La restaurant Chill In es una estupendo restaurant. Me gusta mucho la cosas yo como en la restaurant. Me gusta los perros tambien.
This morning before we went down to breakfast I got dressed, washed my face, and then went to take a look out the window at the cloudless bay and the gorgeous beach. When I turned around I found ants on the floor. I took a closer look and realized that the ants were near my purse (also on the floor). I immediately alerted Ahmee to it, who sat down on the bed and laughed when I exclaimed, "The ants are in my purse! They're using my zipper as a ladder! Why are they in there?! I haven't got any food!" As she chuckled I popped open my purse, took out my french handbook, my spanish flashcards, my postcards, my glasses case, and my umbrella bag. At the very bottom I found a little package wrapped up in a white paper towel that had more than the average amount of ants on it. I immediately knew that this was the brownie I'd searched for months ago (had a terrible feeling it was from the first time we were in France). When I found this I went, "Oh. I do have food in there." I threw away my brownie thinking, "Those suckers got my chocolate!" I then took my purse outside and I put all of my things outside with it (because they had a few ants on them).
When we went down to breakfast (before hand I sent off work) and afterwards when I was putting my things back together (sadly enough some of my things got wet when they were outside) Ahmee told Poppy about my ant episode. It gave her quite a laugh and I can't really say that I blame her.
Once everything was together we went downstairs where we waited in line to check out (Ahmee and I admiring the layout of the building and the christmas decoration). Then when we were free to go we got on the road headed north to Lisbon. We stopped once to try and get into a church (church in Bispo) which Ahmee and Poppy had seen before and which had a beautiful interior. The door wasn't open though and we never found the door so I never got to see the blue tiles and the painted ceiling within (except for on the pamphlet Ahmee had). So we moved on and passed through the countryside and avoided the highway. Most of the time we went slowly, watching the scenery and the windy road. We went through forests with pine trees, cork trees, and other plants. The hills were rolling, the roads reminded me of the curvy ones my Momma loves to drive on, and the plants reminded me of Japanese mountainsides (prints) and of other places I'd seen. The rain wasn't much of a hindrance until we went off the road to the beach. We got out to walk on the sand. My objective was to touch the Atlantic again, which I did. I got close to one of the barnackle-covered rocks and touched the water in the small pool there. It was freezing but the smell and the sights were wonderful. I'd never been to a beach that was framed by cliffs. I'd never been to a beach that had rocks that had those pools and that had those rocks. I did recognize the plant life though when we were getting back into the car (and battling the rain and wind). The century plants, plants that are related to Yuccas and that bloom once after thirty years and then die with lots of babies at their base, the yuccas, the icicle plants (saw those on top of the cliffs at Sagres), and the pines in the background on the hills. For those of you who don't know about yuccas, I recommend you do a bit of research. They are common in the southwest U.S., and were used for all kinds of things by the Indians (paper, tea, etc.). They also have really beautiful blooms.
When we got back on the road our wet clothes caused the windows to fog up, which was slightly annoying for those of us who wanted to see out the window. When Poppy turned on the cooler we were able to look out the windows at the newly harvested cork trees (they scrape the bark off the trees every now and then-no idea how often-leaving the bottom part of the trees orange), at the pine trees (which I really love), the grasses, and the pueblos (which I thought were exceedingly pretty).
