We arrived in Lisbon yesterday after a stressful journey to Paris Charles de Gaulle airport! Luckily we left with 3 1/2 hours before our flight. We spent 3 hours in our favourite cafe having ,espresso (I'm into doubles now!), then lunch to pass the time. It helped that we had Jean-Paul to gaze at! Have no idea of his name so I've named him this. He's the cutie in my previous photo. Anyway, we leave and get to our metro station. The ticket machines aren't working. All the staff come out at various times to push the same buttons we've been pushing for 20 minutes or more. Then they tell us we must walk back up the 30 metres to ground level and go to the next station to buy tickets! Are you kidding? Our suitcases are really heavy and it's many flights of stairs to the top let alone walk to the next station. We have a train to catch!! Eventually they opened the gates and let us through without tickets. We get to the Gare du Nord and try to buy tickets for CDG. No go here either. They don't take credit cards or at least not ours. Nor do they take cash. We get approached by some very dodgy dudes (I'm sorry to say that I now know why the Europeans hate the gypsies! They are BAD news) this guy eventually said he would sell us tickets which he pulled out of his coat pocket! Dodgy but they worked fine. We were desperate and at least he wasn't trying to steal everything we had. We eventually made it to the airport without being one of those people on Easyjet who can't board their flight because they are late!! I'm extremely surprised by Lisbon. It has a very small town feel. It's old and lovely. The people are friendly and helpfully try to teach us the basic words in Portugese. They laugh and correct us, but the laughter is kind, not nasty. Carla, I had the Pork Sandwich from your place, delicious!! Thanks for the tip. We went on a free walking tour today, provided by the hostel. Then to Belem but their pastries aren't as good as the ones from the pork place! It was 33 and humid today, very hot and sweaty! No wearing the same clothes twice here! Off to bed. It's 11pm. The Portugese will be up for hours yet but then they don't start their day before 10am! We still get up at 7 to pack as much in as possible! We are only here 2 full days. We will chill out when we hit Praia da Luz and the beaches. No sightseeing or shopping there!! Just beach, eating and drinking!! Can't wait!