Head, shoulders, knees and toes

Thursday we needed to hit the road pretty early to make the four-ish hour drive down to Lisbon to meet up with Fids, who would be patiently awaiting our arrival at the apartment. Surprisingly, we all got ourselves up, packed and out the door right at 8, despite another late night gab session in our robes. The hotel had other things in mind -- though they'd said breakfast started at 8, they really meant 8:30 (and if you want bread, 9), and though reception is also supposed to open at 8, they meant if you yell out "hello?", a hidden voice will answer "um, I'm sorry not ready yet, five more minutes please."

All that said, we were on the road by 9:10 after a near catastrophe with the luggage elevator, and Liza made incredible time. Four hour drive? More like 3 hours, 20 minutes. Get it girl -- I had no idea how much she wanted to stop driving. We had originally though we'd be turning the car in 2 hours late, but actually she flubbed the reservation (maybe on purpose) and we got it in there a full day early. More money for Gingha!!

Our apartment is a tiny place near Rossio that our cab driver took thirty minutes to find. Once he did the owner's mother let us in and we were reunited with that sweet little angel Fids. While she had the luxury of a nap, she had the dis-luxury of lost luggage. That's 3 for 4 on travel issues. Good luck tomorrow, LJ. When I say our apt is tiny, I mean TINY. When I booked this place there were two people going on this trip -- now there are four for the Lisboa swing, with one more to come on Saturday. Again -- good luck, LJ.

After some catching up, cuddle time, and glasses of port we headed out to check out the city. We tried eating out at "Eating Lane" but (1) the proprietors put the A in Aggressive, and (2) many of the places were Italian, which is a huge no-no. We finally wound up at a corner spot where we split clams, a mixed grill, some veggies (BESCAUSE OBVI) and some beers. We'd tried very hard to have lunch at a normal hour for once -- but alas, it was 3 p.m.

With our hearts and minds full, we grabbed a trolley up to the castle to check out one of Lisbon's best view points. I'm officially exhausted of playing tour guide so passed the doodies over to Girl. Maybe not the best call ever, since she kept forgetting she had the book and complaining about having to read, but it did work out when we got lost down an alley and came upon some old Roman ruins (discovered in 1970s, lost again, re-found five years ago. It was a completely quiet spot with an awesome view, so we sat for a moment, enjoyed some Sagres, and then did a pyramid, Fids' first. I'd been very concerned with how a four-person pyramid would work out, but that wicca brought a lot to the table (side note: we were pretty sure that after a cloudy drive down to Lisbon that her wicca powers had struck again, but all good for now on the weather front)

We did finally get to the castello, and though we usually don't enjoy paying for things, Fids talked us into it and it was well worth it. Great views, and great statues to pose with. There was a whole family of peacocks roaming about, and at one point I came around a corner to what I thought was Girl trying to call one over. It was in fact a cat. I don't think Portuguese castello cats react the same way bitchy alley cats do to kissing sounds.

We wound our way back down the hill towards our place, following Lonely Planet's directions to "get lost" in the Alfama. I took a 30 minute cat nap while the others showered and conjured up an outfit for Ms. Fabulous Fidelity to wear. We considered walking to Bairro Alto to grab dinner, but figured we owed ourselves a break, so took a quick cab ride up the hill. Arguable one of our best decisions ever. Bairro Alto reminds me a lot of San Fran, where there are restaurants lining ever alley around every corner. We probably walked around for 30 minutes trying to pick one, and once we did we were given the whole "ten more minutes" spiel about 10 times. Fids apparently shares Liza's distaste for waiting, but we did finally get seated in time for an 11 p.m. dinner. The food was aces. We had some of the traditional caldo verde (though Fids does NOT share soup), another mixed grill (I love my meats), fish cooked on a tile, and bacalau. Our waiter was an adorable 22 year old named Marco who brought us some Gingha to enjoy after dinner, sang the above body part song with Fids, and then pointed us to a spot around the corner to close out the night.

This is where Fids showed her true value. Despite the fact that Girl and Liza were exhausted, she convinced them to get just one...more....drink, something I have not been able to do by myself. I finally have a co-conspirator for mischief! Wee! We took over the dance floor at Bali, and when I say took it over, I mean destroyed it. Smoke machines, pyramids, lean backs, EVERYTHING. It was awesome. Liza even did a shot with a nice young Brazilian man. Super fun, even though the DJ was terrible. We have not been in metro hot spots for dance parties, so getting that one out of the way is a huge relief. Lisbon: you've been warned.