 5 bags of luggage... but it worked out fine. 

2.) Go to the Hofbrau Tent. 
There are 14 beer tents spread out along the huge Oktoberfest fairground and each is sponsored by a different brand of German beer. Most of them have different stereotypes for the people that attend their tent. The Hofbrau, or "HB", tent is known as the international/American tent and is the one that all of the American students look forward to. It is also one of the biggest tents and has a huge raised stage where a band played American rock music, mixed with the occasional German chant, all day long. 

                                                                   The Haufbrau Tent


3.) Get to the tents as early as possible. 
The doors to the beer tents don't open until 9am, but in order to form our 'Richmond' block of tables and to make sure we could all get seats, we had to get to the fair grounds at 7am to get a spot in line outside of the tent. Still dark out, we waited both Friday and Saturday morning in a crowd of people (mostly American college students) to be the first ones in. When the doors finally did open, there was a mad rush to find tables near your friends. Once the two minutes of panic and chaos ended, we waited, again. The beers were not served until 10:30am which yes, seems aggressively early to start working your way through a 5 pound beer, but we had already been awake and in line for what seemed like days and were anxious to get the experience started. The time passed quickly filled with our first of many giant pretzels (they are even better than they look) and catching up with all of our friends. And then the beer came. The whole tent (at least 2,000 people at this point) erupted into cheers as the beer ladies made their first rounds. I am still in awe at how the beer girls are able to carry so many beers. My hand was sore for days after holding just one and these ladies carry 8 or 10, continuously, all day long. The tent began to fill even more as the day went on and we were definitely glad that we had listened to rule #3 and gotten there early. Inside the tents was pretty overwhelming- the beer ladies who were trying to deliver beer and food had whistles that they would continuously blow to push their way through the crowd. And if you didn't get out of their way they would have no problem shoving you aside or just hit you in the head with their food tray. Vendors lined the sides of the tent selling food and souvenirs. In addition to the music being played, every 20 minutes or so a brave person (mostly men) would take a full beer stein, stand on top of their table and attempt to chug the entire beer. This would quickly attract the attention of the whole tent and everyone would cheer them on- screaming if they were able to finish it, booing if they couldn't. 

                                                      Our first beer lady of the weekend!

                                                                     Inside of the tent


4.) Try a" Radler". 
The beer that the beer ladies were carrying around was all the standard HB draft. However, you could ask to order different types of beer and they would bring it to you. One of the types you could order was called a Radler and was half beer, half lemonade. Although sounding kind of disgusting when I first heard about it, I was very pleasantly surprised. By mid-day it got pretty hot inside the beer tents and a Radler was just the refreshing drink that I wanted. 

5.) Go on the Flying Swings. (BEFORE you have many beers) 
In addition to the beer tents, there are tons of fair-like activities: games, shops, food vendors and lots of big rides. I had heard from many people who had been to Oktoberfest in the past that I had to go on the flying swings because you get elevated high into the air and can see all of the fair grounds and some of the city as well. I was definitely glad that I took the suggestion and the swings were lots of fun and although it wasn't a very nice day out, it gave us a great view of the city. 

And then my German friends rules.. 

• Eat as many pretzels as possible 

I definitely took this suggestion to heart as I found myself eating pretzels for breakfast, lunch and dinner. They were delicious. Enough said. 

• Don't mess with the security guards

I kind of just laughed when she originally told me this but I quickly could see what she meant. The guards were SO aggressive and scary. I understand that they had to be all around and had to be tough and not put up with any drunk people but I think they were a little power hungry and took things to an extreme. I literally saw them dragging people out by their necks and throwing them onto the ground outside. They were all huge and had tattoos and were really intimidating too. 

We went to the tents both Friday and Saturday and explored the fair grounds as well, and unfortunately I had to leave Sunday morning so wasn't able to see any of the actual city. But the weekend was definitely worth all of the hype and I can see why everyone says it is a necessity if you are abroad. 

Movie Stars and Labor Strikes

 The past two weeks, San Sebastian has held their 60^th annual international film festival which turned the usually quiet city into a mob of tourists and celebrities. Although the streets and restaurants were much more crowded than usual, it freed up lots of spots on the beach which I was happy about! One of the most famous film festivals in the world, the people of San Sebastian are very proud to be the hosts and spent many weeks preparing. From my balcony, I can see the main film festival building which sits right on the beach and is where the majority of the films, award ceremonies, and the Red carpet were located. Movies were played at various venues around the city in many different languages, and although I’m sure the movies are what attracts many, to me it seemed like the celebrity sightings were the highlight of most of the Spanish publics week. A few days before the festival began, we heard that many celebrities from around the world would attend and I was surprised to recognize the names of many from America such as John Travolta, Dustin Hoffman, Ben Afflack, and Richard Gere and of course Penelope Cruz. There was a large Red Carpet that was rolled out onto the sidewalk leading into the main center where people would crowd around to hopefully catch a glimpse of the celebrities attending movies. The biggest crowd of fans gathered all around the Maria Cristina hotel where all of the celebrities were staying. Only a block from my apartment, I could hear the screams of fans when a celebrity got out of their car and entered the hotel. One evening when my friends and I were walking to dinner, we were passing near the hotel and saw hundreds of people crowded around and start to scream and take pictures. We pushed our way through and saw that it was John Travolta waving to the crowd! To me, it is cool that such a small city was able to attract so many celebrities.

