Bom dia from Ericeira!!!

 Liza and I met up as planned at Avis with no issue. Then we sat for an eternity waiting for WB, convinced she had somehow flubbed our up plan until we managed to get on email to discover the poor little lamb had missed her connection in London. It really wasn't a good day for any of us. While we briefly discussed leaving her instructions to get on the train/bus to join us, we decided to be caring human being instead and took the rental into Lisbon to get some lunch (read: three beers each).

First impressions of Lisbon, based solely on the airport and Placa do Comercio: pretty sick.

After a few hours of not talking to save all conversations for WB's arrival, we headed back to the airport (which thankfully is only 10 mins away, unlike the Milan airport, which is actually in Zurich). Just when I had given up any hope of seeing her ever again, our little red head with swagger emerged, and my hands were thrown up in joy.

The drive to Ericeira, our chosen beach town, is only about 30 mins. I knew full well that could be more like two hours depending on the road/signage situation. We made it there with minimal yelling thanks to the fact that no one in the back seat was secretly hoarding maps. We had a few terrifying moments turning down pedestrian walkways and one way streets - but we are stronger because of it.

Our hotel is adorbs, and the owner Bruno is adorbs. He pointed us in the direction of a place near the water for us to get a snack and our first caipirinhas. Caipirinhas will always make me think of the friends we made by the fire at Barmuda in Queenstown many years ago, so spending another vakay imbibing them seems appropriate. A group of elder gents befriended us during snack time and gave us some helpful pointers for our drinking and eating hours, while also telling us why Obama is terrible and Occupy Wall Street had a good point. When they found out I was the double whammy Texan AND DC-er, I got an earful.

For snack time we had what probably would have been $70 worth of mussels, some chorizo, stuffed bread, and  dry (as opposed to wet) cheese. We hit the market for some two euro wine and then sat on the terrace of our hotel staring at the ocean, drinking from the bottle and trying to see if we could spot Atlantic City. I haven't given up just yet.

For dinner we went to a steakhouse and had some amazing beef, spinach (obviously) veggies, potatoes - the whole shebang. It was awesome. I woke up today a little sad we didn't go straight for seafood, but there will be plenty of time for that. Afterwards we strolled down the main drag, which was lined with make shift candy booths and bars, grabbed some more beers, and then down to the water to,listen to some reggae (as advised by our friends earlier). Liza naturally forced us into a dance contest which I naturally won. After an hour or so we gave in to the jet lag demons and crashed back at the hotel. The party was raging outside all night (or at least it was in my dreams). We are up and at them now ready to hit the beach, looking forward to more mussels and sausages later. Tomorrow is surf day and I'm super pumped about that. Adeus for now.