Lisbon

I managed to finally make my way back to Lisbon to spend some time there on the weekend that they were having national elections. So that was an exciting ruckus.

But after the marches through the streets died down, the city settled back into what I assume is its default: a kind of buzzing coolness, with tons going on but none of it in a big rush, and that endearing Mediterranean thing where people yell many of their conversations but aren't angry at all--really they're just trying to decide which of the 10,000 sidewalk cafes they're going to meet at for three hours at dusk to sit and drink beer or vinho verde before staying up having dinner until 1am.

Oh, and it's gorgeous.

Another thing to know: Lisbon is not flat. Sooooo not flat. It would be a good place to go to develop the gluts you've wanted all your life. What I don't understand is how I always felt like I was walking uphill, never down. Might have been a perception problem.

There was an enormous, amazing Saturday flea/craft market that proved to me if I ever move here, I really only need bring the clothes on my back and the shop for the rest after arriving.

And the tile museum is definitely worth checking out, both for its curated contents and the architecture of the building that houses it.

Afterwards you can just, you know, chill.