Lisbon

I really like Lisbon a lot, and this post will photographically prove it.
Dad and I got into Lisbon the morning of June 22. We got our car and drove until we finally figured out how to get to the Belém Tower. This tower was built almost 500 years ago and seems to epitomize Manueline architecture: the inclusion of maritime symbols in the sculpting of buildings, along with winding ropes for decoration. The tower was built for military purposes, so here are some cannons. You can go into the various levels of the tower and get some interesting views.
Going east along the Tagus River you'll come to the Padrão dos Descobrimentos (Monument to the Discoveries). It was constructed about 45 years ago and commemorates all of the people involved in the great Portuguese discoveries of the 15th and 16th centuries. Here's a picture of Camões, the great Portuguese bard who wrote the Lusíadas, an epic poem describing Vasco de Gama's maritime path to India. There are plenty of famous people on the Padrão, like the Wikipedia link notes. There are others that I have no idea who they are. The monument has people on both sides. You can take an elevator to the top of the monument and look over Lisbon, the Monastery of the Jerónimos, the Cristo Rei and the Torre de Belém.
The Mosteiro dos Jerónimos is the epitome of Manueline architecture. Here's a photo of an entrance to the monastery, with a close-up of the sculpture. Portugal became very wealthy in all of world discovery, as you can see from this photo of gold leafing taken inside the chapel of the monastery. The monastery is where the crew of Vasco de Gama spent the night in 1498 before shipping off for India. De Gama's tomb is just inside the entrance, as is Camões'. A stained glass window. In the latter half of the 16th century the Portuguese crown was left with a great problem: there were only 2 Portuguese heirs left, an old Cardinal and a young man named Sebastião. The younger assumed the thrown and wanted to reclaim the glories of the previous royals. So he went on a foolhardy military campaign to Alcácer Quibir in North Africa. No one saw him die, although he was no where to be seen. This has led to Sebastianismo and the great myth that someday he would return, appearing in the middle of a great fog to help Portugal reclaim its grand past. What probably really happened was that the king died and no one would admit to having seen it because you weren't supposed to let the king die and instead sacrifice your life in his protection. So here's his empty tomb.
The monastery is also where I saw Cristiano Ronaldo walking in with a video camera leading his and his entourage's way. It was unexpected as was how silly his hair looked. It was a lot funnier than that photo, I promise. Sorta like this, only goofier on the sides. He's named after Ronald Reagan, you know.
The next morning my dad and I got up and starting a walking tour of Lisbon, starting with the Marquês de Pombal monument. He was essentially Europe's first dictator, ruling with an iron fist after the great Lisbon earthquake of 1755. Continuing our walk toward the Tagus River we came across the monument to the soldiers of WWI. Then we came to the Praça dos Restauradores. After Sebastião died he left no rightful Portuguese heir, and the Cardinal ruled for a while, but was old. So Spain took over. The Portuguese lived as a vassal state of Spain for 60 or 80 years depending on which country you ask. There's a monument to the Restauradores (Restorers) who liberated Portugal.
Walking still, we came to the Praça do Rossio that has some nice fountains, a monument to Pedro IV and a nice view of the elevator next to the roofless Carmelite church. We walked from there down a nice Lisbon street on our way to the elevator. The elevator offers a beautiful view of the city and its orange roofs and the Castle to St. George.
The Carmelite church was destroyed in the earthquake and was never rebuilt, now standing as a reminder of the destruction.
We stumbled onto another square that I think is in the heart of the city's government section. Notice the maritime globe on top of the monument.
We walked to the Praça do Comércio, built by the Marquês de Pombal after the earthquake. There's an archway on the northern end of the plaza. There's also a very green statue in the middle of the plaza, which doesn't have much commerce on a Saturday.
We walked to the Sé, the main cathedral of Lisbon that was built to commemorate the defeat of the Moorish infidels that had occupied the area for over 400 years. It's a pretty straightforward cathedral, with statues of martyrs and stained glass windows and a big organ. In between the cathedral and the cloisters built by Dom Dinis, there are some cool excavations going on showing the various level of the city of Lisbon from the earliest buildings of the Celts to the Roman road and sewer, the Visigoth construction, the Moorish home, garbage dump and business and the Portuguese construction after the reconquest.
After the Sé, we wandered around the Alfama, during a festival, looking for a goofy building. This is when we went into a shop and met a nice woman who owned an Azulejo (Portuguese tile) shop. We asked her if she knew of a Fado restaurant. She happened to be a singer at one that she and her brother had started. So later that night we went to the Coração d'Alfama and heard her sing the traditional Fado music of Lisbon.

It's in the Alfama where I ran into my cousin, Chance.
We walked back and saw the archway lit up very nicely, and continued our walk home, where we ran into Chance again.

The day before we left Iberia, we drove from Madrid to Lisbon and arrived in the early afternoon, so we did some more exploring and stumbled onto another plaza that had a nice view of the St. George Castle. There was another statue to a king, this time dedicated to João I.
Lisbon is famous for its tiled buildings, especially the blue tile.
We walked down to the Praça do Comércio one last time, and I snapped this shot.

