at the airplane, Zurich - Singapore - 28th March 2013
By: dawoni
Hi Mum, I'm going to a special trip... Let's go to Singapore!
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Posted Apr 10, 2013, 8:19 am
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Singapore, Singapore - 29th March 2013
By: dawoni
First, we visited the Gardens by the Bay. The Gardens by the Bay is a park spanning 101 hectares (250 acres) of reclaimed land in central Singapore, adjacent to the Marina Reservoir. The park consists of three waterfront gardens: Bay South Garden, Bay East Garden and Bay Central Garden. Gardens by the Bay is an integral part of a strategy by the Singapore government to transform Singapore from a "Garden City" to a "City in a Garden". The stated aim is to raise the quality of life by enhancing greenery and flora in the city.
Urrrg, please help meeeee!
In the Chinese Garden with the famous hotel in the background.
Supertrees are tree-like structures that dominate the Gardens' landscape with heights that range between 25 metres (82 ft) and 50 metres (160 ft). They are vertical gardens that perform a multitude of functions, which include planting, shading and working as environmental engines for the gardens.
The view from the highest Supertree:
The hotel "Marina Bay Sands"
The financial district.
The Ocean, called The Singapore Strait.
The Singapore Flyer. The Singapore Flyer is a giant Ferris wheel in Singapore that was constructed between 2005 and 2008. Described by its operators as an observation wheel, it reaches 42 stories high, with a total height of 165 m (541 ft), making it the tallest Ferris wheel in the world, 5 m (16 ft) taller than the Star of Nanchang and 30 m (98 ft) taller than the London Eye.
Singapore people don't walk...
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Posted Apr 10, 2013, 8:40 am Last edited Apr 10, 2013, 8:41 am by dawoni
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Sentosa Island, Singapore - 30th March 2013
By: dawoni
We went to Sentosa today. Sentosa is a popular island resort in Singapore, visited by some five million people a year. Attractions include a 2 km long sheltered beach, Fort Siloso, two golf courses, two five-star hotels, and the Resorts World Sentosa, featuring the theme park Universal Studios Singapore.
Sentosa can be reached from the Singapore mainland via a short causeway or Cable Car, which originates from Mount Faber and passes through HarbourFront en route to its final destination. ...we took the Cable Car.
Welcome to Siloso Beach
It's nice, isn't it?
Funny people! I've never seen it before...! They enjoy a ride on a luge. Originally from New Zealand, the non-motorised cart allows rider to speed down a hill over a course of 650 m ending at the Siloso Beach. At the end of the luge, there is the Skyride that can allow rider to see from a high view. It also can be boarded at the start of the Luge.
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Posted Apr 13, 2013, 3:29 pm
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Singapore, Singapore - 30th March 2013
By: dawoni
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Posted Apr 13, 2013, 3:44 pm Last edited Apr 13, 2013, 4:01 pm by dawoni
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Sigapore, Singapore - 31st March 2013
By: dawoni
Happy Easter!
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Posted Apr 10, 2013, 8:24 am Last edited Apr 10, 2013, 8:26 am by dawoni
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Sri Mariamman Temple, Singapore - 31st March 2013
By: dawoni
We visited the Sri Mariamman Temple. The Sri Mariamman Temple is Singapore's oldest Hindu temple. It is an agamic temple, built in the Dravidian style. Located at 244 South Bridge Road, in the downtown Chinatown district, the temple serves mainly South Indian Tamil Hindu Singaporeans in the city-state. Due to its architectural and historical significance, the temple has been gazetted a National Monument and is a major tourist attraction. Sri Mariamman Temple is managed by the Hindu Endowments Board, a statutory board under the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports.
The Sri Mariamman Temple was founded in 1827 by Naraina Pillai, eight years after the East India Company established a trading settlement in Singapore. Pillai was a government clerk from Penang who arrived in Singapore with Sir Stamford Raffles on his second visit to the island in May 1819. Pillai went on to set up the island's first construction company, and also entered the textile trade. He rapidly established himself in business and was identified as a leader of the Indian community.
