European Adventure, Part 3: Lea and Carter Discover Lisbon

Carter and Lea explored Lisbon for two days while Erik participated in work-related stuff that Carter deemed "boring." The first day, he, Lea, Saadia and Sophia spent a morning exploring the Oceanario, Lisbon's aquarium, which was quite impressive. Adventures ensued.

Above, Carter and Sophia have a laugh after lunch along the Tagus. Following lunch, they took the recommendation of the locals to ride a tram around town. After waiting a long time to pick it up, they finally got on board. After one stop, everyone was ordered off since it was the end of the line. They returned to the trolley as it re-started the route, and jammed into marshrutka-like conditions, they lurched about town, braking and accelerating, going down roads so narrow that pedestrians could not fit alongside, and even colliding with a car. Once they realized they were only going farther and farther from the hotel, they exited the tram and tried to figure out how to get back to familiar terrain.

En route to the hotel, which turned out to be close at hand, they found a lovely park filled with giant aloe plants.

The next day, Carter and Lea struck out on their own. In the morning, they decided to climb the hill at Eduardo VII Park, a grand area near the hotel. It was a nostalgic trip since the park shared characteristics with others they visited in the former Soviet Union. At the top was a sweeping view of the city, with the castle on the left and the river below.

Following their stroll through the park, Lea and Carter decided to go to the botanical gardens. Despite map directions that seemed clear, they kept running into walls surrounding the garden (and no entrance). They surrendered and stopped to get a bite to eat at an outdoor cafe. They learned that the garden entrance was a mere 50 meters away. Carter was entranced by the gardens, truly enjoying the palm (not) trees and rare trees from all over the world. [Carter was fascinated by the fact that palm trees are herbs, not trees.]

After wandering among the trees until the end of Erik's workday, the whole family met to eat pastries at the banks of the Tagus River.

European Adventure, Part 2: Lisbon Together

We arrived a couple of days before Erik's workshop to explore Lisbon together. Lisbon's "downtown" is in a small valley with the castle on one hillside and the Bairro Alto neighborhood on the other. We meandered through Bairro Alto on the first day, stumbling into a park with a glorious view of the Tagus River and the other hill that you see above. Our main target was lunch, and we finally found a place serving Portuguese food on a side street in the neighborhood. We wandered down into the center - Baixa - to stroll along the streets reserved for pedestrians.




Baixa was quite lovely and bustling with activity on a Saturday afternoon. We walked down to the riverfront square and took a pause for some photographs. As you can see, the weather was gorgeous - sunny and in the 80s - in stark contrast to the stifling heat at home (and the later chilly rain in Paris).

Among the more charming sights in Lisbon were the old trams. They were much more fun to watch than ride.





We continued to meander through the neighborhood, finding this clever solution to Lisbon's undulating streets - an outdoor elevator.





After exhausting ourselves to hasten adaptation and minimize jetlag, we rested up for our Sunday activities. We planned to meet a colleague of Erik's from the project and his family to investigate the Alfama district and castle (on the opposite hillside).




We explored the castle with Robert, Saadia, and Sophia. Carter and Sophia really enjoyed each other's company, playing in the castle and at the hotel.




They enjoyed the local peacocks and their babies (peachicks?).





Lea spied a church from high up on the castle, and we sought it out on the descent. It turned out to be the Cathedral of Santa Maria Maior, the oldest church in town (its construction began in the 12th century with several chapels and expanded to the current site). The church has been expanded over time and reconstructed after earthquakes (especially the 1755 temblor and tsunami that devastated the city).




We returned to Baixa for lunch, enjoying a Portuguese specialty - grilled sardines. During our visit to Portugal and France, we found several foods that measure up to the best in the world. The sardines were among the better dishes we had in Lisbon.





From Sunday night until the end of Tuesday, Erik participated in workshop events while Lea and Carter struck out on their own adventures. More on that later.

European Adventure, Part 1: Introduction

We spent the last couple of weeks in two lovely European capitals: Lisbon and Paris. Erik was invited to attend a workshop held in Lisbon, so the whole family packed up to explore these great cities. We'll post photos and comments over the next few days from our journey.

Reeling 'Em In

While Lea is away on the Wheat State Whirlwind, Erik and Carter have been busy with several activities in Lawrence and Kansas City. Carter's favorite thus far has been fishing with Grandpa at Mary's Lake in Lawrence. Their hard work provided the protein for lunch on Thursday. Above you can see Carter using Grandpa's ice fishing rod (a good size for him). After some tutoring, Carter caught a bluegill all by himself. He is inspecting the catch below.

[UPDATE - Due to popular demand (an email from Lea), a photo of the fish Carter caught is below. His odd facial expression is due to the bright sun and his failure to remember his sunglasses.]

Hard work paid off with a delicious lunch!

Easter Ham 'n Eggs

Carter's current obsessions are Angry Birds and Star Wars. And while a mashup of both exists, we focused on the former for our Easter holiday activities. We decorated several eggs to represent the main characters:

...the red bird...

...the yellow accelerator...

...the blue triple bird...

...and several pigs.

After enjoying the egg decorating, we put the birds and pigs to work in the video below. Happy Easter!