The Durneys Go Dutch

Tuesday, March 5, 2019

Viewpoints Galore on Day 2 in Lisbon

Another beautiful, sunny day to explore the city. We took off on the historic tram 28 and rumbled our way to the Castelo de San Jorge.

Well rested, happy girl!

Also happy, but playing cool.

On the look out for their scavenger hunt items on the tram

We got off the tram at the Santa Luzia look out, a place I remembered fondly from our first visit when we had some fun with 9 month old Maeve.

Much more active kids this time around!

Onward to the castle!

After the castle, I left the fam to cash in on my birthday present from Pete, a tile making class at Loja dos Descobrimentos. I learned the process from a kind older gentleman. First, I settled on a pattern and then traced it. Next, I used a pin prick stick to punch tiny holes along all of the lines. The traced image was flipped and placed carefully on top of my blank tile. Holding it firmly, I rubbed a small sack full of charcoal over the image, creating the pattern on the tile in the charcoal, which burns off in the kiln. Then I painted the tile and left it to fire, returning 2 days later to collect it. A fun souvenir from the trip!

Before firing

Meanwhile, Pete took the rowdy kids to the playground and then we met for lunch nearby. Controlling the kids was a challenge, so when Pete struck up a conversation with the couple next to us, my focus was elsewhere. After lunch, Pete took the kids home for rest time so I could finish painting my tile. I started talking with the couple then and found out that they used to be next door neighbors with my aunt and uncle in Minnesota!

Live music means grooving time.

Sue and Dennis

I walked home from lunch, taking in some of the big sites of Lisbon along the way.

It was a steep climb back to our neighborhood! I was feeling glad that the kids weren't in tow, though 3 days later we did this with them (with Pete carrying them both!).

Looking back to the castle on the hill opposite.

In the afternoon, we headed up to the Principle Real neighborhood, where we found a great playground and solved our stressful-restaurant dilemma with a pizza picnic at the park. There was a bonus sunset over the hills!

One final viewpoint to end the day, Sao Pedro de Alcantara!

Rock, paper, scissors was the game of choice on this trip.

Some pastel de nata and Portuguese wine to end our night.

Monday, March 4, 2019

Lisbon! Again?!

We are back from five nights in Lisbon for Crocus vacation. Wait, haven't we been to Lisbon before (yes, in 2017 and then unexpectedly in 2018!). It seems we can't get enough. We wanted to see more of this vibrant city and were hoping for some warm weather, which we happily got. Though while we escaped a polar vortex in Amsterdam last year, Amsterdam weather this year was apparently amazing, with the warmest February on record.

We had a 7 am flight (the things we do for 75 euro roundtrip airfare!) and the early morning wake-up definitely took a toll on the kids. The first day was not our finest, with tantrums around every corner, culminating in an ice cream cone being dramatically thrown to the ground at the playground! Oy vey! I was starting to worry about the trip, but thankfully after a good night sleep, we had our kiddos back.

Of course, if one just saw the below pictures, one might assume a perfect vacation day, which is why I think this blog and sharing the stories is so important. Yes, I apply a filter from time to time, but I don't try to mask the truth. These are our memories after all. The good, the bad and the brand-new-ice-cream-cone-on-the-ground ugly.

Still chipper leaving the airport

Our AirBnB was downtown, just off the street where the Ascensor da Bica (The Bica funicular) ran. This is a short tram line that climbs up the very steep hill from down by the river up to the top of our neighborhood. It was fun and a life saver! And we could look out the windows of our apartment and see it rambling past all day. Along the road were lots of local bars and restaurants and people would often spill into the streets with their socializing. It was a really happening area and us "suburbanites" were happy to be a part of it!

If you looked right or left out of our apartment, you could see steep stairs in both directions. To the right took us to the Santa Catarina Lookout, which we checked out as soon as we arrived.

Anticipating that this city break may not be as exciting for the kids as it is for us, I made a daily scavenger hunt for the kids to compete. They were stoked. On day one, they needed to find the Ponte 25 de Abril bridge (the Golden Gate look a like), a tram, a dog, a yellow building, a playground and ice cream.

Bridge- check

Sleepy girl

Lunch at Noobai with a view at the top of the look out!

The waiters were all so great with the kids.

We had to take turns bringing the kids out of the restaurant when they couldn't wait for the food any longer. The Sangria was hard earned!

Our neighborhood was very local. There was a sweet old woman, who would always be looking our of her ground floor apartment window, saying hello to the kids when we would pass.

Maeve took a long nap back home while Jude and Pete went grocery shopping and I worked on a puzzle found in the apartment. Jude loves him some Doritos! These are "tex mex."

Posing by the elevador tram

River views!

In the afternoon, we walked down the steep hill to complete the scavenger hunt, looking for a playground and ice cream. At the playground, Maeve didn't want to play because she wanted to get the ice cream to finish her list (understandable). So we went into the Time Out Market (Jude: "why do people have to go to time out here?") to find an ice cream vendor. Success, but they didn't have the "green" one Maeve had been talking about all afternoon. So she asked instead for "white" and declared, "yum!" But something happened on the way back to the playground and as we tried to find a place to sit down, she threw her ice cream to the ground and was inconsolable. It is tough being 2! Just about as tough as it is to be a parent of a 2 year old! Playtime was minimal after that so we talked about getting a "snack" and went to a Mexican spot, knowing that the kids like chips and guac. But drama again when they didn't have the "hotdog!" that Maeve demanded. Lordy! Get us margaritas!