Oh that blessed blessed sun…

  Good day folks, Steve here once again to bring you some news from abroad.  My stay in Portugal has been short, but so far very nice.  The good news for all of you, is I found an internet cafe, so I can share my musings (then again maybe that is not so good. )  The bad news though is that I don’t have a way to upload my photos, so those will have to wait.  So far I think I’ve logged some 100 shots in 2 and a half days.  I will however be posting them upon my return to Netherlands.  On to business though.

  So we arrived on a Wednesday.  Not only that but we left the house at 3:45am to catch the plane.  This was accomplished by one of my favorite methods, staying up all night.  That was basically out only course of action seeing as Anne and I hadn’t packed yet.  All I can say about that is, it’s great to be with someone who thinks like me.

  Catching the plane was painless, and I came to realize something.  I’ve only visited Netherlands once, and yet I’ve already been in Schiphol 4 times, and it’ll be 6 by the time I come back to The States.  I would love to tell you all about the plane ride, except I was passed out for the entire thing.  I only woke up a couple times to check if Anne was doing all right then I went right back to sleep.  The silly thing is I somehow woke up about 30 seconds before we flew along the southern coast of Portugal, and past the house we’d be staying in.  Considering how bad my internal clock is, and the fact that I’ve only ever see the house in pictures, I’d call that pretty good.

  Once we hit the airport things went smoothly.  Anne’s father was there to pick us up, along with Rutger, her brother.  It took about half an hour to get to the house.  I found the drive interesting, if not familiar, as the country side made me think a lot of Peru, and the way the country is built.  Anne’s father made a really interesting comment that a lot of the country felt like it was only half built, as if they had started a project and just decided 80% of the way through to move on to the next one.  And ya know what, he was right.  That’s exactly how it felt.  Even 2 blocks away from our place there is a house that has been only half complted for at least 8 years now, and that’s perfectly normal.  As we got closer to the house though, things became quite a bit nicer.

  I do not believe I could describe the house adequetly.  It was commisioned by Carien’s father, and is fairly old for the region.  It is host to beautiful vined flowers, and tapestries.  The charm is very down to earth, while maintaining a classy feel.  There is a pool in the backyard, that shines a brilliant blue when the sun sets.  It remains cool without air conditioning, even when the heat is stifiling outside.  As the kicker the ocean is visible pool side, and one is within a 5 minutes walk to the beach. Truly a marvelous place to vacation.

  One of the things I’ve found myself really appreciating is the Sun.  It’s an odd thing to say considering I left Colorado in large part due to the sunny weather.  Maybe since I don’t see a terrible amount of it in Seattle or Utrecht, I now appreciate it.  Don’t get me wrong, I’ve no want to be in a terribly sunny place again, but while I’m here I’m going to soak it up and enjoy it as much as I can.

  I have lots more to say about the trip, but no time to say it.  What I can say is that I am having a blast out here.  I’ve been enjoying the sun, the ocean and the pool.  We’ve seen a castle, been to the mountains, and eaten traditional Portugese food.  I am very glad I took this journey to another part of Europe, and strongly recommend it to anyone.  I will do my best to get another post out for the Monday morning reading, but it might be til Tuesday when I can sneak up here next.  All the best to you all.