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Posted Apr 13, 2013, 3:49 pm
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Buddha Tooth Relic Temple, Singapore - 1st April 2013
By: dawoni
The Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum is a Buddhist temple and museum complex located in the Chinatown district of Singapore.
"The temple is based on the Tang dynasty architectural style and built to house the tooth relic of the historical Buddha. The ground breaking ceremony was conducted on 13 March 2005. Costing S$62 million and 2 years later, a soft launch was held to coincide with the 2007 Vesak Day celebration." It is claimed that the relic of Buddha from which it gains its name was found in 1980 in a collapsed stupa in Myanmar.
Since opening, the temple has become a popular attraction within Chinatown. Simple vegetarian fare is served in the basement of the temple, though donations are accepted.
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Posted Apr 13, 2013, 3:52 pm
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Laranjeiro, Portugal - 22nd April 2013
By: Eohippus
Hello, mom! A tight hug to you!
And a tight hug also to my prior host Dawoni
I´m at last here in Portugal, with my new host!
Well, I´ve already been almost two weeks in Portugal, but I was sitting all the time inside my envelope in the Laranjeiro post office.
What waste of time!
But I was trusting my luck and I was sure my travel would still continue!
The trouble was, I started to be a bit hungry..
So.. I hope you don´t mind that I ate part of the choc eggs in my envelope!
At last today morning my envelope was moved again, and I could here a very pissed of voice cursing with a shaky Portuguese the whole post office personal, and then I was carried here to the new hostmoms home in Portugal.
I could hear many little paws ripping my envelope open impatiently, and small voices shouting "Be fast now! He has been inside for weeks!"
"Gosh, I hope he is all right!"
"What if he is not? Can anyone do artificial breathing?"
"I can, but he is a male, uch!"
"Camoon! Just open the envelope!"
And when the envelope opened the first thing I saw was many worried little faces peeping in.
Then I rolled out and they all seemed relieved that I was ok.
We introduced ourselves, and now I´m going to introduce my new friends to you too:
On my left side are Nocino from Italy, Tuli, who is my new hosts own voyager and Zoe, who comes originally from California, but who is now adopted by my new host.
On my right side are Squab from Germany and Tiger Lilly, who is also from Germany.
Then I gave them what was left of the eggs, but I didn´t have time to hide the empty wrappings, and I could see they were staring them, and I blushed.
"Umm, I was hungry.." I said, shuffling my wheels.
They all started to giggle and said "Off course you were, poor thing!"
"Don´t you be at all ashamed! I have sometimes done that too.." said Squab.
Then they all gave me such a big hug that you cannot even see me in middle of it!
I was then introduced to the other members of the family.
Here is Emilia, an 8 months old little girl saved form the street.
And here is Olivia, a year old young lady, also saved from the street. She licked my cheek a bit.
All my new friends seem to be very nice people!
Then, since I was hinting that I was still rather hungry, and the others didn´t have anything against a small snack either, we sneaked to the kitchen and robbed the fridge and the larder..
I picked a bag of strawberries.
And very delicious cookies!
And then we heard some heavy, clearly human steps, and in our hurry we picked a bit this and a bit that..
tuna cans, more cookies, oranges, kiwis and sweets..
I really don´t know what Tuli was thinking of doing with the lemon, maybe she just panicked.
Anyway, we carried our loot fast away..
And then we hide inside the cats playbox to have a secret orgy! We ate every single thing but the lemon!
The cats promised not to tell anyone, and I hope my new host doesn´t read this update either! Ha ha!
See you soon!
I think I´m going to have fun with this gang!
Your Poschti
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Posted Apr 22, 2013, 3:19 pm Last edited Apr 22, 2013, 3:33 pm by Eohippus
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Laranjeiro, Portugal - 23rd April 2013
By: Eohippus
Bom dia, mãe amada!
