My semester of Brazilian Portuguese I took last year has almost entirely flooded out of my brain. However, the one impression that has been left in there is that indeed, the Portuguese language sounds a lot like drunk Russian. Even the Portuguese admit this. When Ricardo was doing a month-long trip around Europe, he told me he would often be asked 'Are you Russian? It sounds like you're Russian'. It's a bad rap. Anyways.
On the 7th, Vilja and Vilma and I headed to Sintra, which is a town in the hills outside Lisbon that was a retreat for the royal family (before they were deposed in 1910 by Republican forces). Vilja and Vilma didn't want to pay the entrance fee to the Palace, so we simply had a picnic outside the mountaintop redoubt built by the Moors some centuries ago. Martha tells me I am really missing out. Well, true, but I have seen some other neat things. The Lisbon metro for instance - all relatively new, the majority of the stops are a public museum, decorated in modern art, beautifully tiled, and architecturally pleasing to the eye. It has also been the most expedient way of getting around. Lisbon is a bit too big to walk everywhere, unlike say Montpellier or Geneva, and between the layout of the city along a sweeping bend of the river, and the numerous hills, it is quite difficult to get around on foot. This contributes to a considerable pollution problem in Lisbon - I can even tell it's polluted, though in the winter time it is not as bad as in the summer. On the whole though, the city is quite clean and modern-looking, with skyscrapers (European skyscrapers) towering over most boulevards. After Vilja and Vilma and I returned from Sintra, we went to have a snack at the Café Nicola, one of two famous Lisboan cafés. We discussed things like "I thought I would hate everyone from the US, but not anymore" and "Did you ever read the Finn Family Moomintroll?" and "Is it true that Finland has one of the world's highest suicide rates?". They got really excited when I told them I knew Finn Family Moomintroll. They didn't get as excited when I asked them about suicide rates. Indeed, Finland does have one of the highest rates of suicide in Europe. I also learned that Swedish is the second official language of Finland - a fact I had never known. Vilja is Swedish by birth, but has lived in Finland all her life. We also lamented about being liberal arts students and having brilliant educations that will pay off to pocket change by the time we are done.
One thing that I have discovered here in Europe that I couldn't have ever discovered through study has been the simple experience of knowing that people - especially my age - are more or less the same all over the world. We listen to the same music, shop at the same stores, think a lot of the same things, do a lot of the same things, worry about the same things, and so on and so forth. It is of considerable comfort to come to this realization. It makes the world - an enormous place, I have also come to learn - a much less mysterious and foreign place. Ricardo, for instance, pretty much learned English by watching American cartoons as a child. All of this has also made me realize even more the impact of globalization. Its detractors may be critical of it, citing things like a growing wealth gap, continued cultural exploitation and envelopment, outsourcing, human rights violations, etc., but I am an optimist in this regard. Globalization is as old as humanity - it's only recently we put a term to it - and without it, we have much more to fear. Knowledge from books and study and lecture is important, but experiential knowledge can be far more epiphanic. Just the simple realization of "Oh, this Portuguese teenager can quote the Simpsons as well as I can" or "This USAmerican read the same childhood books as I did in Finland" is truly a wondrous blessing.
On the 8th, while Vilja and Vilma were out shopping and Ricardo was off studying, I went to the Castelo Sao Jorge. If none of my pictures turn out (which will provoke no end of swearing and wrath on my part) except the ones from atop the castle, I will only be supremely pissed, and not... uber-supremely pissed. Okay, so that's not actually any consolation. But, I look forward to getting those pictures developed. Like any good castle, there is no easy way of getting there. Any castle that has a direct route to it, well, is just plain easy to conquer. So, we tourists, like ancient warriors, have to meander through countless side streets up a maze to the top of the hill. On the plus, I got a couple of neat postcards, further fueling my postcard collection. After the Castelo, I walked back down to the downtown area where I picked up a bit of lunch. Lisbon has a ton of little cafés where you just go, stand at the bar, and if you know enough Portuguese to be able to say "I want this, please" (which I do), you can get a tasty little something for no more than 1.50E. It's reverse-highway robbery! In France, you can't even look at food without paying at least two euros. Another plus for Portugal. For dinner, Vilja, Vilma, Ricardo and I met to go up to the Barrio Alto to go listen to Fado. Fado is a particular style of music native to Portugal, sung by a singer accompanied by three guitarists. Many fadista are legendary in Portugal, and it is a beloved tradition by the Portuguese. It being a Thursday when we went out, the place in question was completely dead. Even the three fadista were looking a bit overdue for the crypt. Still, they sang quite well, and it was a neat cultural experience. The salmon I ate had too many bones though, so I was not super pleased. Merely pleased.