Finally we passed through a section of mostly pine trees, went around a curve which had a restaurant across the street from a cork tree that hadn't been harvested yet, and then on down the road we saw another storks nest just above someone's house. At that point we decided it was a good time to turn around and get a picture of the stork posing in his nest, and to head back to the cork tree so I could feel its bark. We did both of these things. The stork was beautiful and stayed still for us, and the cork tree contained many wonderful gifts for us, or at least for me. We parked in the restaurant parking lot to the greeting of two massive dogs which I had to tell to stay put as we crossed the street. Once I got close to the cork tree I exclaimed at the smell which Ahmee at first didn't notice. I then walked over and poked the slightly squishy bark. It was too cool! Of course, those of you who've felt the cork of a wine bottle know what it feels like, but touching it as it was growing was awesome. When we walked under the pine trees the smell came into my nostrils again and I immediately relaxed and told Ahmee to smell the air. She said it was definitely the pine trees and that she wouldn't be surprised if that smell brought me great joy for the rest of my life (we had pine trees in our backyard in North Carolina, I grew up with that smell as a kid). We crossed the street and went into the multi-themed restaurant where we were seated by the gracious chef/waitor. His wife later came to check on us and explained the decoration (had african elements, thai elements, and english elements) by saying that he enjoyed traveling and that all of the things that were on the menu were things he'd come across. I got Thai rice with chicken while Ahmee and Poppy had the enchiladas. When our dishes came we were more than happy we stopped there, even if it was a bit of a wait. Our food was delicious. Before I got too far into my food I went outside and called the smaller brown dog to me, squatting down and cautiously letting him sniff my hand. I say this dog is smaller, but really he was quite large. He's about the size of our Australian Shepard/Border Collie, Buster. When he let me pet his head I felt a breath of air on my head and caught out of the corner of my eye the sight of the larger dog. This dog was as tall as an average table. He was grey with black flecks, had floppy ears, had intelligent eyes, and had a head about the size of... well, mine. I used my left hand to pet the brown dog as I pet the larger dog with my right hand. I let both of the dogs sniff me all over and then I slowly stood up. I enjoyed petting them. They were both gorgeous dogs. What amused me was when the larger dog got jealous and shoved himself between the brown dog and me (causing me to take a step back and causing the other dog to get jealous too). The brown down then put his paws up and over the other dogs back and put his paws on my chest. After this the dogs went into a play-fight. All the grey dog had to do was put one paw down on the brown dog and the brown dog would crumple. I was glad they were both playful because I know that that HUGE dog could've easily have killed the other one. My momma would've loved that grey dog. It's a shame I didn't get to talk to him again.
I went back inside to finish up my rice. Before it was all gone I gave the sauce in the bowl a try. I only dipped my fork in partially to get a few drips, but that stuff lit me up faster than anything I've ever tasted. It was so hot it made my eyes water, my mouth burn, my tongue throb, and my lips burn for an hour after I'd tasted it. Poppy saw this reaction, saw me take a drink of my water and then wolf down rice, and he decided he wanted to try a bit of my hot sauce. I told him to only dip his fork in. He took my advice and I'm absolutely certain he's glad he did. He had the same reaction I did. When the woman came around she talked about how her husband loved hot stuff and we told her about how we'd tried the sauce straight out. At this she looked a bit worried and said, "That stuff is hot!! It's got different spices in it, it's not peppers." At this Poppy told her it was the hottest stuff he'd ever tasted. She recommended trying a teeny tiny bit on the rice. I didn't need any on my rice. The pineapple with the spice left over caused enough of a reaction for my tongue. Poppy gave it a shot though and he said again that that stuff was really hot (he only put a drop on a plate full of rice and it put a small kick into it).
After lunch we thanked the woman and the man, pocketed their card, and then got back on the road, our lips still burning and our stomachs churning a tiny bit from the spice within.
After lunch we also started to get in a hurry to get to Lisbon. We went through towns, searching for a way to Lisbon, we passed highways in an effort to reach a preferable road, only to discover that road was inaccessible and to turn back, we hurried as fast as we could as the sun got farther and farther down the sky. We did not however forget to look out the windows of the car. We saw fields of cork trees, villages with tiny roads, barnyards with cork stacked neatly under tarp, rolling hills, cloudy skys, and an occasional gift such as the one man who rode his white horse into town and had the horse tethered as he chatted with his friend. We only stopped once, and that was when we got on the highway. We pulled off to a rest area where everyone else seemed to be stopping to use the toilet. I think I forgot to mention that this day is a national holiday in Portugal. It's their Independence Day. Almost everything was closed, all of the veterans had their uniforms on, and everyone was out partying. Ahmee and I were certain everyone was stopping there for food and for the toilet on their way to or from festivities.
While in the restroom in the rest area Ahmee and I got to wait in line for a toilet that had paper. I heard the news from a woman who had short, gray hair, who had on a red vest and who was traveling with another woman who was tall with brown curly hair and who had on all jean material (jean jacket, jean pants, only her white undershirt wasn't made of jeans). Both of these women told the others, in vain, that the four stalls at the far end had no toilet paper. Since they didn't know Portuguese and the women in line didn't know English many people went in, only to come out announcing "No papel!" (or something along those lines). I ended up in one of these stalls.