Yesterday I was walking around in my new surroundings to see where I have landed.
Laranjeiro, where we live here, is part of a town called Almada.
We are on the southern shore of the river Tejo, while the capitol city of Lisbon is on the northern side, just opposite us.
This is what I see from our balcony here.
Nowadays this is a very densely populated, urban area, but it was not so long time ago when Laranjeiro was still a rural village, full of farms, orchyards and small houses, told Henna.
So, I wanted to go out to see myself.
But first we had to have some breakfast.
Cannot go out starving..
This type of small cup of strong coffee is called "bica", and it is what most portuguese people have for breakfast.
I of course want to learn some local habits.
You can see the house where we live behind my back.
Our yard was full of blooming white clover!
The house is quite near to the main avenue of Laranjeiro, and after turning round the corner of the house, there we were.
Along the avenue runs a vehicle, which is something between a tram and a metro.
It is called the metro upon the earth.
I was waving to it when it passed by and it winked a headlight to me!
For my great joy I saw that the local teenagers have some taste choosing their objects of art!
What could be more uplifting than Yellow Vehicles ?
As you can see it is full summer here already.
Even in these urban surroundings there is wild flowers everywhere where there is an area without tarmac, and even if there is a small crack in it, there is sure to be some weed sprouting up trough it and making the crack wider as it grows.
Of course for the local people this is only the spring - the summer here is so hot that the nature and the landscape turns quite brown and grey.
But I´m really enjoying this little shortcut into summer! Specially because I know soon I´ll be going backwards again, so to say, to Finland, where the spring is still only looming behind the corner.
Here everything is so green, and the earth itself smells of fresh growth!
We came for a small park growing pinheiros (pinjas).
In the autumn it is possible to collect the pinja cones from the earth or climbe to the trees to get them and eat the delicious seeds inside them.
I want to share with you the miracle of all the different flowers I saw!
I just became so delighted seeing (and smelling) them!
Early poppies were popping up everywhere! Ha ha.
These daisies I want to give to you, mom.
I don´t know what these blue flowers are, but they were so beautiful I was just laying on my back in middle of them and watching the sky framed by them and enjoying myself.
I think my motor started to purr out of pure pleasure.
Zoe asked if I happen to have any cats amongst my foreparents.
The judas trees were in their most gorgeous bloom too. Here they are called "olaias".
I think that if I weren´t a toyvoyager, the next best thing in the world to be would be a bee.
Just think of that, mom! Flying from flower to flower whole summer!
Along the smaller streets I saw still some old buildings as reminders of the more rural past, but sadly they are disappearing fast.
The Portuguese countryside is emptying and all people are packing to the towns, and high blocks of flats are inviding all free space, and old buildings are demolished to make more room.
I think it is a bit sad..
We came back to the main street, and I used the opportunity to grow my muscles with the gym equipment planted along it.
Soon I´ll be the fittest little postbus in the world.
Haha, do you know how Portuguese people say "bus"?
There is two options: "o autocarro" or " a camionette"!
I think they both sound rather cute!
I dropped some postcards into a letterbox.
I spent some time chatting with some autocarros or camionettes inside a big bus terminal, where they sleep during the nights.
Then I spent some hours driwing in a playtruck which I managed to turn on with a safety-pin instead of an euro.
When I had got enough the sun was already setting.
Can you see the moon over the palm tree?
I saw lots of posters about the 25th of April, which is here the day of the Carnation revolution, which ended the long dictatorship.
There is going to be huge demonstrations in Lisbon on that day, and I´m going to take part!
I passed a fountain.
It must be nice to run trough it on the hot summer days!
And then there was suddenly a priest with some sheep, and he asked what on earth is such a little autocarro doing out so late at night.
He told me to go home and have my dinner.
And so I did.
We had a delicious Portuguese dish of beans and codfish with spenach, and wonderful olives, of course!