I really liked Lisbon a lot, possibly my favorite city of the trip, although Barcelona's a close second. You should all go to Lisbon sometime.

Last full day in Europe was a nice Lisbon day

My dad and I left Madrid at around 8am and caught some traffic, but not much. I actually really enjoy driving around Europe. I think my dad is a step away from heart attacks at times, though. Anyway, it was clear sailing to Lisbon and took us 2 or 3 hours less than we thought it would, so we had a nice afternoon tooling around the city and seeing some things that we didn't get to see the first time around. It was really nice. I like the sun and the heat, which was plentiful today in Lisbon. Poor Clark's got a cold, so we avoided the sun as much as possible. Here's to hoping that he'll feel better tomorrow for our flights. The travel time for me we'll be about 19 hours including layovers and just a little bit more for Clark. Blech. It'll be good to get back to Provo. Wow, who thought I'd type that. Well, I could also stay in Lisbon for a while, too. Sometimes I feel like we've barely scratched the surface.
Well, come Saturday or Sunday I'll start posting pictures and videos. Hope you all have a great weekend. I just might see some of you soon.
Tchau tchau from BEATIFUL Lisbon.

Driving from Barcelona to Madrid with a detour thru construction and Montblanc--a random assortment of thoughts

That's the Catalunyan Montblanc, by the way. The people at the hotel gave us great directions to Valencia, but not Madrid. But I've gotten better and better at maps, so I got us back on the right road with a nifty back road. The only problem was the construction. We spent forever trying to get thru a nice little mountain passage.
We came up on Madrid and I was driving by this time. My dad was doing pretty well with the maps that we had. So Madrid has tunnels--well it seemed more like one big tunnel. I think the chunnel could be considered miniscule compared to the one that we were in and out of today. We've also become good at driving on hunches and doubling back if we have to. I love roundabouts.
We're about a block away from quilómetro cero. It´s a nice little European hotel. Our goals here are museums and more museums. I'm fine with that. I'm going to miss Barcelona though. I really liked that city. I liked it almost as much as Lisbon. Ahhh, nice European cities. I'm going to miss the Catalan everywhere. But I did buy a dictionary, 4 Harry Potter books and El Petit Príncep, so I should be okay.
The Catalunyan dances were cool too. It was a great part about Barcelona. I'll have to put up some videos that I took. Hopefully no naked men will be in these. I'll let you know, Andy, so that you can see them on film even if you didn't get to see them on your mission.
I got more yogurt today, by the way. A lot more. There's a grocery store just down the way. I think Clark will quickly become annoyed at the amount of yogurt I'm going to eat before we leave. Is gorging a sin if it's European yogurt and you're at the end of an Iberian road trip?
Speaking of Iberian road trips, yes, Andy, this has been a lot of fun. I've actually loved driving across Iberia. My dad, however, curses the car and the driving. I understand that this probably has something to do with the fact that he's paying for the gas. But I'd do this again. It's been fun.
I bought a Waterman. Then it didn't work. I wanted to die. Then it worked again today. I said prayers about it, so I think that's why it's working. I'll take pictures of my new pens and post them (like you asked, Emily D.) But for now: Midnight Glamour. Sexy.
Tonight I tried--I really did--to eat a mussel. I just couldn't. But I did have some of Clark's scallop and his red pepper stuffed with cod. So thanks, Frau Magister and Assuming Undone, for the congrats on the fish. I guess I'm still a little weak on the fish-like things.
Oh, Becky, the eight things of yogurt that I got today were the azucarado type. SO TASTY. I think Clark's gonna flip when I eat 6 tomorrow morning.
Okay, that's it. Life's peachy here. Tomorrow we're going to the Reina Sofia and maybe some more wandering. It'll be great.

Conference

The conference went well. I got nice compliments on my poster. I made some good contacts. I went to Staples twice today. It was fun. I got my first European fountain pen. Hopefully I'll be able to find a Waterman. Today's was a Parker. But it's nice. I want a Waterman, though. I also got a Portuguese notebook that I'll use for a journal, maybe.
There's the guys that's sat next to us the last two nights at dinner. He's a motivational speaker. He loves to talk. He's from Mozambique, but fled after the fall of the Portuguese gov't in '74 when the Mozambicans were allowed to control their own country. He lived in South Africa for a while. His English is great. He talks and talks and talks. Tells the funniest stories and does accents.
I really like our car. I know that I've said that before. But really, I do a lot. I taped my camera to the dashboard today and videotaped the drive from the university to the hotel. I really like the drive a lot. It's excellent.
Dad went bumming around Braga all by himself today. I was proud of him. He got to see tons of cool stuff.
I'm going to miss learning things at the conference. What I really learned was that I don't know anything about anything. But now I get to enjoy the next week and a half of travel. :D
Have fun!!!
Oh, to the Emilys: thanks for the comments. Yes the pastéis came from the Belém place. Yum. To assuming she's undone: fish, i know. weird.

