Arriving in Lisbon

 I had a bad night. I woke up choking with what I thought was phlegm and rushed to the bathroom tospit it out. To my disgust it was a ball of deep red blood. I looked at it in amazement. I carried on spitting blood from my mouth. I turned the water on. No water. I pushed the button over the toilet. No water. I remembered suddenly that that night they was to be a water shut down as they drained the system to ensure a fresh water supply. I sat up on the settee and eventually dozed off. The water came back at 5am and I was able to clear off the blood. I experienced a nosebleed at that moment but it would quickly stopped. It was like an aftershock from the original outlet of blood in the middle of the night. However, Albina and I came to a very sad conclusion. This was probably caused by my visit to the gym. I very much doubt if I can use the gym facilities at all after that. 

I woke at 7.15 anxious to catch the moment we approached the Tagus River. Suddenly, through the curtains, I could see a whole city of yellow, red and gold looming over the view from our balcony, where before there had only been sea. It was a glorious sight, dominated by a domed church, the Santa Engracia. I put on my winter jacket and rushed upstairs to the top deck to take a few pictures. I was surprised how few of the passengers were up there. I found out conversations yesterday that many were seasoned travellers and had been to Lisbon before. Our own organized excursion around Lisbon by tram and coach was only going to be in the afternoon. So we both repaired to breakfast at the View buffet. Suddenly all the intenet and telephone links had opened up and Albina was busy chatting to her closest friends and sending them pictures of Lisbon. I opened up a Facebook page for Lisbon and showed comparative pictures of Lisbon, first in the morning mist, and later under a welcome blue sky.