JANUARY 15, 2011
“One's life has value so long as one attributes value to the life of others, by means of love, friendship, indignation and compassion.”
Simone de Beauvoir
On the right are Wolfgang's birthday party girls.
I’m finding myself with some extra time lately, so I’m exploring the many exceptional websites the internet has to offer. The above quote is from Wikipedia. I could spend hours (oops, just did) just in Wikipedia. This all started after we returned from a little museum here in Cascais this morning. Some of the displays had several “baetylus” artifacts, phallic looking stone objects, which required explanation. Wikipedia to the rescue; now two hours later I’ve come across Wikipedia’s famous quotations and I couldn’t help but use one. I also discovered the Wikipedia cookbook, unbelievably good.
This week we took the 417 bus to Cascais Shopping, a twenty minute ride to the outskirts of Cascais. This mall is comparable in size and high-end stores to Yorkdale or Bayview. Having done our research online before we left our objective was to buy a 22” TV. After a delicious Portugese buffet lunch we chose a Toshiba set with the appropriate wall mount and made our way back just before dark. It’s times like these that we miss having a car. Without a car we are limited in how much we can carry especially when we have to buy drinking water. The water on board is drinkable, but heavily chlorinated and not very tasty for tea.
Now with the TV set firmly attached we can watch movies that Wolfgang has downloaded. Yes, we could also watch the movies on our computer monitor (and we have), but once we order a satellite dish we will be able to receive and watch German TV.
Wolfgang and I have recently had birthdays and we celebrated with great friends and fabulous food. The weather has been nice enough to enjoy our meals outside. This pictures shows Wolfgang cooking his own steak on a hot stone. A local popular item with the tourists. JANUARY 25, 2011
The weather here this past week has left us with a little cabin fever. With winds raging between 50-60 km/h day and night it gets difficult to do anything outside. Along with the howling wind comes a drop in temperature and believe it or not a wind chill factor....with daytime highs of only 5-10 degrees.
So spending time on the computer seems a logical way to entertain oneself. I’m not sure how long the bubble game has been around, but we’ve just discovered it and we’re addicted... it’s evil, so be fore warned.Today, however we ventured out, (the marina office) only because we were expecting a package from Amazon with our satellite antenna. Hurray!!!!!! we’ll have TV tonight .
On a more cultural note, the picture of the Santa Marta lighthouse with the beautiful Santa Maria House built in 1902 was once a favorite refuge for exiled monarchs and aristocrats is now a small museum and easily visible from our dock. 
January 31,2011
Our daily excursions always take us to new places some interesting, some not so much. Today we hiked approximately 6Km (both ways) to a grocery store whose reputation is German based. We hoped to find some German products. The only redeeming feature of today's trip was the nice outdoor restaurant with the magnificat view.
