doombot » Portugal is Neat

I will have plenty of photos to post of my trip to Lisbon (still ongoing) and Paris (to commence on the 21st), but for now I just feel the need to check in and relate some of the interesting things I have learned.

Lots of people here know some English, but may be humble and say they don’t if asked. Food service workers, for example, often know at least enough English that you can manage basic communication with grunts, gestures, and the word “fish.”
Also, Portuguese sounds enough like Spanish that if you speak in Spanish and throw in whatever Portuguese you know, people will probably understand you more or less (but you will sound kind of like a moron).
The Portuguese people are generally non-confrontational. One political activist and pundit says that this is largely a result of nearly 50 years under a dictatorship with unabashed censorship.
Parents let their children stay out and play with the neighborhood kids past 11:30 pm, as it doesn’t get dark until around 9:00 or later in the summer.
A fat baker woman once killed six Spanish scouts with the “shovel” used to bake bread in an oven. There is a statue of her in the neighborhood where the event occurred. She is a national hero.
Castles are really awesome.

That is all for now.

Portugal is Neat

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