On the 9th, Vilja and Vilma left to go back to Helsinki, and I went to the Oceanarium. Having already been to the Monterrey Aquarium in California, ocenaria are all below the bar. I mean c'mon, the Monterrey Aquarium has like more otters than people. Still, the Oceanarium and the neighborhood it is in - the Park of Nations, the site of the 1998 Lisbon Expo - is very cool. Formerly an industrial area that had been in disrepair, the site was revamped into a long boardwalk of parks and cultural centers. Going to the oceanarium was also cool because I like things like that - zoos, science museums, etc. all interest me because I've moved mostly off the scientific track, but still have great interest in science. I'm also fascinated by the ocean - having been to it so few times I can count them on my hands. It is also fascinating for me to experience salt water, coming from a strictly freshwater background. If the water in the lake is too salty, it means that too many people have been peeing nearby. It being nearly dark by the time I got out, I went and walked down towards the Vasco de Gama bridge, which makes landfall near the area. It is LONG! You can't even make out the buildings on the far side. When I was driving across it coming into Lisbon, it seemed to go on forever. Afterwards, I went back to Ricardos and we made a bit of dinner. Part of couchsurfing - and being a good guest - is that you offer a gift to your host, and offer to clean for them, or, in my case, cook. Since Ricardo is a starving college student, I decided to ease his plight. I mean, I'm not a good cook, but the kid was impressed I could boil rice. I think I'll have to leave him some recipes. I made some pasta with tomatoes that I actually learned from my couchsurf host in Milan. Easy and genuinely Italian! For some reason though, the linguini sticks to itself though, despite me adding olive oil. A conundrum for which I will have to seek counsel.
That evening, what did we do? Well, if I can't recall on a moments notice, it probably wasn't interesting. The 10th! The 10th, I went off to Cascais, the western-most point in Europe. That's about it. It has a nice beach and a lovely view of the coast, but, hey, it's sand and rocks and tourist shops. I quickly headed back to Lisbon. Following Cascais, I went to the Gulbenkian Museum. Founded by Calouste Gulbenkian, a Turkish oil magnate who came to Lisbon in 1942 to seek peace amongst the chaos of war, he was a prolific collector of art, especially from the Middle East and Far East. As an aside, isn't it strange that, for we in the US, the Far East is to the West, and the Middle East is further away than the Far East. We really should start calling Europe the Middle East. They'd love that. The museum houses an impressive collection of art from the 14th to 20th century, especially from Persia and Turkey. What cool stuff it is! While European art was spent trying to figure out how to make one Virgin Mary with child look different from all the others, the art of Islam - by sharia forbidden from featuring the face of God - flourished in beautiful color and extraordinary geometric patterns. Like at the Alhambra, the Gulbenkian museum was a real treat. The museum also has an impressive garden winding about the grounds, which was pleasant for a stroll in the early moonlight. The moon above Lisbon, currently in full, has been quite impressive. With luck, my pictures of it will turn out well.
Today, I spent the day more or less indoors. I am currently in the stages of planning my next leg of the journey. I am off to London tomorrow evening, and on Tuesday, I will be meeting up with my friend Chelsea to head around the city before she heads off for Denmark and I to Madrid and then home. While it has been a true joy to see so much of Europe, I will be grateful to be back in the US where I don't have to plan out where I will be sleeping, what I'll be seeing and doing, etc. to such a high degree every day. One week!
P.S. Has anyone heard of Bruno Aleixo? He is a Portuguese dog puppet, formerly an Ewok, that speaks with a Portuguese hick accent and interviews famous people while conversing with his friend, Busto, a bust of Napoleon. It is an amazing and strange show.
1.11.2009
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3 comments:
Is Bruno Alexio anything like Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog?
http://www.capcom-unity.com/s-kill/blog/2008/12/10/tv_in_other_countries_is_different
Talk to your brother about the sticky noodles. He seems to have figured out how to make them properly.
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