It's the morning after. The morning after waking at 0330 in Lanza, because, stupid brain, I guess, and leaping international borders. Hopped my cattle-car flight (thanks, RyanAir!) to Lisbon. The arrival was a combination of weird and efficient. Weird, because I never went through any immigration or customs or anything, even as a non-EU resident. Efficient, because from the time I got off the packed bus from the plane (thanks, RyanAir!) into the terminal, to the time I exited the airport - including walking time - was about 15 minutes. A quick check to see that I indeed had taken, and passed!, a Covid test, and I was funneled out the door into the misty afternoon. A little too efficiently, and quickly, as I needed to re-enter to find a restroom!
I think the most puzzling to me was trying to find where the pickup location was for Uber. In my stupidly confident way, I thought I had my internal compass calibrated. Sadly, I did not. The overcast didn't help, as I apparently are unable to use the Earth's magnetic fields to navigate yet. Maybe I need training. Anywho, once I figured out I was turned around a bit, I found where to catch the Ub, and €7.85 later, I was near my destination. Why wasn't I actually there? Well, my AirBnB is in an old part of Alfama, where no cars can access. The "streets" are too narrow. Which means they are really cool. I followed this group up the street, thinking all the way, "I'm sure glad my stuff is on my back!" And once I got to where I was going, saw the narrow door, and suuuper steep and shallow treads on the steps, thought "Damn." Yeah, that was about it.
I think the most puzzling to me was trying to find where the pickup location was for Uber. In my stupidly confident way, I thought I had my internal compass calibrated. Sadly, I did not. The overcast didn't help, as I apparently are unable to use the Earth's magnetic fields to navigate yet. Maybe I need training. Anywho, once I figured out I was turned around a bit, I found where to catch the Ub, and €7.85 later, I was near my destination. Why wasn't I actually there? Well, my AirBnB is in an old part of Alfama, where no cars can access. The "streets" are too narrow. Which means they are really cool. I followed this group up the street, thinking all the way, "I'm sure glad my stuff is on my back!" And once I got to where I was going, saw the narrow door, and suuuper steep and shallow treads on the steps, thought "Damn." Yeah, that was about it.
I dumped my stuff, and headed out to explore, as I do. Turns out, in Lisbon, I do talk to people! I struck up conversations with two separate couples from Spain (and one's dog, "Lennon") and a guy from Rio. I think the more cosmopolitan nature of the city, closer proximity of al fresca tables, and English being the lingua franca made it easier. So do dogs.
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