I FOUND WALDO!

Oh, by the way:

this

is the ceiling of the museum in Valencia.

This

Is the cool courtyard.

And this

Was the beach yesterday.

So, last night I finally arrived in Lisbon at either 4 or 5 yesterday morning, and got to my hostel in about half an hour. And then I went to bed. I was so tired. So. Tired. I did take a little bit of a nap on the bus, but it wasn't more than an hour. However, fortunately, my hostel bed was comfy and the room was quiet. Thank goodness.

So then I woke up at what I thought was 9:00 and went to breakfast and got ready to go on a tour at 10, then at breakfast I found out that it was actually 8:00, and that Portugal is on a different time zone than Spain and my phone didn't change. Of course. But it worked out, I had breakfast with some cool people, and the breakfast was really tasty. There was fruit and good bread and waffles with powdered sugar, and that makes everything better. It's always fun to see who you meet at a hostel, where they're from, why they're here, what they've been doing, where they've been. I find that hostels seem to attract a kind of person I enjoy spending time with.

So then at 10, I went on the free walking tour that the hostel gave with three other American guys who are studying in Madrid, Connor, Mattias, and I'm pretty sure his actual name is William, but

let's call him Waldo. *

So the five us all went off around the city. It was a pretty great thing, because I got to get oriented to the city, meet people, figure out where I was and what there was to see, and I didn't have to speak Portuguese before I had woken up.

So I really like Lisbon. It's got these Plazas (Praças in Portuguese) and kind of wide streets in some parts, but also little windy streets in others. It's great. It's all very relaxed and nice.

 Here's a Praça close to my hostel. We then started to climb up towards the Castle.

On the way up the hill, we saw this cool mural homage to Fardo, a traditional Portuguese style of music.

We got up to this overlook about halfway up to the castle. 

 (I swear, I wasn't purposefully taking pictures of Waldo from the back, but I'm really amused that I did.)

So my dad talks a lot about the smell of different countries, how they are each different, and it tells you something about the countries. I don't notice smells, I notice colors. Every city has a sort of unique color palate that dominates the city. A lot of cities are, unsurprisingly grey: London, New York, Paris, Madrid. They are all slightly different shades, but generally grey nonetheless. Rome is the color of old sandstone, and Valencia is a similar, but slightly darker shade. But Lisbon...

                                  

Lisbon's all red and orange and white. And it's great.

We finally made it to the castle at the top of the hill

 It looked very castle-y

 And there were some great views of the city and the river

 In this picture there is the replica of Rio de Janiero's Jesus statue, and an earlier bridge by the guy who designed the Golden Gate Bridge.

In this picture there is me.

 There were canons.

 And architecture

 And Waldo was totally and absolutely unconsciously helping with his image.

But that's our tour group.

 And the castle was really pretty in just the way castles should be.

 Also, Alexz, there were cats.

 And I took pictures for you.
For those of you not on this trip, Alexz, our TA from UGA has an unhealthy obsession with cats.

I swear this guy has a face, and I PROMISE I wasn't doing this on purpose, but going through these photos I'm laughing so hard.

So yeah, we went around the castle and climbed things and took pictures and saw history.

 PORTUGUESE FLAG!

 I almost got his face that time.

I really love it when castles have arrow slits. It makes them feel so legit and dangerous.

This castle also had peacocks, which was pretty legit, though not as dangerous.

SO we went down from the castle and had some natas, which are traditional Lisbon pastries, and very tasty, and the others had some cherry liquor, but I got some tea, because sometimes you need tea. And the thing is that I am actually quite good at functioning on very little sleep, but only for a limited amount of time. I can do one day on almost no sleep very well, but I have to go to bed early and get enough sleep the next night, or it's all over. I also need food and to be comfortable, so tea.

So then we wandered around the little streets of the oldest part of Lisbon, and around 1, our tour director dropped us off at a restaurant and helped us order. We chatted and had a great time at lunch. One of the guys was really into Lord of the Rings and scifi/fantasy, so we had a great discussion of all that stuff, which is always great. After lunch I was planning on going to Belém, a nice historic place along the river a little ways away, but the tram to take me there was not running, and it was getting late, and so I decided to do that tomorrow instead.

So today I wandered around Lisbon. I went down by the river

 This is a big archway down by the river

cool sculpture thing.

So I walked along for a little bit, just exploring, then I went up the hill

And sat in front of the Fine Arts Building for the University of Lisbon in the sun and read. Then I went to a different plaza
                                             
and read, then I went to a museum that was once a church and now has no roof.

It was really cool.

Like, that's a gargoyle.

And then on the inside it is pretty cool too. Because the parts with some of the exhibits are covered

And then there was this statue thing.

And then I went up the hill a little more, and found a cool overlook:

 And I took joyous selfies

It was fun.

SO then I came back to the hostel and just chilled for a little bit. I was very tired and needed a bit of a break. I then found out that the hotel has free soup at night at 8, so I was like, "that's the most beautiful thing ever." But I had a little bit before the soup, so I went back down to the river. It was maybe a 10 minute walk through a very touristy area, but the sun was setting and it was nice.

I wound up down here

again, and just went and sat by the water. 

It was great. I sat and read and watched the sunset and just relaxed.

And then I headed back and chilled for another half hour, before I had dinner with the other people at the hostel. The soup was veggie and really really tasty. I think it might be the first home cooked thing I've had since I've gotten to Europe, so it was great, and there was some delicious bread to go with it. And then after dinner I showered and wrote this blog in the common room, and now. Now I am going to bed. Because I am very, very sleepy, and there is much to do tomorrow.

All my love.

* For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, I would direct you to the following wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Where%27s_Waldo