Quiero mi madre, mi hermana, mi perros, mi gata, mis amigos, y mi dormitario. En una dia yo voy con mi abuelos para los Estados Unidos.
I actually got decent sleep again. I was able to wake up and get writing fairly early. Once done I jumped in the shower and got dressed. As I waited for Ahmee and Poppy to get dressed I played with the light fixtures next to Ahmee and Poppy's overly large bed. This would be an example of how weird I am. These lights are silver and are basically jut a tube with a small light at the end. I think they look like an alien. Maybe I took the CNN thing over the radio signal-checking device for outerspace a little bit too much to heart, or maybe those things just look like aliens. Either way, I was standing next to the bed playing with the thing, twisting it up into all kinds of shapes and making it look like ET's finger. The whole time Ahmee had her back to me. She ended up laughing though when I incorporated sound effects with the motions. I didn't really know I was doing it at first but when Ahmee cackled into a fit of laughter when she turned around to see what I was doing I realized those noises I'd pictured were actually coming out of my mouth. Yet again, I greatly amused Ahmee.
After we were all ready we went downstairs, ate breakfast in the hard to get into booths (circular booths are the thing for those people who want to lose weight), and then went out to the car to get on the road to Sintra. When I heard Sintra I thought we were going to the center, for some reason. I was surprised when I heard that Sintra was on the outskirts of Lisbon, and that it had been used as a summer get away (it was cooler than the valley). Something I didn't like the sound of was that we were going off the map and we were driving there ourselves. I was afraid for a bit that we were breaking one of our own rules which is: depend on buses, trains, or taxi's when traveling in a large city. Turns out, I didn't need to be worried. We had no problem getting to Sintra.
We parked close to the town hall, thinking we were close to the National Palace. We were wrong, but it wasn't in a devastating way. We got to walk around a garden, we got to see sculptures, and we got to walk through a small section of town. I made Ahmee laugh again when I pointed out a huge sculpture saying, "OOOOH would ya look at that!... that thing is taking up parking spaces." She replied, "Wow.... What a display of art appreciation!"
After this fun walk we got to go into the National Palace, a place that combines soooo many different cultures. How? Well the Portuguese Royal Family and their court went there for balls, for hunting, a for tidbits of statesmanship. Since Portugal was one of the leading traders back in the day (and probably still so today) they had fabulous furniture/architectural decoration from all different parts of the globe. There were Moorish tiles (I liked the vines the most), moorish fountains, and moorish-style gardens. There were Chinese cabinets, Chinese screens, and other artifacts made in China in the Chinese style (although not always of material from China-ex: one cabinet had a wood brought in from Brazil). There were Portuguese/India cabinets, P./I. tables, and other artifacts. There were clocks made in England based on the Big Ben. There were glass mirrors made in Venice; there were glass chandeliers brought in from Italy, there were carrara marble statues-obviously from Italy; there were tables made of multiple marbles from Italy. There were sooo many things that were inlaid with ivory, with velvet, with brass. All of it was extremely ornate. This was perhaps one of the few times that I took more interest in the decoration of the rooms rather than the architecture. The ceilings were of no great interest. The floors were often average. The doors were often fascinating. The one room that really had cool architectural elements was the kitchen, which was situated in two smoke-stacks (yes, they look like the ones at power plants/factories). This room was cool because I could whisper and it would echo. I would hate to be in there with all the clamor of pots and pans and talking, it would hurt my ears.
We finished up the National Palace and headed out to find a tourist information center, to ask how to get up to the Moorish Castle, to walk around for a bit, and to grab a bite to eat in a close-by restaurant. After this we went out, Ahmee and Poppy stood out at the bus station while I looked around in a linens store. We missed the first bus (because it never stopped even though Poppy waved his arms frantically), so Ahmee and I went back into the store and later went back out to join Poppy and to watch the Pigeons in the tree. We caught the second bus partially because it would've been impossible for the bus driver to miss the small crowd that had gathered to jump on it. We got on, me sitting backwords again, to be taken up the windy curvy road through the forest and up to the Moorish Castle. We got off in another crowd, went over and bought tickets, and then went into the Moorish Castle walls.
The sign said that not much of the Moorish Castle was left due to the earthquake that occurred in Portugal in 1755 (?). We went and walked around a ruin. It was a lovely walk. I enjoyed the boulders, the plants, the trees, and the leftovers of the castle. It was somewhat difficult for me to picture the city there though because of all the greenery. I'd kinda lost myself in a nature walk rather than a historical walk.
When we reached the castle I got to decide between a really really thin, steep staircase to the shortest tower, or a really really long staircase where I wasn't sure about it's condition up to the highest tower. Yeah, I picked the long route to the tallest tower, even with the wind blowing and the lack of a railing on the left side. I moved ahead of Ahmee and Poppy, suddenly losing myself in the climb (I was rock climbing again). Once I reached the top I sat on the ledge out of the wind and drew in deep breaths of air as I took in the view of Lisbon to my front, the view of Sintra to my left, the view of the mountains behind me, and the view of the coast and farmland on my right (as well as the Pina Palace). From my perch I could also mark the progress of Ahmee and Poppy up the steep steps. I was glad that none of the steps were as thin as the other staircase.
Poppy got to me first and took a good look around as he pulled in air. Shortly after him came Ahmee who first asked, "Where's Rachel?" I'd considered sitting just above the entrance, but I decided I didn't really want to move (it would've been funny though). After a few minutes we all started to go down, me in the front and hurrying because I was starting to need to use the restroom. I waited for Ahmee and Poppy on a landing with a bench, sitting their freezing as I held it in. We then continued on down, we helped out a woman who was totally lost and who needed help finding her way back to the entrance, and then once we all got out I made a mad dash across the street to the restroom. I didn't even care that it didn't have a toilet seat.
Immediately after I came out of the restroom the bus arrived. We had to run down to it to catch it. Since there were a lot of people running with us I suppose we could've walked and been just fine. Everyone was blocking his way anyway, he can't run over all those people without getting in serious trouble. At any rate we got on the bus, I sat down facing the right way (good thing too because it was even more curvy) and we road all the way back to the Sintra train station. From there we stopped once to grab a newspaper and to then get in the car and make our way back to the Holiday Inn, surprisingly enough we didn't undergo any terrible trials and we got back before dark.
Once back I jumped on the computer and wrote, and wrote, and wrote until dinner time. At dinner we had a wonderful time talking, but I had to cut things short when I discovered I had waited too long to eat something significant (my stomach hurt even after I got through 3/4's of my plate). I went upstairs, used the toilet (no I didn't throw up), and stretched out on my belly. After about 15 minutes I was able to get up and move around again. So I went back to typing.
Ahmee and Poppy came upstairs and gave me the internet card, and wala! We're at the present. I'm now looking forward to my last full day in Europe, which is tomorrow. After that we'll be getting on a plane back to the States.
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