John Travolta sighting (believe me, it's really him!)

Last Wednesday, however, the crowded busy streets were bare and the city and Film Festival shut down due to a city-wide labor strike. The strike was organized by 2 national labor unions and was a nation wide effort with strikes in many cities across Spain. The Spanish government is planning to pass a bill with huge cuts ($50 billion) in public spending and increased taxes on necessities such as food. The day before the strike was planned our teachers told us that we would most likely not have class because many of the Spanish students and faculty would be participating in the strike but they told us that it would not be violent and we had nothing to worry about besides the fact that every store in the city would be closed. So, sure enough the next morning all of a sudden I could hear all of these car horns and then people chanting and banging on the dumpsters in our street. I was a little scared at first and me and my roomates peeked out of our windows, not sure if it was safe to go on our balcony. We could see people basically hanging out of their windows all along the street so we felt safe to go out on the balcony to watch.  On our street (really small and mostly residential) there were around 20 people waving basque flags and chanting. We watched them go up to the door of each business and bang on the door and then the store owner would step outside and dramatically lock his door- showing that he was closing his store- hang a poster supporting the strike on his door, and join the group to continue to the next store. After they had gathered all everyone on our street, we watched them continue onto the main street where we could hear what sounded like bigger groups. We made a joint decision that we shouldn’t go to class and waited inside our apartment for the morning. After the commotion on our street we didn’t hear anything else and the streets looked almost eerily quiet because nothing was open. Later in the afternoon, we saw a few more shops opening up near our house so we went out to explore. 95% of the shops were still closed- all with big posters promoting the strike and the 5% of the places open were the bars where all of the protesters had ended up. We found that kind of funny that the whole city decided to take off the day of work and protest in the morning and then party in the afternoon! There haven’t been any signs of strikes or protests in the past week- and the Basque region is the wealthiest in Spain so we haven’t really seen any other signs of the financial crisis.

                                                    Protestors gathering in our street 

So, a pretty exciting and eventful two weeks leading up to… OKTOBERFEST!

Lisbon, Portugal

     One thing that has surprised me is the number of Australians who vacation to San Sebastian. Apparently it is very common for Australians to work for a few years, and because everything is so expensive in Australia, they get paid a lot and are able to quit their job after a few years and take off a year or so and travel all around Europe. Being a surfing destination, San Sebastian attracts many of them and I have met countless Australians and always ask them what their favorite place to visit has been. Almost every single one has responded, “Portugal.” At first I thought that this was pretty random, but having been to Lagos, Portugal last summer I knew from what I had experienced that the Portuguese were very welcoming to travelers, it was warm weather, and the beaches were very pretty. Looking up reviews online, we found hundreds that suggested to go to Lisbon and that it was very underrated. Researching ways to get to Lisbon, we found that there was a direct overnight 13 hour train from San Sebastian. Figuring that the overnight train would be a good experience we found a hostel for the five of us and booked a trip. We had researched the trains online, just to get an idea of if the seats actually looked comfortable enough to sleep in and the websites showed big, comfy, reclining seats. This was definitely false advertising. We get on the train late Thursday night and find ourselves in tiny seats that don’t recline, a very stuffy cabin, and fluorescent lights that would stay on the entire night. We had planned that when we got to Lisbon in the morning we would just start sight seeing right away because we would only be there one full day, and knew that we wouldn’t be able to go without a nap if we could not sleep at all during the night. So my friend (the same one who bargained with the taxi driver) somehow convinced one of the train workers to upgrade us to a sleeper car for a discounted price. 

Sleeper car!

Actually able to sleep for a few hours, our first overnight train experience was not so bad, although we were all definitely more than ready to get out of the train when we arrived in Lisbon. When we finally got off the train, we took the subway to the hotel and were impressed by how clean and futuristic the subways were. The subway brought us right to where our hostel was and we went to check in. After seeing the false advertising for the train, we were very hesitant to how the hostel would be, especially because we each only had to pay $20 for the night. However, we were all shocked when we saw the inside; huge flat screen TVs and comfy couches, a large kitchen with all of this free food and coffee, WIFI that actually worked!, and very updated bathrooms! It took us some serious willpower not to just crash on the couches and watch a movie. After leaving our stuff at the hostel, we headed out to explore the city.

