Merry Christmas from Lisbon.

After lunch drove to Heathrow Airport - was an easy drive until I looked for 1) the hotel 2) the car hire place to return the car! I saw what I though was the hotel but circumnavigated one of the terminals in order to get into the hotel. I began to worry when the road took me past the hotel & onto the motorway. I got off at the first exit & headed towards another terminal. Car hire firms began to appear but not the one I wanted! After asking for help I proceeded on the route to find myself at lights not knowing which way to go indecision meant placing myself across two lanes - luckily English drives can cope with this without yelling & raising fingers! It was a good decision because I found another Holiday Inn & pulled in to it.

No reservation there - “you need to drive through the next 4 sets of lights & you will be there,” the receptionist said. By now I was tired oof driving around the airport - it’s extremely large! Booked in & they gave me directions for the car hire place which entailed driving around the perimeter of the runways - bit disconcerting when a plane lands as the wheels almost touch you! Finally found the car hire place & once dropped of got into a cab to be whisked back to the hotel!

Justin arrived & we had dinner watching his team, Spurs, draw with Chelsea!

Day 16 - Fri 23rd December

Up at 5am to catch bus to airport. Check in only entailed dropping off my bag & then we had a wander through duty free before boarding. We took off on time & landed in Lisbon at 10am. I always feel nostalgic, with a tear in my eye, when I leave UK but that’s ok.

Taxi from airport was quick but when he droppped us at the address we were surprised to find ourselves in a linen shop. When we mentioned the apartment owners name we were shown some stairs! Up we went 5 flights ( I later counted them - 100 stairs! More altitude training?).

The apartment is very quirky but really pleasant. We are right in the heart of the old town & can see the castle from a couple of windows. Unfortunately because of the economic climate here the street below is usually decorated with hundreds of light but not this year!

I had booked us in for a tour of the town by Segway & after being taught how to operate it we were off around the town with a guide. It was awesome fun & we went to places we wouldn’t have been by ourselves. The guide was also expressing his views about what was happening to Portugal which was very interesting. The streets are narrow, steep and cobbled. Trams run everywhere adding to the scene. Weather fabulous 19C & sunny