The Weekend Means Time to Travel!
Well this has been a crazy weekend! We have traveled a lot and been going walking like crazy. Starting with Thursday at the hospital, we actually did something different. We shadowed the technicians and watched them study brain waves. They put on a swimming cap with electrodes to measure brain activity. It was fascinating at how sensitive they are and how well the technicians could read these lines. I learned a lot and I also learned how hard it is to work with old people who can not hear. Thursday night we found a relatively cheap acai place near the center of Cascais called Tocca. The acai is actually very good, almost more natural than most places that I have been and they have sweetened condensed milk which is always a plus!
Friday we went to Evora. Which is a very old city that still has structures from roman times. It also has one of the oldest universities in Europe. It was pretty cool touring the university because that is in fact where Joao, our site manager, went to school ten years earlier. He then took us to this little hole in the wall place nearby for lunch (because by that time it was already lunch. Getting to Evora was quite the train ride from Cascais. Total travel time was probably 3 hours.). We were warned beforehand that the sandwiches were big, however, our stomachs were much bigger than our eyes and we ordered the full sandwich. Picture below. Needless to say we saved the rest and ate it for dinner! I think one of the cooled parts of Evora was the Roman temple that still stood at the top of the city overlooking everything. I have been reading a book about the history of Portugal and to actual be able to see remnants from the first century was incredible.
After that, we went to this very old monastery built completely from bones. It was the monks way to remember the human condition. It was a very cereal experience. At the time they literally dug up all the graves in the city to supply enough bones for this huge room built and detailed with human bones. I did not quite know how to feel and when an old woman came up to us and told us that we needed to be respectful I felt like I was doing something wrong. I think it was just a grumpy old lady. But other than that we saw some cool catholic churches and walked around the city. A very cool experience and a city I would highly recommend visiting.
Saturday was a fun day spent in Belem. Belem is just 20 minutes by train and has several cool museums and an old tower used as a look out over the bay. There is also the famous pastel de Belem that is a must buy. Only 1.10 euros, I bought six of them and ate them all throughout the day. We started off by passing this museum all about old fashioned carriages. None of us were interested so we continued on but supposedly it is an amazing museum with an incredible collection of horse drawn carriages from years ago.
We ended up getting in this insane line to go into the famous monastery and I was just like there is no way there is not a way to cut this huge line. So using the skills I learned from my mother I went to the front of the line to see what was up and see if there was any way around it. After observing for a brief second I asked a security guy if this was the only way in and he proceeds to tell me that this is the line to buy tickets and that 100 feet from here at the archeology museum I could also buy tickets and cut the line. I was so happy and proud. Literally cut the line and spend a good two hours inside exploring this huge place and as we walk out the people that were in front of us in line were just now getting there tickets. Lesson learned: sometimes you just have to ask. Never just do what everyone else is doing. There is usually a better way to do things. Over all this monastery was very cool and would highly recommend it. Just make sure you get your tickets at the archeology museum where you can also do a deal that for one euro more you can get into the archeology museum as well. The archeology museum was actually very cool as well.
Parker, probably the most culturally diverse of the group, really wanted to go to the art museum which also sparked my interest. I am not a big art person but I was curious. Something to remember is that the art museum is free on Saturdays! So if you want to go go on Saturday. However, within five minutes of being there I remembered why I do not like art. Anyone can paint a piece of paper blue. Anyone can draw two lines with a pencil and anyone can throw some paint at a wall. Art is not my thing. Needless to say this art place was huge and took us almost two hours to walk quickly through it there was so much. Somethings I just stood there luckily trying from the innermost cavities of my being to understand where this piece of art was coming from. In the end it just pissed me off and made me not like art anymore than I already don't.
To end our day in Belem we passed by the tower of Belem which we were told many times not to pay to go inside so we just took some pictures from the outside. The building is cool but nothing too special it is just more the history behind it. That was Saturday. Today we went to church this morning and the I went to the beach all by myself while everyone else took a nap. I am trying to get tan so I do not look like a pal ghost next to my extremely attractive and tan fiance on our wedding day. It is incredibly sad as to how fast these past two weeks have just flown by. Wednesday will be here before I know it and time to write another blog. Until than!