The olives come from the yard of the parents of Hennas Portuguese friend, with whom we are living here.
I hope you could taste them too!
Até breve!
O teu autocarro pequeno
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Posted Apr 24, 2013, 3:21 pm
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Lisbon, Portugal - 24th April 2013
By: Eohippus
Boa tarde, mãe! Guten abend, mutter!
How are you? I´m enjoying myself, seeing new places and such.
On wednesday I made a sightseeing walking trip in Lisbon, and I´ll put here some photos so you can see too.
To get to Lisbon we have to take a little ferry in Cacilhas over the river Tejo.
There was an old lighthouse, and I wanted to see it a bit closer up.
Here it is.
Well, it is very big and umm, very red.
Our ferry is there, the cute orange colored one.
They are called "cacilheiros".
Tere is lots of people who live in the southern bank of the river and work in Lisbon on the northern bank and use the ferries for commuting, so there is a ferry in every 10 or 20 minutes.
Here I´m just entering the ferry.
"Hello, little bus!" said the ferry. "Nice to see you!"
"Hello, cacilheiro!" answered I. "Good day to you!"
Very polite, the local vehicles.
There was lots of people inside, going to Lisbon too, but I managed to got a window seat after playing my postbus -tune for a man and staring at him.
I was watching trough the window the Lisbon gliding nearer and nearer. (Yes, all right, all right.. Zoe here wants to make clear that it was us gliding nearer the town of Lisbon, not the town gliding nearer to us.. )
In Lisbon, we started our sightseeing in the city hall square, "Praça do Município".
The architecture of the city seemed to be a happy mix of this and that, and there was narrow little alleys running to every direction.
I decided to dive onto some of them.
So, soon I was in maze of wild architecture.
Most of the houses were painted with bright colours, although many were very faded.
The clothes hanging on lines from window to window made the streetview to look very joyful.
We climbed many many stairs.
Some narrow alleys were full of potplants put there by the people living in the houses.
It is mainly old grannies taking care of the plants, and also of the innumerous amount of streetcats living on these alleys.
There is water- and foodbowls put out for them in front of most doors.
Some walls were paved with azulejos, "tiles", like the blue and white wall behind my back in this photo.
It is a custom the portuguese people learned from the moors who occupied Iberia in mediaeval times.
I saw also many empty houses.
Some of them were very beautiful, and some of them had rather imaginative graffitis.
These paintings show Portuguese carneval figures called caretos.
Their roots are somewhere deep in the prehistorical times, and originally they have to do with the opposite forces of summer and winter, tamed fields and wild nature and the worlds of living and the dead.
Pretty cool!
There was palm trees growing unexpectedly in some small nooks.
I rather liked the old parts of the city of Lisbon.
I would not have much against living here..
Then we popped out of the maze and came onto another square.
I saw many yellow buses and trams and they were honking their horns to me!
"Hello, little cousin!" they honked. "Wellcome to Lisbon!"
It seems that yellow is the colour of all public transport here.
Shows very good taste, don´t you think?
There was a man selling delicious looking strawberries from a cart.
I stand there drooling, and the nice guy gave me one strawberry for free, because I´m so cute!
Nice folks these people of Lisbon!
I even saw a qiosque clearly meant for me!
We walked onwards trough the turist filled areas.
Up over the sea of houses, mom, you can see Castelo de São Jorge.
The first castle on the site was built on stone age, about 6000 years BC, and after that The hill was used by indigenous Celtic tribes, then by Phoenicians, Greeks, and Carthaginians, by Roman, Suebic, Visigothic, and Moorish peoples.
The castle remains we can see nowadays are from the moorish period and from the times after the area of Lisbon had been reinvaded by the christian forces, when the castle served as the residence of some early Portuguese kings.
Then I saw some of the old Lisbon trams and almost fell in love with them.
They are so cute!