Some decisions

I really like our car. So I decided to keep it. As some of you know, my car died a couple of weeks ago, so I've been in the market for a new car. I found it here in Portugal. So I was trying to figure out how to get it back to the States. But today this problem became moot when I decided to stay in Braga, Portugal. I really like it here. I really like driving around here. It's a match made in heaven. So after we're done touring around the Iberian Peninsula, I'm gonna come back here and stay. I just need to find a way to get money, oh and be legal. Dad said that I could just defend my thesis via the telephone.
Today when the conference was out for their really long lunch break, Dad and I went on a little pilgrimage to Bom Jesus do Monte. It was really pretty. Walking up the initial path there are scenes from the last fews hours of the Savior's life done in life-size terracotta. Then as you walk up the criss-crossing steps there are statues of the 5 senses with water coming out of the various examples of the senses, as well as the 3 virtues (faith, hope, charity), along with lots of statues of famous Biblical people. Then you arrive at the cathedral which is the most important Christ sanctuary in Portugal.
Oh, and here's a statue of Herod doing the Hula. Actually, he's just passing the buck by pointing to Pilate.
So Clark and I have gone on a few pilgrimages so far, we'll hit up another one on Wednesday and then maybe a few more after that.
Oh, I got so excited by a few of the things discussed today at the conference, that I had already come up with a few ideas for some research for the future, as well as a few things that I could change in my thesis to make it stronger. Now I have to wait a few weeks to be able to work on it :(

oh, and how about this shirt?

Gobbleygook

My dad and I have been speaking three languages. Today I spoke to him in Galician just for added confusion. We speak hybrids within the same sentence, or one sentence this, one sentence that. We're gonna be in big trouble when we get back to the states.
Lisbon is practically impossible to drive in, just so you know. Hence I didn't get to go to church today. Supposedly there's a church building near Belém, but I don't know if I really believe that.
So instead my dad thought that going to Fátima would make up for it. There was a pretty cool service for the sick going on. It was really loud. That church has some pretty awesome subwoofers and loudspeakers for the outdoor processionals.
We kept on driving and ended up in Braga where my conference is. We had no idea where our hotel was, so we just turned on roads. Eventually we ended up at Bom Jesus do Monte. But we couldn't spend the night there so we went back to the city center and ran into a HUGE festival for São João, or John the Baptist. Today was the day and the streets were PACKED FULL. What a thing to run into. Anyway, there's nothing like a Festa Junina. That was pretty cool.
Dad made me ask a cop where the hotel was, at least the basic idea of the address. After the cop explained it to me three times with lots of hand motions and explaining, I was able to figure it out. Then he asked me if I were a Brazilian. Uh huh. I said more or less yes to avoid any confusions. Then we easily found the hotel. The people in the north can be so hard to understand.
I ate fish tonight, bytheway. It was Hake. I don't know what that is. But it tasted good. Yes. I just wrote that. I got fish and liked it. No need for everyone to go crazy.
Anyway, that's the news. I'll be at the conference for the next couple of days. Have fun whereever you are...

Not in a million years

I ran into my cousin, Chance, well Elder Krainik. He's serving in the Lisbon mission. I didn't know that he was in the city, or I would've tried to see him. Didn't have to. I ran into him. Dad and I were walking around the Alfama tonight, which is windy as all get out, waiting for a specific Fado restaurant to open when Dad noticed a couple of guys dress in white shirts, but didn't think they were elders. They were and one was my cousin. So I called out his name and he turned around trying to figure out why someone would even know his first name. Needless to say, he was surprised. Who expects to run into their cousin? Anyway, I've got picture proof:

Itinerary

Clark and I fly into Lisbon on the of the 22nd of June, a Friday. We'll be in Lisbon and environs until Sunday mid-dayish when we drive to Braga.
From Sunday the 24th thru the morning of Wednesday the 27th we'll be in Braga. That's where my conference is and my whole excuse for this trip. Although I think my dad is going to go to Porto for those two days of conference and tour around.
We're leaving Braga on the morning of the 27th and driving to Vigo to pick up my friend Fran and then we're off to Santiago de Compostela to see the cathedral where St. James' bones are supposedly laid to rest. (Truth be told, they're not even male bones, but female.) S. de C. is the end of a major pilgrimage trail.
On the morning of the 28th, a Thursday, we drive along the northern coast of Spain to Bilbao and the Guggenheim museum.
I convinced my dad to drive thru southern France on Friday the 29th, just so I could see it. We'll spend the night in Perpignan, France, near the Mediterranean.
On Saturday the 30th we'll drive to Barcelona where we'll see La Sagrada Familia, Montserrat hopefully, and who knows what else.
We'll be in Barça until Monday, July 2nd, when we start the drive to Madrid. We'll go to the Prado, maybe the Post Office, I'll maybe go the the temple, and tons of other stuff.
On Thursday we'll drive thru Toledo and Badajoz on our way back to Lisbon, where we'll spend the night and fly out on Friday the 6th and arrive in the U.S. late Friday night.

Bumming around Iberia

I've set up this blog for my trip to Europe. Clark and I will be flying out on Thursday, June 21. I have no idea how often I'll be able to post while I'm in Portugal, Spain and France. But I'm going to try. I'll for sure post pictures and stories when I get back. But it can't hurt to check every once in a while on the off chance that I found a computer.