i've returned from portugal!
ahh, and molto obrigado for the kind comments! i've missed everyone so much!
haha! and guess what? when i first signed on guess how many deviations and messages i had?
176 deviations, 80 messages.
real numbers there folks.


and now begins the tale of europe;;

day one:
plane to newark airport boarded at 11:45am mountain time. arrived in newark at roughly 6:00pm eastern time. (already skipped two time zones). the flight to lisboa (lisbon) is timed at six hours and two minutes, and we left at roughly 8:30pm eastern time. here's the really weird thing, though--while on the flight i skip over seven time zones (i was seven hours ahead of everyone in the u.s.a.) and so even though it was really the middle of the night for me, in lisbon everyone was just waking up. i arrived in lisbon at 9:00am their time. it messed me up real good.
all right, time zones pretty much explained as they can get. now! the plane ride was fair, but definitely not a comfortable one. i was happy to get the window seat, though, and ohh lord. just when we were an hour away from descending (36k feet y'all!) i saw the stars. i've never seen so many shooting stars at once! it was so beautiful. then the sun rose and it got morebeautiful. i can't even describe it well enough. we were above all the clouds, even the top atmosphere, and over the atlantic too, so there was this gorgeous green light touching the smooth, white clouds. some of the clouds were huge, too, so they created these dark shadows against the green and... oh man. i will never forget it.
so! we landed, we got to the resort, and slept until 3pm.
exploring time after that. yummmm.

day two:
after a delicious breakfast of tropical fruit and chocolate mousse we headed over to the city of lisboa from our resort/hotel/sleeping place in cascais "kush-kaa-eesh". and we shopped! and shopped. and shopped. i had roughly 300 euro to spend (which is $450 u.s. dollars) but i didn't spend any of it on this day.
we went inside all of these old churches. i was really humbled when i went inside, and even though my parents were speaking i wouldn't talk. not sure why, exactly. the churches had gold-encrested arches and figures. it was beautiful.
pretty much more exploring tiem, kthx.
but dinner! i've been dreaming of seafood ever since i got to denver, and here was my chance to have it again. holyfuckingod. i had clams in spanish red sauce for dinner. clams. CLAMS. i absolutely adore clams. they're sooo delicious! but these clams were amazing, without a doubt. i just melted into ecstasy when i opened my first clam, then died. it's been so long.
then chocolate mousse for dessert. i died again.

day four:
more fruit and croissants, and a swim in the pool. whoooo! i bought a new suit just for this. i'd been relaxing the day before, so today was back to the city of lisboa--which is all hills and alleyways that are completely covered in tile!
so, the first half of the day went pretty normal, right?
right. then the afternoon came, which is when one of the highlights of this trip happened. haha, it's great.
mum had been wanting to ride one of the trolleys since we got here, so we finally found a stop and anxiously waited for one. we'd been told that there were a lot of pickpockets on the trolleys, so we thought, "oh, okay. just zip up your bags and keep your pockets closed!" easy, right? well here's where it kind of changed. just as the trolley came, a lot of other tourists (mostly from wales i heard) were lining up to get in. just as i was about to step in this young woman sprints to where i am and then stops. at first i thought she was falling, so i went out to catch her, but then i saw that someone was restraining her. i backed off just in time for her to push everyone else down and try and run off, except there was this huge portugese man clinging onto her. she dragged him halfway down the stop before she gave up and ran off. the man got up, walked over next to me and handed an elderly woman her purse and some jewels.
apparently she was a pickpocket and had snatched the woman's purse and her gifts and tried to get off the trolley. afterwards we got back on and i heard the other passengers re-telling the story in portugese--it was great . and very exciting!
after we saw a parade with massive gray horses! yaay. lots of pictures there.

day five:
we left the (awesome) resort and drove north to porto, which is this old port (both wine port and ship port). this was the hotel that was the least expensive for us, and also my least favourite town! it was a bit dirtier and didn't have much to offer, but it was still beautiful. we also went to a church where my parents wanted me to see "the tree of jesse" (). it was gorgeous! it was gold and cedar and stone and just beautiful. i loved it.
next was a "museum" which i was a bit creeped out by. it wasn't really a museum any more than a... euh. well, let's say i would never want to guard this place. why? it was a crypt. so, i was surrounded by dead people for thirty minutes and even stood on them--though once i figured out that there were more inside the floor i made it a point to walk around their caskets.
oh, and i got whistled at (three times) by portugese men.
fun stuff.

day seven:
we left porto and did a five hour drive all the way down to south portugal where we stayed at another resort (undoubtedly the nicest one of our trip). that took up day six!
this was in tavira, which is on the coast.
we did more shopping around on this day, mostly going to different towns and looking madly around for tiles to buy.
this is where i found my pants (whut)! they have these awesome pants that are very arabic and are supposed to be huge and breezy. i bought two pairs they're like the sweatpants of america, only they have no "sweatpants" in portugal, only these arabic pants. which are better. by a lot. i practically lived in them--and still am.

day nine:
our last day .
but probably the best, too.
THE OCEAN. OH LORD THE OCEAN. I'VE MISSED YOU SO MUCH !
we took a five-minute ferry ride to an island where the beach was. the sand was golden and warm, with very few pokey sea shells and dunes. there were snack shaks and music playing... it was heaven. i adore the beach. didn't you know?
but anyway, i laid on the towel and sunbathed for about an hour before jumping in the ocean. it was fuckin brilliant. the ocean was still the atlantic, but it felt more like the mediterranean because of how warm it was. it's rare to find the atlantic that warm! but i swam and floated and swam and floated and dove and bodysurfed and... i really never wanted to leave. the water was clear and salty--no crabs or sharks, and not much seaweed either. i just died and went to heaven.
i got really dark too, haha! good tan there .
finally at like 4:30pm we headed back to tavira to have our last night's meal. i had calamari! mmm, tentacles.

day ten:
we woke up at 5:30am and were at the airport by 8:00am portugal time. we took off at roughly 8:50am! whoo, thank the lord. again more weirdness with time zones; we landed in newark at 12:20pm.
but hey, surprise! my flight to burlington vermont (where i am now at my grandmother's) was delayed by oh! one hour. oh, but wait. it's another two hours. and guess what! another hour!
we were supposed to leave from newark at 4:30pm. but no, we boarded at 8:05pm instead for a FIFTY-FIVE MINUTE FLIGHT. THE HELL IS UP WITH THAT.
so we arrived in burlington at 9:30pm. oh joy. then it was a one-and-a-half hour drive to my uncle's house, then another hour drive to my grandmother's. i went to bed at her house at 12:00am eastern time. guess what time that is in portugal? after 5:00am.
i was up for more than twenty-four hours. hah. hahaha.

but over all it was an experience i'll never forget, and one i want to have again. maybe bring some others this time, eh?

god this journal is long.
okay, i'll wrap it up.

PORTUGAL/EUROPE =