We made it! Although it took a few interesting flights, we have arrived in one piece, sleep devprived. Patrick and I arrived early Monday morning in Boston and took a water taxi from the airport to the long wharf where we stored our bags for the day - then we sprinted through part of town to catch the green subway line to the Prudential Center (the part of the green line we took was like going through the fun part of Lombard Street on Muni.....very slowly....). We arrived just in time for our Duck Tour! Which was an entertaining 90 minute tour through the city, getting basic information about a lot of the landmarks, as well as boating in the Charles River. Following this tour we moved on to the tour at Sam Adams, which doesn´t rank as high, quality-wise, as other brewery tours we went on in Colorado (New Belgium is still the Disneyland of micro breweries). There is a "trolley" that goes to a local pub by Sam Adams where we grabbed a pint (you get to keep the glass!) and clam chowdah. We walked back through the Boston Commons and Quincy Market (where we ate dinner at Wagamama - from London!), jumped back on a water taxi and headed for the airport. Back at the airport, our flight was supposed to leave at 11:20 EST, then it was delayed and they kept announcing the delay in the terminal, and pushing the departure time back. At this point, Patrick and I were very tired. Around 12:30 without any other prior announcements, a flight attendant came on the intercom and said "This is the final boarding call to Terceira!" Patrick, myself, and the people around us ran to the gate, were yelled at because we were late (even though there was still a line into the plane on the getway) then we finally got our seats. You would think that since it´s nearly 1:00 EST at this time, almost 5:00am at our destination, they would turn off the lights and let us sleep. NOPE. They served a meal and kept all of the lights on. Around 2:00 I leaned my head against the window and passed out.

Our plane landed on Terceira (Azorean island) and we went through customs (the ink for their stamp is running out so my passport isn´t too excited) then jumped on the plane to Lisbon! Where Aunt Stephie and Uncle Frank greeted us! Arriving in the terminal in Lisbon is like arriving on a stage with family members looking for you in the audience.

When we arrived we checked into our hotel room at the Residencia Roma just off of a street that is like the Champs in Paris. Patrick and I slept for the next few hours. Halleluja. Then we went to a restaurant that only locals go to....and a guy from Pioneer who was wearing a Chico shirt. Random. The fish we ate was simply prepared with olive oil and salt then grilled. The blackeded swordwish was SO delish! And we ate sardines! Which is a big thing out here. I'm not a huge fan as of this point.....but yay for the swordfish. There was lots of wine and vinho verde aguardiente which wasn't as rough as the others I have had in the past.


I will update more tomorrow (Saturday) about our adventures Wednesday onward! We have explored Lisboa ("Lish-boa") as well as Cascais and now we are in Amoreira outside of Costello do Bode resevoir (just outside of Tomar - which is a really awesome town!). More to come in a few hours..........