Part 1 - Lisbon

The very first night they were here, we took my mom and sister to our favorite Indian restaurant. They loved it! They had tried Indian food in the past, but I think they are converts now. John and I got addicted to it in Jakarta because it was so good, and cheap as well there.

What else did they do?

We had to take them up to the castle.

We decided to try one of the fancier fado singing restaurants, and it was great. The singers were so serious and had great voices. Here we are enjoying our meal between singers.

View of the castle from the Bairro Alto, where we got a beer and walked around after fado.

In the summer many restaurants put their tables outside in the streets. It's outdoor dining with great people-watching. These restaurants close up before midnight, if only to accommodate the throngs of people throughout all the old streets chatting and bar-hopping.

Me and sis

Random guy trying to sell my mom a hat

Ready to hit the town


We even took them up to the Embassy to see where we work, and they met quite a few of our colleagues and friends as well. They spent 3 nights in Lisbon before we got on the road to head to the south coast of Portugal. Stay tuned....

Road Trip

We had a fabulous time while my mom and sister were here. They thoroughly enjoyed Lisbon, as we knew they would. But I have to say our road trip vacation was one for the books. We had so much fun and saw a lot, but we also relaxed some of the time, which made for a perfect trip. The map above shows the route we took. It's really so easy to drive throughout Portugal; we were never on the road for more than a couple hours at a time.

I will definitely post some updates about their visit - it just might take awhile! Come back soon!

Parking the car

We knew things in Europe would be a little tighter (we bought a small car for this reason), but we didn't know quite how difficult parking at home would be.

Step by step guide to parking in our garage.

Step 1: Open outer gate.

Step 2: Pull into driveway.

Step 3: Mind the tight fit.



Step 4: Enter garage.



Step 5: Back into elevator.



Step 6: Close elevator doors and descend one floor.



Step 7: Arrive at basement.



Step 8: Park in assigned space.



Step 9: Hope you don't need to repeat this process anytime soon.