Seargent Peppers Lonely Hearts Club

Wow!!! How long has it been! We left the tight panted - knee high booted policemen and the masses chanting Portugaal Portugaal!! in the squares 5 or 6 days ago, and are now stuffing our faces with baby mussels cooked in wine, delectable french crepes, and unashamedly taking photos of all the chocolate tidbits in the window. (It took something like 18hrs of travel, (had to go back to the top of Portugal) including waiting time in the cold, and 41 hrs without sleep, gotta love it!! : ) My last ramble was in the rained out episode of Lisboa, and sadly I must report we are rained out again in Bordeaux. So much has happened since, that I can't even remember!! But I will try to throw some little morsels to give you a taste of the Portuguese - French crossover.

LAYING IN LAGOS
What can I say about Lagos but that you can't help but be sucked in. It is highly touristy with amazing cave-invested beaches, and a nightlife created by all the foreigners that frequent there, which means that we can count how many hours of sleep we had over the four days, but was so easily medicated by the fact that all you have to do the next day is go to the beach : )

GRANDMA KIKI
The little old lady that looked after us at our hostel (more like a hotel as they insisted on cleaning our room everyday, even folding my PJ's) was soo lovely, i wanted to pack her up into one of my many plastic bags and take her with me. On the first day she was giving us big hugs, and we left with goodbyes in all three languages that she spoke, waiving us off as if we were her daughters. She also had one of those little cute high voices.

FAT FREDDY'S V B.E.P.
It was an incredible mission to get to the Algarvae Stadium, to the point where we had actually thought that we had the wrong date and time, but all was well when we were standing in the mush in front of the stage after scoffing down a boulder or bread with 2 slabs of some sort of meat in it, preparing to not go to the loo for the next 5 hrs as to not lose our place. We missed the first act, the second was obviously a very popular Portuguese band, and then with much anticipation we screamed on Fat Freddy's. After the boisterous Boss AC, the chilled out beats of Fat Freddy took some getting used to for the crowd, at times I felt like we were the only ones appreciating the unique NZ sounds, but I think people warmed to them. But once the BLACK EYED PEAS chanting started in between the acts, there was no going back!!! It was crazy, we sung, danced, and partied, and I think that it was only made better by the fact that we were experiencing this in Portugal, a country that really knows how to party!!! The whole thing was fantastic, especially given the price. (we ended up forgoing the seats for a place in the front squashed between the most short people that we could find)

THE SHOCK OF PARIS
When we got off the bus at the 10km wide intersection of Paris and stood on the 5m wide footpath, it was a bit of a shock; perhaps it was the lack of sleep or the fact that I had popcorn and a baguette for breakfast (in the airport at Porto they had this cool popcorn vending machine that pops the corn and pours out into a cute little cardboard bag with useful info that translated was rather humorous) but coming from all the quaintness of Portugal to the hugely populated busy city of Paris, we had to catch our breath a little. As this was an unexpected trip, we arrive mapless, clueless, and entirely unsure of how or where we are going. But after squeezing onto the metro with our hunchbacks, swapping hostels due to unreceived emails, and spending half a day in the laundromat and the other half in a que at the bus station, the next couple days were a whirlwind of sights, sounds, food, and getting really confused as to what language I should be speaking. (Spanish, Portuguese, and French are all so similar I never know what is going to come out of my mouth!!) We joined the masses and went to the top of the Eiffel Tower (found the little label with the direction of NZ) saw the Notre Dame, spent 3 hours at the Louvre (and that was speeding) went to Versailles, and saw a show. It was just lucky the metro shut at 1230, and we had to be out of our hostel by 10am each day, (plus breakfast was only till 9.30, we have definitely had our share of French sticks) which meant we had ample sleep. As usual, we walked into a parade, well the end, where there were just people dancing on lamposts and fights breaking out, and then with that, we left at 7am, armed with our illegal french sticks (breakfast doesn't start till 7.30), and here we are in Bordeaux. We were greeted by a simple hotel room, that even left us little lollies on the bedside. Only downfall being that we have to walk up four flights of curvy staircase before we can get there.
For our 2 month anniversary, we ate at this fair where all these restaurants have outdoor tents. Spent a bit of moolah, but boy it was good!! Bread can only take your taste buds so far, even if it is the best bread you have ever tasted. As the weather is pitiful, we are at a bit of a wall. We have only just acquired a map, but will be leaving for Lourdes before we even get to use it.