Lisbon, last days

Our last two days in Lisbon I didn't schedule anything special (per request).  We decided to go to the new part of the city and visit the Lisbon Oceanarium, the largest in Europe.  I was sure glad we did because there was a mall right beside the aquarium and, to the kids delight, it had a Burger King AND a KFC!!!  Woah!  The aquarium was awesome though, I think we all really enjoyed it.

Atlantic Pavilion...the area around the aquarium was beautiful as well and it was a great day to enjoy the weather....again :)

Cable cars going over the water

We saw lots of jellyfish in the waters outside the aquarium and they were huge!

Emerson really enjoyed her first trip to an aquarium.  She did go to one in Barcelona but she was only a few months old.  She just loved looking at all the creatures!

Goof!

Emerson was very timid about walking onto the glass.  She was definitely afraid of falling.

Cute penguins!

The huge acrylic tank was amazing!  The observing areas were all over the aquarium and the kids (me too) just loved sitting and watching all the sea life swim by.  I think I could sit there for hours.

Gigantic sun fish!

I really like this pic :)

Emerson was enthralled with how the otters ate.  She was mimicking them and it was hilarious!

And she would make the "smacking your lips" noise.  So funny

She did a pretty good job of pretending to eat like an otter!

I loved all the colors!

These flat fish disguise themselves in the sand.  They were hard to find at first.

Can you tell Preslee is so excited???  No, she was just trying to take a selfie with the shark :)

Just chillin with the fishies!

Seahorses

Another of my fave pics

That evening we finally got to hear some Fado music.  It's very slow, sad singing....so once was enough.  There are a few theories to how the genre was started.  Our guide said one theory is that the women whose husbands were off to war starting singing the very melancholy songs because they were lonely.  During the performance, no one is served anything to eat or drink.  Everything stops until the song is over.  They shut the door so no one can enter or leave and everyone is quiet.  That night we had one male and one female performer.  It was only a few minutes of torture, I mean singing, and then the performers were out of there!  I think they went from restaurant to restaurant....

On our last day we finally got to ride Tram 28.  It was very full and there were no seats, but it was nice to look out the windows and catch some sites.  You do not want to stick your hands out the window because the oncoming tram is only inches away!  It's shocking how the tram fits in the spaces we had to go through...within a foot (more than likely less than that) of cars and walls!

We finally got a seat

Gran & Pres

Unfortunately, we got on at the wrong spot, so our ride was not very long.  By then I knew why we were getting seats!  It ends and then 50 yards up the street (if that), starts again.  That part was a little frustrating because we had just paid to get on then they kick you off and want you to pay again and get back on just a short block up.  We didn't get back on, we just decided to walk around.

Drinks before dinner!

One last trip to Hard Rock! By this time we were over the Portuguese menu and just wanted to all be happy!  Where else could we go???

Kade orders this every time!

And always eats every rib!!

Drake's chocolate loving mini-me!!!  

Trudging back down the steep hills of Alfama to catch the metro to the airport.  We thought we had a taxi coming, but that didn't happen.  Mike talked us into just taking the metro instead...ugh.


It was a great fall break!  Anytime we can leave the gloomy skies in Belgium and get sun, we'll take it!!

Next, Mom and I head to Rome :)