Salobreña to Lisbon 5 July to 8 July 2012

Madrid to Lisbon 6 July to 8 July 2012

We traveled from Salobreña to Málaga to Madrid stealing away to catch an early morning bus. We had a fantastic dinner and listened to music the night before at a La Traviesa, a place overlooking the Sierra Nevada. We listened to a jazz saxaphone who was later joined by a guitarist--lovely and unusual. I was sad to leave the Mediterranean knowing I had my last swim in that sea--at least for this trip. We are grateful to Fred and Susan for renting us their home and helping us get set up.

As we left, we noticed a star/planet alignment in the eastern sky--one we have not seen--mysterious.

The trip, indeed, had had some domestic discord with a rotation through all of us of homesickness, fatigue, disorientation, thirst, indecisiveness, hunger, and continued togetherness. It bothers me, but when Shawn and I talk about it, he’s quick to point out that the dissent offers contrast that really we need to “get to the other side,” as he puts it, with a perspective of enjoyment that would not otherwise exist. Okay.

We rode the bus to Málaga being jostled along the coast. A few days later Shawn asked me if I noticed the girl in front of us getting discreetly car sick.

We had a short layover in Málaga before  got on the Renfe AVE train to Madrid. It dropped us at Atocha Station and we shuttled to Chamartín to store our luggage for our 7 hour layover before we took the sleeper train to Lisbon. Speaking of which, the kids loved the sleeper and so did we. We each had our bunk and Shawn was remembering when he was a kids taking the sleepers on Union Pacific trains. Cyrus, especially, commented on how cool it was to sleep on the train.

Unfortunately, Cyrus drank the tap water on the train and paid for that the following evening. Poor guy . . . it didn’t last long but perpetuated some homesickness. The kids want real hamburgers--like from our bbq, and cheddar cheese, and peanut butter. Cyrus wants to go camping (?). I think coming to Lisbon was REALLY foreign to all of us--very little language skills on our part--I am LAME, but we have managed with Spanish and English and people here are tolerant.

I went on a run yesterday and just kept going because I had to get to the bridge (25 de Abril Bridge) and then I had to see the giant monolith in the distance that ended up being a gateway to the Atlantic from the Tagus (Tejo) River. I made it to the monument at Belém with the mrbel map and took a photo of the west coast of North America for the homesick people. Gad, though, I ended up running about 11 miles--not my intent, but I skipped today and it felt GOOD.

Shawn and I went to walk and have a drink last night. This trip has made me realize, again, why we got married--why I married him. It was fun sitting at the bar with him and he gave me a ring last night with a story behind in from way back in the trip at the Musée d’Orsay. Today we debated whether our waiter was a man ir a woman--he said woman, but I am sure he was a man.

I am sad to leave Lisbon but know how much we want to return. We took a ferry today and rode the trolley and the Metro.The apartment is incredible with a spectacular view of the Tagus.. A Spanish aircraft carrier and a restored Portuguese clipper ship are docked in front of us. We watch the moon reflect on the river at night.

Tomorrow we head to Madrid by bus--the adventure continues. We have to walk to the bus station because the bus leaves too early for the metro (5 k). We could not take the sleeper train back to Madrid due to a railroad protest against the austerity measures foisted on public employees. The cutbacks have been recently found unconstitutional--a victory for the public! We think those measures only punish the people who work to make things work and not the culprits who over invested and gambled to create the situation. So it goes . . .