New friends and great people in Estoril.
Monday 8/4/13
It was another exceptional day in Portugal today. We met up with Werner and Christian at the beach as arranged. Christian suggested that we go to his house and he would make us lunch and we could discuss his ideas for face and body painting for Revolution Day over a few drinks.
Ten minutes later we arrived at Christian's lovely home and met some of his hoard of cats and his three dogs. Christian and his wife Manuela have a collection of stray cats they care for. When I said "care for" you think feed right? Oh no. These cats are pampered and even have their own Swiss chalet in the front yard. Inside it has multiple levels of shelves lined with cat beds for the kittys to sleep on. The cats have a great garden to wander around as well. It's like a very nice retirement village for cats.
Christian is one of those people who is an ideas person and very creative. I honestly believe he could quite easily change the world if the opportunity arose. He absolutely loves his adopted Portugal and is very keen to try and make everyone understand just how lucky they are to live here. April 25th is Revolution Day here and Christian sees that as the ideal platform to "start something". He's not sure what, but has an idea that face or body painting could be a part of it. Who knows what could happen?
We also met Ivan who's staying there. Coincidentally Ivan is Russian, but lives in Ukraine. Then Manuela (Christian's wife) came home.
So there we were. The six of us sat and chatted for hours over a few bottles of wine (Werner had to go out and resupply) and enjoyed a very tasty lunch that Christian prepared. Unfortunately we didn't discuss any ideas for painting, or revolution Day, so we'll just have to catch up again when we get back. The company was so good that we didn't take many photos today, we were having to much of a good time. Suzanne managed to get this one though...
Once again Werner offered us his apartment if we wanted it. As he was leaving Wednesday and we were heading north for a few days tomorrow, he suggested we go and have a look at it and he could give us the spare keys today if we wanted to stay. OK, Let's go.
Sometimes things don't go so well. The four of us squeezed into the one metre by one metre lift and headed up to Werner's apartment. The lift stopped, but the door wouldn't open. It was very cosy in there.
As we were stuck just a bit short of the floor we wanted I decided that forcing the doors open would probably get us out. It worked, and a minute later we were in Werner's apartment.
WOW! It's a very modern apartment, on the top floor, overlooking the ocean, with more than 180 degree views, and it has all the mod cons. Awesome.
Werner gave us a quick run through of how things worked and showed us where everything was. My friends that know me well know I'm a neat freak and like things organised. When Werner opened the linen cupboard I just had to give him a big hug. He had the sheets folded up on the shelves, and the shelves were labelled for the different size sheets. My kind of guy. To say we are looking forward to staying here is a major understatement. A huge thank you Werner.
Tomorrow we will ride north for a few days, check out the tourist places, and catch up with our Pinguino friend Hugo. Then we'll return to our luxury accommodation in Estoril to sort out some painting ideas with Christian. We'll enjoy our new accommodation for a few days, or four, or five...then it's a quick trip to Barcelona.
Monday 8/4/13
It was another exceptional day in Portugal today. We met up with Werner and Christian at the beach as arranged. Christian suggested that we go to his house and he would make us lunch and we could discuss his ideas for face and body painting for Revolution Day over a few drinks.
I saw this T Shirt on the way and thought it was a good face painting idea. I was the only one though.
Ten minutes later we arrived at Christian's lovely home and met some of his hoard of cats and his three dogs. Christian and his wife Manuela have a collection of stray cats they care for. When I said "care for" you think feed right? Oh no. These cats are pampered and even have their own Swiss chalet in the front yard. Inside it has multiple levels of shelves lined with cat beds for the kittys to sleep on. The cats have a great garden to wander around as well. It's like a very nice retirement village for cats.
One very lucky cat named Kitty.
Christian is one of those people who is an ideas person and very creative. I honestly believe he could quite easily change the world if the opportunity arose. He absolutely loves his adopted Portugal and is very keen to try and make everyone understand just how lucky they are to live here. April 25th is Revolution Day here and Christian sees that as the ideal platform to "start something". He's not sure what, but has an idea that face or body painting could be a part of it. Who knows what could happen?
We also met Ivan who's staying there. Coincidentally Ivan is Russian, but lives in Ukraine. Then Manuela (Christian's wife) came home.
Manuela and her favourite tubby little dog.
So there we were. The six of us sat and chatted for hours over a few bottles of wine (Werner had to go out and resupply) and enjoyed a very tasty lunch that Christian prepared. Unfortunately we didn't discuss any ideas for painting, or revolution Day, so we'll just have to catch up again when we get back. The company was so good that we didn't take many photos today, we were having to much of a good time. Suzanne managed to get this one though...
She was quite taken with this fairy.
Once again Werner offered us his apartment if we wanted it. As he was leaving Wednesday and we were heading north for a few days tomorrow, he suggested we go and have a look at it and he could give us the spare keys today if we wanted to stay. OK, Let's go.
Sometimes things don't go so well. The four of us squeezed into the one metre by one metre lift and headed up to Werner's apartment. The lift stopped, but the door wouldn't open. It was very cosy in there.
Suzanne wasn't too concerned until she realised we didn't have any wine with us.
As we were stuck just a bit short of the floor we wanted I decided that forcing the doors open would probably get us out. It worked, and a minute later we were in Werner's apartment.
WOW! It's a very modern apartment, on the top floor, overlooking the ocean, with more than 180 degree views, and it has all the mod cons. Awesome.
Werner gave us a quick run through of how things worked and showed us where everything was. My friends that know me well know I'm a neat freak and like things organised. When Werner opened the linen cupboard I just had to give him a big hug. He had the sheets folded up on the shelves, and the shelves were labelled for the different size sheets. My kind of guy. To say we are looking forward to staying here is a major understatement. A huge thank you Werner.
Tomorrow we will ride north for a few days, check out the tourist places, and catch up with our Pinguino friend Hugo. Then we'll return to our luxury accommodation in Estoril to sort out some painting ideas with Christian. We'll enjoy our new accommodation for a few days, or four, or five...then it's a quick trip to Barcelona.
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