Old friends and the old neighborhood

Yesterday, after my class, I walked down to the Corte Inglés to meet up with a friend. She had spent years in Champaign at the UI, but then we lost touch when she moved on to greener university pastures. Turns out she has retired and moved to Lisbon, and it was thanks to a mutual friend that we met again. Seeing her has been a highlight of my last few years in Lisbon.

We decided to start with a light lunch in the Tapas restaurant in the Corte Inglés. And if you can believe it, six hours later we stood up and walked outside to realize it was night time. It felt good to catch up on what had happened to us both over the past year and to reestablish that bond that goes back to when our kids were small.

On Wednesday, I realized I really didn’t have much more of central Lisboa to explore on foot, so one idea was to take an Uber to a place like Quinta da Regaleira or the Palacio de Queluz. But in the end, I just decided to head north from my hotel, up through the neighborhood where we had lived in 2004-05, our first year in Lisbon. No monuments, no ancient churches, just walking around past my old apartment, old hairdresser, old gym, old fruit store, some favorite restaurants. There have been lots of changes, but one thing remains unchanged — the monumental Colombo Shopping Center - capitalism on steroids! I confess I did pick up a few more last minute things but didn’t spend too much time wandering around inside.

I just about hit my 10 mile goal, which I’m sure I will pass this evening, because I have 2 km each way to the restaurant where I am going to meet my via Lusitania friends, whom I’ve known for more than 15 years!Read more