Lisbon!

We officially made it to Europe today arriving in Lisbon! After waiting for about an hour in customs we made our way to the buses. I knew we were in a different land when I was about to get on the bus and a lady looked me in the eye and asked me a question I presume. All I could think to say is "Si" and she turned to her husband and started pointing at me and saying "Si" , so apparently I confirmed something to her unknowingly. We are definitely not in Bloomington anymore.

We rode what turned out to be a city bus all the way to Praca de Comercio (pictured), (http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Praça_do_Comércio) which is apparently the second best planned square in the world- how they determine this I have no idea. I am guessing they want to say that their square is awesome without being boastful. We then began to search for our hostel in a very beautiful district. During our time we (we as in just Dan for some odd reason) were offered weed by atleast 3 people within 10 minutes! They all we wearing suites, as class clearly indicates quality of product, as well as little hats. [I'm convinced one of them tried to franchise the business because all of the suits look the same.] They also sold pipes which looked remarkably like crack pipes. These guys were offering it up in broad daylight, so i guess the laws are less stringent here, crazy portugeise!

We eventually found our hostel which is awesome, I think we are definitely going to be spoiled by this place because it is super clean, has a ton of amenities, and has a ridiculously cheap bar. Happy hour starts at 10pm and goes till when ever (3 good beers for 2 euro). The US should really take after this place with its timing of happy hour because 10pm is obviously when people are looking for drink deals!

We spent the day lounging at cafes where we had some awesome pastries, and Pat and I tried the local beer, of course Pat got the flavored beer so to satisfy his softer side. [ The menu said Super Bock (local beer name) con tango, so I obviously had no idea what I was getting...] Lauren ordered the first of what already seems to be the most delicious coffee in the world. We also went around our area which is full of public squares which are better seen (see images) then described. Tonight we had some of the local cuisine and listened to some man playing guitar and singing: "Hotel California", "Crazy" (yes by gnarles barkley), "I'm Yours" and a number of other American favorites. We also got fooled into eating the bread and cheese they brought us which cost us and additional 3 euro a person -though it was delicious!

Once we arrived back at our hostel we stayed in the lounge area and watched the move Wall Street on a projector. Dan ordered a round of ginja liquor shot, which you are supposed to sip on instead of shoot. The shot was very sweet and reminded me of cherry cordial. Shortly after Lauren went to bed, while Dan and I ordered a few Sagre beers (happy hour). The rest of the hostel attendants were being antisocial facebook stalkers during their vacation, so we just ended up talking to the bar tender for a while. She was a Portuguese local studying computer graphics and she helped map out our Lisbon adventure starting with the beach.