Language
In Portugal, I am able to understand and converse in Portguese, and it is has been surprising how expansive that slight change in language shifts my perception of the world going on around us. Instead of being in my own head, I have been able to get a much more external and nuanced perspective of the interactions that make up the minutiae of daily life. That gradual comfort was then taken to the logical extreme once we landed in London, with pracitcally eveyrone speaking at least some form of English. Being able ot ask anyone where or how things are happening, as opposed to stealing up energy and anticipating laborious communication really does change my perspective. In hindsight, that language shift is something i had not thought about much, and took for granted back home, of course, but has a profound impact.
Lisboa
I wrote a little bit about the climbing along Atlantic (i think i incorrectly wrote the Med, whoops!), near lisboa, portugal. Beyond the sea cliff climbing, we also had a couple of days in this vibrant city, which were great. We stayed in a neighborhood called Barrio Alto (High Neighborhood), which is kind of the center of nightlife. Our pad was very nice and proved to be surprisingly comfortable. I really enjoyed going on long jogs in the old streets of Lisboa, and was very familiar because it felt similar to the many colonial cities of Brasil that were settled/built by the Portuguese. The connection between the colonizer and the colony seem to be the closest between Brasil and Portugal of any 'pairing' i have visited, for reasons that would probably require a dissertation to unwind.
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| Trolley and little streets of Lisboa |
| Eventually i decided it reminded me most of New Orleans for US cities. The city really doesn't sleep, with little alleys and streets packed with revelers at 2, 3, 4 am and showing no sign of abating. I greatly enjoyed employing my Portuguese language skills, which always feel rusty at first but then come back and create a sense of place. We recommend the city highly, our experience was pretty much entirely wandering and exploring, with the clear highlight being the contemporary art museum at the cultural center in Belem. Their collection of art from 1900's onward is astounding and comprehensive, and free to boot. |
| Trolley and little streets of Lisboa |
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| Golden Gate's sister bridge |
A wealth of opportunity and fun is to be had in the world's capital. So multicultural, with a smorgasbord of fun on tap. We arrived about 5 days ago and have been enjoying ourselves throughout the visit.
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| Big Ben and the Thames |
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| Jeff and Wilson flashing gang signs |
I also got to see a couple of friends from my childhood, Kathleen and Katherine (and Kathleen's husband, Fred), all of whom have lived in London for years and years. It is such a pleasure to see people that have known you for literally decades and knew you when you weren't nearly as worldly. We had a wonderful,and far ranging, night reminiscing about the sometime turbulent teenage years and hypothesizing about the results of the election. It is impressive to see the roots and comfort that all of these friends have put down in this transient, crossroad city. Can't wait to see all of them again when we next come through London.
Art
When anticipating our visit, i was most interested in having a visit to the Tate Modern, right on the Thames and a center of global modern art. The museum has been a highlight of past visits, as proved to be the case this time as well. The Tate Modern resides in an old power station and the immensity of the building is quite astounding. We enjoyed the view across the Thames to St Paul's cathedral and the art immensely. It was particularly refreshing to see so many artist that we have seen in galleries/museums throughout our last 2 months, be it Nice, Istanbul, Lisboa or Barcelona. Our last stop in the Tate Modern before heading out to dinner was in the newly opened Tanks, which are the old turbines of the power station. This space hosted a summer series of performances and have a couple of semi-permanent exhibits, where i took the above self portrait.
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| St. Paul's Cathedral and Millennium bridge |
Yesterday Mu made the trek down to visit with her grandmother, who lives in an assisted living facility on the English Channel, while I made it to a football (soccer game). I was very interested in checking out a Premiership game, and hoping to see some American players in action. My first choice was a Fulham game in west London against Everton, but tickets proved elusive and we had to audible to the Tottehamn Spurs game in north London. One of the big transfers for the Spurs is Clint Dempsey, a Texan who is the best current American soccer player (it really isn't close), and they are featuring an ageless Brad Freidel in goal. The stadium is large, but much smaller than big time college football stadiums and maybe half as large as NFL stadiums. It was a sold out game against the a purportedly minnow team, Wigan, and our seats were about 10 rows off the field and in one of the corners of the stadium. Our section of the stadium stood for the entire game, and watching the speed of the game that close was illuminating. It was also quite interesting to think about the players and how 'normal' they looked. Jeff and I are both about 6'2'' and i think we would have been among the biggest guys on the field. I could never imagine matching the speed and shiftiness displayed by the players, a polyglot bunch. In the end, the Spurs lost in a shock upset, 1-0, but I was happy as the American player, Dempsey, was featured on the offensive end and had the Spurs' best strike and Freidel, another American, was the best player on the losing side. All in all, it was a really cool experience and one I will not forget.
We are on to Africa, but thrilled to get to take in a couple of L cities before we depart the wonderfulness of Europe.
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