72 Hours Later

My suitcase has finally arrived.  Everything inside is decidedly crushed flat as the proverbial pancake but otherwise intact and undamaged.  The wet washcloth that I placed inside a plastic bag for the trip home has been thrown in the trash - I don't even want to think about what kind of organisms are growing in that still damp, now smelly scrap of fabric (shudder).  Clean laundry is now flopping about in the dryer and/or hanging in my bathtub to dry.

Lisbon laundry

I have downloaded all of my photos.  The editing process will now begin. Cropping, adding fill light, playing with saturation and special effects and whatever other tools are available in the Picasa toolbox.
I'm so glad to have photos to remind me of what we saw and did.  The parts of Portugal that we visited - Estoril, Lisbon, Cascais and Sintra - were all outstanding. So beautiful, so historical, so picturesque. (At the same time, it all felt very familiar - mostly because it reminded me of, and made me homesick for, France.)

Near the marina in Cascais

I have just about caught up on the episodes of Coronation Street that I missed while I was away.  Hayley and Roy got married, Dev, Sunita and Claire were suspected of child battering, Sophie and Sian's lesbian relationship has been revealed, and William Roache's real life son, actor Linus Roache (Law and Order, The Wings of the Dove) appeared on the set as Ken Barlow's long lost son.  A very eventful couple of weeks on the Street.

My bowels are returning to normal.  After lots of extra sleep yesterday and copious amounts of water, I was able to return to work today with no further problems.

Buildings in Sintra

I have dealt with the majority of the emails that came in at work while I was away.  Only about 100 but between feeling jetlagged, sleep deprived and nauseous, it was more challenging than I recall from previous trips to sort out and make sense of all the messages.  Looking forward to starting fresh when I return to the office on Monday after the long weekend.

I am still wondering how to put into words all that we experienced last week in Portugal.  When something happens that you know changed you to the core, it's hard to describe exactly what went down.  It's really too soon to say what the long term effects will be, I just know life as I knew it before Portugal has been altered in an as yet unquantifiable way.  I've felt this way before after great trips, it's a pleasurable feeling albeit somewhat unsettling in the short term.

Guincho Beach, Cascais

I am missing the new friends I made in Portugal.  Thank goodness for the Internet, so we can keep in touch by email and Facebook and in some cases, by reading each other's blogs.

Palm trees in Estoril

I have decided that what I shall do is post a series of descriptions of what we did each day, with photos. Said mini travelogue will begin on Saturday. In the meantime, for those of you who are anxious to get started, my new friends Taylor and Jane have done a wonderful job blogging about it, Taylor with short posts and stunning photos and Jane (a.k.a. "Dane-jah") with a delightfully entertaining description of our week.