Just look at this beauty! SO nice color too!
Could you imagine she has been serving people from the year 1901? Well, she has! What a girl!
This is Elevador de Santa Justa.
It has been serving people for a long time too, from the year 1902, saving their legs from many steep stairs, but it is not so cute as the trams!
It takes people from Baixa to the Chiado, which is a part of the town high up on one of the seven hills over which the city has been built.
In this photo you can see the bridge along which people can walk from the top of the elevator to the Chiado, which is a very popular area to go to shopping or to spend the evening.
Then we came onto a beautiful square called Rossio.
It has been an important place since the medieval times.
All the demonstrations, rebels and revolutions have started here, and it is still a popular meeting place.
The beautiful fountain is a popular place to take a bath on summertime amongst the drunken teenagers.
The police goes to fish them out about every half an hour.
This is the national theatre, and it is situated on one side of the square.
We walked along a very beautiful boulevard called Avenida de Liberdade (The Avenue of Freedom).
It had wonderfull trees and pools and little benches to sit on.
All the benches were occupied, though.
But we sat on a fence.
Our little legs were already a bit tired.
But we climbed still to sit on a nice viewpoint called Portas do Sol (The gates of the Sun) and watch over the Tejo, where the ships were sliding slowly by.
Then we came back home, but on thursday we went again to Lisbon, and I´ll tell you about that tomorrow.
Hug from your little Poschti!
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Posted Apr 26, 2013, 5:01 pm Last edited Apr 26, 2013, 5:23 pm by Eohippus
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Lisbon, Portugal - 25th April 2013
By: Eohippus
Bom dia de novo, mamã!
How are you?
I´m going to tell you now about 25.4, which is a big day in Portugal.
25.4 is the day of the Carnation revolution, which ended the bloody dictature in Portugal in the year 1974.
On that day everyone eats a good lunch before heading to take part of the huge festivities.
So we made food too. Here we are cleaning different vegetables.
We boiled potatoes, cawliflower, carrots and green beans, and then we grilled salmon.
It smelled so good I could hardly wait it to be ready!
We poured olive oil and squeezed lemon over the dishes and then we ate!
While eating our Portuguese host told us that the meaning of the good lunch on this day is also to remind people of the fact that during the dictatorship there were people starving in Portugal.
This is a very typical dish to have here when there is a reason to celebrate.
It was really delicious!
After the lunch we went again to Lisbon, which was already full of celebrating people with carnations.
I was also given one!
People were all heading to the Marquês de Pombal square, from where we marched to the Rossio.
It was really impressive, mom!
They told in radio there was about 800 000 people marching!
I could only see that the sea of people and carnations looked a neverending mass!
Many people were marching organized under the flags and banderolls of different unions, societies, organizations and groups, but there was also lots of people just like us, marching just with friends.
There was also many marching bands playing, and we were all singing "Grândola vila morena", which is the song which was played in radio as a sign for people to announce that the revolution had started.
Can you imagine how it sounds when 800 000 people are singing, mom?
I´ll tell you a bit more about the revolution, mom. I think it is rather interesting bit of history!
The revolution was started by a group of military officers who opposed the regime.
They had made a plan that when the Grândola, vila morena was played in the radio the members of the group would take over all the important military posts.
The information of the sign in radio had, anyway, also spread amongst other population, and when they heard it, thousands of people came to the streets of Lisbon despite repeated appeals from the revolutionaries on the radio asking the population to stay home.
The name "Carnation Revolution" comes from the fact no shots were fired and when the population started descending the streets to celebrate the end of the dictatorship and war in the colonies, carnation flowers were put into the muzzles of rifles and on the uniforms of the army.
The song Grândola, vila morena is a song by Zeca Afonso, whos songs were forbidden by the dictatorship.
