A weekend in Lisbon

This past weekend, Sora and I visited our neighboring country, Portugal. We had purposely planned this trip in April in hopes of warmer weather, but unfortunately that wasn't totally true.

Showers aside, we had a great time! We owe a huge majority of our good time to our fabulous hosts, Teresa and Mafalda. They are sisters studying in Lisbon and they graciously opened their apartment to us. Mafalda had lived in the US (Vail, as an au pair) and Teresa had just returned from a trip to London, so we had a lot to talk about!

They took us around their city--pointing out historical and fun facts. Our first stop in the downtown area was Mude, a fashion and design museum. It was really neat! The building was an old not-quite-finished bank, so it had a cool industrial feel.

The entrance to Mude.

A special Converse exhibition on the top floor caught our eye. There was a video of super cool and creative people from all over the world playing, and I believe this started our urge to craft!

Mafalda led us to a really pretty viewpoint to get a good view of the city. The blue sky shows there was a break in the showers!

The streets of Lisbon.

While walking around, we stumble upon several fabulous shops. We were on a vintage kick, and spent some time "ooh"ing, "ahh"ing, and "oh no"ing at the dresses on the rack. Hello sequins, shoulder pads, and applique!!

For dinner, Mafalda, Sora, and I went to the grocery store and picked up some ingredients for a home cooked meal by Mafalda. It was delicious! We also picked up some wine (1 euro!!! unbelievable) and ice cream to round out the meal :)

Tile on a building.

Saturday was a gorgeous day. Sun and blue skies the entire day! Good weather makes my pictures so much prettier and really fits with the old and pastel style of the buildings. The streets were lined with tiled buildings and drying laundry... so pretty!

Our first stop was a flea market and I could have stayed there all day! The stalls (or blankets laid out on the street) were a nice mix between garage sales and antique malls. Our finds of the morning:

• Me: old postcards and pictures (the girls translated one of them..."Son, we haven't heard from you in a while... are you still going to class??"
• Mafalda: brand new zebra print Vans shoes
• Sora: fringed boots (for 1.50 Euro!!)

Buttons!

After our successful shopping, we unpacked our picnic lunch and enjoyed our sandwiches and fruit at a scenic spot.

Pretty Lisbon.

On our way to the train station, we found a line of stalls selling handmade goods. Sora and I were taking many, many mental notes so we can recreate the cute things at home!

Placemat purse... check!

Padrao dos Descobrimentos.

We took a train to Belem, a district of Lisbon. It is on the river so it was very windy! There were a lot of windsurfers and sailboats on the water and they were flying!

We visited the monastery in Belem and then headed over to the main event, pasteries at Pasteis de Belem. There was huge line outside, so we knew it was going to be good! Both Mafalda and Teresa couldn't really describe the pastery, so we were very intrigued! Result: very tasty! It was a bit like flan (but better) in a crust.

A little piece of heaven for .90 Euro!

We finished the day at a birthday party for one of their friends. The night consisted of Lady Gaga sing and dancealongs, tons of food, and a trivia game. It was a good time!

Photo by Mafalda: origami and tea, our Sunday.

On Sunday morning, we decided lounge around and hang out at the apartment. We drank tons of tea, watched many movies, and were taught by Sora how to make some origami. When the sun went down, we finally spotted a drag queen on their street! (Quite scary)

By the end of the day, we were all very sad our visit was over!