We're leaving on a jet plane...

As a mini-break during the holidays, we jumped at a lastminute.com offer and went to Lisbon, Portugal for a few days. This was one of the first trips we took where we had no guidebook (actually we had one I bought at Heathrow and accidentally left in Heathrow...) and no real sense of what to expect..

• Stayed at the Lisboa Plaza, part of Heritage Hotels Lisbon, right off the Champs-Elysee-looking strip called the Avenue de Liberdade. Very nice, quaint hotel, easy to get to and free wifi throughout!

• The first day we got there was on a Sunday, and Lisboa seemed to shut down this day as it was very quiet on the streets. We ended up doing one line of the hop-on-hop-off bus tour and managed to see some important monuments/sites...but i dont remember their names lol.

• Found this really popular pastel (egg-tart) place in Belem and decided to join the queue and see what the fuss was about. Had a couple of pastels and coffee and soon realized these were probably the best egg tarts we've ever had and even better when sprinkled with a bit of icing sugar and cinnamon...mmmmm. We did try them again throughout the weekend at other places but not as good as the first place..

• Next day we completed the second half of the bus tour and this time it was windy and rainy..but it was 13 degrees Celsius! At one of the stops, we noticed this new mall, Vasco de Gama, and it being Boxing Week we went to check it out. I was only looking for a belt but i ended up getting a belt, shirt and sweater...in a matter of 10 minutes lol! Afterwards, we had no idea where to catch the bus again so we had some churassco chicken at the bus station and it was way better than Nando's..way better.

• At night we went for more Churassco chicken, this time at a Churassco restaurant we passed by earlier. Luckily, there were no line-ups and we managed to get in right away. This time, a bottle of white was 9 euro which was ok but the chicken was soooooo good. There was also this spicy olive oil on the table that was there to spice up the chicken even more. There were these 2 old Portugese men beside us so naturally, i kept my eye on them to see what they were getting, and they got this cherry liquer called Ginja...so i HAD to get one too lol! Sweet and smooth, i ended up buying a bottle at duty-free on the way home haha!

• We found a Christ the King-copy on the other side of the river, called Christo Rei. Apparently, the previous Lisbon bishop visited Brazil,saw the real one there in Sao Paolo and liked it so much he had one built just like it in Lisbon! We tried to go there on the last day but because of lunch difficulties and the transportation to get there, we only made it to the train station before turning back..

• All in all, Lisboa definitely exceeded any presumptions we had before arriving and it's a great place to go that's not so overrun by tourists..yet. The food here was amazing, the people were great, the weather was amazing (16 C on the last day!) and the location by the sea was beautiful! Come here if you can!
  

Spent New Years Eve '09 at (well close to..) the London Eye.

There were thousands of people there and we got there an hour earlier to get a good view. Unfortunately we didn't get to the bridges but we did have a great view of the London Eye where the fireworks were set off.

It was a bit cold, but nothing a couple of flasks of Talisker 10-yr whisky and Davidson cognac couldn't fix :O

We've had a BRILLIANT 2008 and even though we are headed back to T.O. in a month or so, our Euro stay has been full of ups..can't wait to see what 2009 brings!!

This year, Michelle and i spent the Christmas holidays in London (unfortunately we had no more time off work to head back to T.O.!) and as always, it was a festive fun time with family and friends.

Christmas Eve

• We all went to Tottenham to our Tita's place and they cooked up a feast! All the family from London was there and despite getting lost a couple times on the way there, it was a very very festive celebration (check the Santa hats!) and lots and lots of food!

• We got some gifts too! Harrod's travel case for me and a cool keychain from there also.
  

Christmas Day

• Cooked up a nice lil feast of our own - 5.5 kg turkey (3-4 hours), mashed potatoes, etc.. - spent it in our flat with Timbo, Meemo and Cigdem and a lot of wine and ciders haha!!

• First time for me carving up a turkey! Let's just say it would've been a bit easier with a sharper nice but in the end it turned out really good!

