November 4, 2018
We have been here a little over a month and have experienced an entire year's worth of Portugal's weather - hot sun, cold rain, and even a hurricane - the first since 1842! We had little or no damage in Lisbon. All of the restaurants were told to close at 9:00 pm. However, just up the coast, some towns experienced power outages and some structural damage.
I have noticed a few "fashion" trends here in the city. During the hot weather "butt cheeks" seemed to be the fashion of the day. Young women (thankfully) wore shorts so short that their lower buttocks showed below. Now that the weather is cool, I am seeing lots of women in short skirts or dresses worn with tights and ankle-high boots. I rather like the look and the many varieties of those books beckon to me from the many shoe store windows.
In addition to the wonderful Lisbon Metro options for getting around the city, we have discovered the intercity trains. So now, instead of renting a car and driving 3 or more hours (depending on traffic) to Porto, we spend 44 euros per person for a round-trip between Porto and Lisbon on a fast, comfortable train that takes a bit less than 3 hours each way.
Yesterday we watched the "rehearsal" for today's celebration of the centennial of WWI. Picture thousands of members of military and police regiments in formations all up and down Avenida Liberdade between the Pombal circle and the Praca dos Restauradores. This is one of Lisbon's busiest thoroughfares so you can imagine the jams on the parallel side streets. The US was represented by a group of about 15 reps from the US Marines, Army, and Navy. We met a US Army Colonel who is a military attache serving a three-year posting in Lisbon. Lucky guy!
Even now, in November, Portugal is still over-run with tourists. Now that it has been branded the hotspot for tourism in Europe everyone is visiting from all over Europe and the world. We hope things will calm down in January.
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