                                                   One of the living rooms at the hostel

All of Lisbon is connected by yellow wooden trolley cars that run on cables, and although there are now some buses, the trolley cars serve as the main source of public transportation for both locals and tourists. Excited to try them out, we crammed into one that took us across the city and down by the river to some of the main monuments of the city. Fun at first, our 10 minute ride was more than long enough considering it was close to 100 degrees out (and inside the trolleys) and there were probably 20 more people than should have actually been riding. 

                                                               Our first Trolley ride!

Getting out, we could see the huge Central Mosque of Lisbon in the distance and headed in that direction. On our way, we passed the President’s Residence, complete with guards standing outside!

We reached the mosque, shocked by how big the whole thing was. We went inside the church part, with all of the beautiful stained glass windows and elaborate sculptures. Although the line to tour the rest of the mosque was way too long for us to wait in, we learned that this is the main mosque of the Portuguese Islamic Community. Walking through the gorgeous gardens that are in front of the mosque, we made our way down to the river and came across the Padrao dos Descobrimentos which is a tower that was built to honor all of the famous Portuguese explorers and navigators. We took an elevator to the top of the tower and could see gorgeous views of the city- one view which surprisingly resembled San Francisco. It literally looked the same exact as the Golden Gate bridge!

                                               The Guards at the Presidents Residence 

                                                                   Part of The Mosque

                                                              We're in... San Francisco???

                         Padrao dos Descobrimentos (all the statues are of different explorers) 

We walked along the river to the Belem Tower which is the most famous monument in Portugal and is an important site because it played a crucial role in the ‘Age of Discoveries’. Again, there was a very long line to get in and we would have had to wait in the direct 100 degree sunlight so we settled for just taking pictures of the outside.

                                                                The Belem Tower

When we had asked the receptionist at the hostel what we should do she said that we had to go to Pasteis de Belem to have pastries and was shocked that we hadn’t heard of it before. Apparently it is the most famous pastry shop in Belgium and is basically the Georgetown Cupcakes of Lisbon. She told us to make sure that we walk to the back to sit down because there are hundreds of tables in the back. When we arrived at the pastry shop, we knew that we had found the right one because of the massive line that went out along the sidewalk with people waiting to get to the pastry counter. Following her advice, we skipped the line and walked inside. We were very confused by what she meant because we could only see a small sitting area with only a few, already occupied, tables. However, a waiter saw us standing clueless and told us to follow him to the back. The shop was a bunch of these small sitting rooms combined, and seemed to go on and on forever- it was crazy! I still have no idea how they fit all of those rooms in that small space. We ordered the traditional Lisbon pastires- little puff pastries with a sweet cream in the middle and you sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on top. At first we didn’t know if we would like them- they really don’t look that appetizing, but after trying them we ended up ordering a few more orders.

We then got back on the trolley cars and returned to our hostel to take a very much needed nap. At night, all of the nightlife takes place in the “Barrio Alto” which is at the top of the city (the whole city is on a big hill). People cram into the trolley cars to be taken up to the top for the night, however, fortunately our hostel was in the Barrio Alto so we didn’t have to travel far to find all of the restaurants and bars. We were surprised to see how dirty the streets were, because the rest of the city seemed fairly clean. People were just throwing all of their trash and drinks into the street and we found that a little annoying, especially compared to San Sebastian where a street cleaner comes through basically every hour. The rest of the night was very fun, it was my friend’s birthday so convinced this reggae bar that was playing at one of the bars we were at to sing Happy Birthday to him and got everyone else who was at the bar to join in.

The next morning we got back on the trolley cars to head to the highest point in the city- Saint George’s Castle. Winding through steep narrow roads, we reached the highest point that the trolley cars run and got out of the trolleys and continued to walk about 10 more minutes up the tiny roads the castle entrance. The castle was originally a Moorish castle that was then captured by the Portugese King who turned it into his residence and was later dedicated to the Patron Saint of England, Saint George. It survives as only a monument and tourist attraction today because it gives out the best views of the city. We took in the views, finding it very interesting to see the direct contrast between parts of the city. Close to all of the historic monuments and the river there are small houses, all white with red roofs. There are no tall or modern looking buildings at all. However when you look to the right and more inland you can see large skyscrapers and the more industrial parts. We spent a few hours exploring the castle and taking in the beautiful views, sad that we were not able to spend at least one more day in the city. 

                                            View from the top of Saint George's Castle! 

                                                                 The Castle enterance 

                                                                   Exploring the castle!

We made our way back down the hill and walked to the Fashion Museum that we heard was also a must see in the city. Although the two boys were not exactly thrilled, they tagged along and were glad they did. It was not so much a clothing fashion museum but rather they had displays from each decade and showed different styles of cars, appliances, music, and clothing from all around the world. It was really interesting and also a good air conditioned break from the sun! After the museum we had to go back to the hostel to get our stuff then headed on to the train station. Although we were dreading the 13 hour ride back home, we all agreed that the total 26 hours on a train were definitely worth the total 26 hours we were in the city! I would definitely agree with all of the Australians and reviews- Lisbon is an awesome city and I am really surprised that I don’t hear about it more!