• We bought and played The Game of Life as an activity and even though it says for 8 yrs +, there were way more instructions to read and understand (while having a few drinks) than we could all remember lol! My 'career' path was as an athlete with a mountain retreat home (yea, how could i afford that?). Michelle was a doctor with some other big house...but we all lost to Cigdem who almost doubled the next person in total life earnings!

Spent the past weekend in good ol' romantic Paris with a few friends and one word to describe it this time: COLD. Yep,
Paris is a very beautiful city and all but the first time we visited we were in light-weight sweater, no jackets, etc. This time around, my parka and sweater were not enough to battle the cold, wind and rain..lol..oh well, were in Paris know what i mean?

• Friday night we stayed at our hotel (Le Meridien Etoille) after arriving in the evening, and chilled in the hotel jazz bar. I guess because it was a hotel and there was a jazz band from the US there, the prices were crazy. ANY first drink was 26 euro and the next were 11-15 euro..and these were the regulr house drinks..ouch. No, big ouch.

• Spent Saturday in Versailles, home of Louis XIV. The chateau de Versailles is absolutely gigantic! We wandered from elaborate room to the next fancy room and didn't even make it out to the garden, which is decorated with shapely hedges and stretches out as far as the eye can see! It is difficult to fathom how someone could actually live in a place this big and posh..wow, to be an aristocrat back in the day eh?

• There was an art exhibition on display within some of the rooms to give a contrast between old and new art. The artist was Jeff Koons from the US. His works of art with bubbly figures like balloon dogs, Michael Jackson and Bubbles, Pink panther, hoovers...so weird and out of place.

• Had dinner in the Latin Quarter, around Notre Dame cathedral, mmm fondue and more Bordeaux wine lol!

• Sunday morning we went to this trendy, quirky brunch place recommended to us by one of Michelle's co-workers who lives near Paris, called Curieux spaghetti Bar . Very cool place with japanese anime as wall-paintings, orange lighting, waiters dressed in tight, short pajamas and very good french buffet breakfast. This really got me thinking of the possibilities of this kind of place in t.O. hmm..?

• Before catching our plane we took a walk to the Pont Des Arts, aka the 'kissing bridge'! Yep, we found it! It's a pedestrian bridge that crosses the Seine River and is just outside the Musee du Louvre. Had to take the obligatory kissing photo op there.

• Walked around outside the Musee de Louvre, down the Champs D'Elysees and checked out a few stores (we missed Chanel! darn :P) before realizing that things are much too expensive in Paris. Sacre Bleu!!

• Had another great but COLD, WET and RAINY time in Paris this Winter, vive la France!
  

So this past weekend we went to cork, ireland to visit Kuya Boris and his family (Ate Nancy and their 2-yr old daughter Mia..such a cuuuuutie!!). Cork was about an hour flight away from Heathrow and we flew Aer Lingus again since they 'fly 22 times a day from Heathrow'..

• What a GREAT family and extremely hospitable to us, whom they've seen only twice! When we visited the Philippines a couple Xmases ago, we hung out with his younger sister and had fun times in Boracay. They've been in Cork almost 8 years now and have built such an amazing life there..

• They took us out at night to go check out the Cork nightlife (how cool parents are they?) and we checked out a couple pubs/clubs. Suffice to say, we were the only asians in both places but the Cork citizens were so nice and not one ounce of attitude but just pure fun/happiness all around. The last place we stayed at played a variety of music, reminded me of the Peel Pub (lol) and Kuya Boris almost lost the car keys (which luckily the security found and was holding!)

• Checked out the town of Kinsale and Charles Fort - that day was freeeezing!

• I went to Cork, Ireland and bought a pair of England football shorts.

• Mia is such a cutie and good girl. She's just learning words and calls both mommy and daddy , 'daddy' hahah! She loves dogs, Hi-Five and Pingu the Penguin lol! (seriously, seeing her small frame standing directly in front of a 32" TV , while watching a Pingu DVD, was hilarious).

• I just can't mention enough how much they went out of their way to show us a good time and treat us like we've known each other forever. That's what i call family. Now come visit us in Toronto so we can return the favour!