Immediately after this we got back on the road to frantically head into Lisbon (crossing a bridge that was several kilometers long) and to make our way to the airport to find a hotel. Our objective was to find a hotel near the airport because we officially had two days left before we got on an airplane to go home. When we got off the highway we went around the round-about near the airport to discover something that was disheartening: there weren't any hotels in sight. Another disheartening fact was that the sun had long gone from the sky and we had to go into Lisbon in the dark to look for a hotel. We decided to head towards the centro. We ended up taking a wrong turn and heading towards the university instead. As we drove around in the dark, anxiously peering out the windows I gave out an order that we've all heard before and that's worked for us before, "Hey Ahmee! You take the left and I'll take the right!" We went down the street like this and when I spotted two hotels I was ecstatic. On the right I saw a Hotel Zurich, and a Hotel Lisboa, both of which were high-rises and had huge signs at the top (meaning they're at least over 3 stars and most likely are expensive). We made our way into the Hotel Zurich parking lot where we parked the car and got out to search for the entrance to the Hotel Zurich. We didn't find it. Instead we found a Holiday Inn, which we eagerly went into, got a room, and got someone to help us park the car. As we were standing there asking questions with the lady at the desk a group of people walked in.
This has got to be one of the oddest things so far. The women who walked in were the same women we saw in the rest area's restroom alongside the highway. The thin, curly haired, older woman waved and said, "Oh! We saw you in the restroom!" I ended up having a wonderful conversation with this woman as her colleagues got a room (she was traveling with her son, his wife-lady in jeans, and her mother-lady with a vest on and short, straight hair). They were from Iowa and South Dakota, and had been traveling for over 6 days (she said they'd been to Spain for 6 days and mentioned 4 different cities). The woman I was talking to had lived in England and asked me where we'd been and was delighted when I said we'd been to England. She told me how she loved the thatched roofs, the small towns, and even the large cities, saying, "I loved London!" She and I agreed that we both loved the small towns and the big cities, it was just the old sections of town that seemed too closed in. She told me about how Portugal has killer pottery and ceramics, "I'm here for the ceramics."; how she was looking forward to getting back to her dog named Curly Sue (at which we were shocked and amazed because Ahmee has a dog named Curly Sue- this woman laughed when she found out our Curly Sue wasn't curly); and how she'd recently seriously injured her right foot. She told me that she loved the shoes here, she'd gotten two pairs of boots and a pair of shoes, all of which had heels. She said that she slipped when stepping off a curb while wearing these heeled boots and she'd ended up twisting her ankle pretty badly. I don't know how long she's been limping around, but she said that her right foot is now black and blue all over and the only shoes she can wear were her sandals. She said she was going to a doctor as soon as she got home. This lady was absolutely wonderful. I loved talking to her, I hoped her foot wasn't severely damaged, and I really didn't look forward to walking away. I could easily put her up there next to the man who sat next to us in Paris. Doesn't take long for me to decide I like someone.
We took our things up to the room, I got typing, and then we went down to the basement for dinner. I think I forgot to mention the Christmas ornaments, in the lobby they're blue and silver while downstair they're orange and gold. These are heart warming and shocking at the same time. I've been in fairly warm weather all this time, it's going to be a shock going back to freezing cold weather with snow and ice and have Christmas to look forward to.
While we ate dinner we talked about the things we needed to get done, such as pack and double check our reservations, and turn in the car.
After dinner I got to speak with the lady again (she'd come down the stairs, limping of course) and the rest of the group. They caught me as I was leaving the restaurant, asking me what classes I was taking, how I was doing schoolwork, where we'd been, etc.. The other older woman with the vest on was asked if she'd do that for her grandchildren (by her daughter) and she said, "Of course. It's great for both the grandkids and the grandparents. I'll bet you both are having a good time." It was a shame I had to go up and type some more. I really liked talking to them.
Once back up in the room I wrote and wrote until I felt I was going to fall asleep on my keyboard. I then closed up, got on my pj's, and climbed into bed.
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