Lisbon IV

Here's a shot from one of the streetcars we took after our visit to the Saint Jorge Castle. Lisbon is just a very relaxed city with some great views. A perfect place to just unwind, wander and take in the city.

As you may be able to tell, I was suitably impressed with the scenery.

Lisbon III

Lisbon is filled with great-looking monuments and statues. All, of course, have a story. We, of course, don't speak Portugese.

This is in a square right by the water and is pretty impressive.

There are a lot of squares and plazas in Lisbon and even though it was February (it was in the 50s) there were a fair amount of folks wandering around, checking out the sights and enjoying the clear, sunny days.

Lisbon II

Here is a fine view of a lovely lady by one of the old cannons at the Saint Jorge Castle. The view behind of the city isn't bad, either.

You can see the water behind and a large bridge (which takes trains on the underside of the top deck).

The castle was built in its location so folks could keep an eye on invaders coming from the sea.

Lisbon I

We had a great time in Lisbon, just relaxing and taking in the sights. Since it was just the two of us, we just wandered around the city and poking our noses into interesting-looking stores and restaurants.

One day we hopped a cable car to the Saint Jorge Castle, which is fairly high above the city. There are some great views of Lisbon from up high and it's fun just to wander around something that is thousands of years old.

Guernsey time. . .

After our time in Lisbon, Portugal, we went to the UK and saw some friends. We stayed with our friends Simon and Erica (and their boys Matthew and Luke) for one night before heading down to Guernsey (in the Channel Islands) to see Richard, Cornelia and their three lads: Dylan, Arlo and Toby.

We were pretty much into talking and relaxing and we didn't break out the camera until the last day.

This is a picture of Corn, Richard and the camera-shy Toby (my godson, with Corn) and Arlo. Dylan was taking care of some homework, I believe. Richard and Corn have much better pics that they will post on their Facebook soon, and then I can poach them and put them on here as well.

Much nicer picture. . .

Of the critter, without the hairy human hamming it up for the cameras.

The sloth was fine and Keneth put it back into a tree. A few days after we had got up close and personal with the bugger, we saw it in a different tree near the house. It stayed in that area for another couple of days before it wandered off.

This sloth was probably about 1-2 years old. Bigger than the babies we see with their moms, but a lot smaller than some of the critters that we see hanging out in the trees.

Twins?

Perhaps just hair-wise. This little fellow fell out of a tree a bit ago and Keneth got him on a branch (where sloths like to be) and brought the sloth up to the house to show us and some of the guests. The sloth was fine, though a little bewildered to be near so many strange-looking critters.

What the sam hill?

The other night we came back from a great meal at Bella Verona. As we pulled our car into the bodega and got out, we heard something quite odd.

There was some chanting and beating of some sort of drums. We weren't entirely sure if we were hearing things correctly, but once we stopped talking and listened, sure enough, there was chanting and banging on bongos.

It was coming from the Hummingbird tree house and could best be compared to the headhunters from Gilligan's Island or Hare Krishnas doing their version of speed metal.

There were three young folks from Canada staying in the house. We were a bit concerned that the tree house might not be standing when they checked out; however everything was fine when they left and they were really fun folks to have around for a few nights.

Home again. . .

We're back, and just in time for Valentine's Day. Though
this post comes after Valentine's Day, we got back before the big day; and just had some technical issues on the computer to remedy. That, and we've been going non-stop as well.

It was a great two weeks off and we really enjoyed ourselves in Lisbon and in the UK. We just toured and saw the sights of Lisbon--a great city--for the first week and then saw some friends in London and in Guernsey for the second half.

Pics of sights, and hopefully some friends, to come.