Here are the lyrics:
Grândola, vila morena Grândola, swarthy town
Terra da fraternidade Land of fraternity
O povo é quem mais ordena It is the people who lead
Dentro de ti, ó cidade Inside of you, oh city
Dentro de ti, ó cidade Inside of you, oh city
O povo é quem mais ordena It is the people who lead
Terra da fraternidade Land of fraternity
Grândola, vila morena Grândola, swarthy town
Em cada esquina um amigo On each corner, a friend
Em cada rosto igualdade In each face, equality
Grândola, vila morena Grândola, swarthy town
Terra da fraternidade Land of fraternity
Terra da fraternidade Land of fraternity
Grândola, vila morena Grândola, swathy town
Em cada rosto igualdade In each face, equality
O povo é quem mais ordena It is the people who lead
À sombra duma azinheira In the shadow of a holm oak
Que já não sabia a idade which no longer knew its age
Jurei ter por companheira I swore as my companion,
Grândola a tua vontade Grândola, your will
Grândola a tua vontade Grândola, your will
Jurei ter por companheira I swore as my companion
À sombra duma azinheira In the shadow of a holm oak
Que já não sabia a idade which no longer knew its age
Here is the song, if you want to sing too!
Grândola, vila morena by Zeca Afonso
It was really fantastic to see the 800 000 people celebrating the democracy!
That is something I can celebrate too with my whole heart!
We marched to the Rossio square, where there were more music, and some members of parliament and party leaders giving speeches.
Some people seemed to be a bit surprised to see a postbus from Switzerland celebrating with them, but I was wawing my carnation to them and they started to smile.
I took so many pics I don´t quite know what to say about all of them.
Maybe I just put here still some more for you to see.
In the evening there was more festivities, and I´m going to tell you about them still today as soon as we come back home, because now we have to run somewhere!
Kisses from your little revolutionalist!
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Posted May 2, 2013, 11:39 am Last edited May 7, 2013, 3:25 am by Eohippus
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Almada, Portugal - 25th April 2013
By: Eohippus
Hello, mom! Here I´m again!
We went to buy an alarm clock to Henna, and now I can tell the rest of my 25 of April.
After the march we listened to some speeches and then we walked still a bit round Lisbon.
Here I´m on the Rossio square.
There was many little booths selling drinks and food for the celebrating people.
This booth is selling ginginha, which is a drink made of sour cherries. It is usually drank from little cups made of chocolate.
Do you still remember the "caretos", mom? The Portuguese carnaval figures.
Well, here is a miniature one advertizing the ginginha.
There was also many booths selling cravos, "carnations", but this booth was selling other flowers.
We walked past Benfica club house.
Benfica is the most famous Portuguese football club.
I saw a graffiti picturing Amália Rodrigues, a very famous fado singer.
The street cafés were full of people.
Everyone seemed to be holding carnations in their hands.
Then we saw "elevador da Bica", one of the many "horizontal elevators" of Lisboa, which are taking people up on some of the steepest streets.
It looks just like the trams.
I wanted to pose with the elevator, and she agreed.
Don´t we look cute together, hmmm?
Here I´m on the Restauradores square.
The square is dedicated to the restoration of the independence of Portugal in 1640, after 60 years of Spanish domination.
The obelisk in the middle of the square carries the names and dates of the battles fought during the Portuguese Restoration War, in 1640.
Here you can see it a bit better.
Maybe you have already realised that Portuguese people are really crazy about codfish.
There is thousands of different codfish recipes, and it is a really essential part of the Portuguese kitchen.
I was told that it started in medieval times when people were still fasting according to the churchs rules, and so there was many days they couldn´t eat meat. Instead they started to eat codfish, and they never stopped.
I´m not personally so crazy about codfish, although it is all right, but the Portuguese fruit certainly is in its own class!
There is innumerous farms producing small amounts of fruit, and often they are of some local variety and have really personal taste.
Just look at these fruit! Do you start to drool too?
Then we pushed again trough the red flags and carnations and took a ferry back to Almada, on the southern bank of the river, because we wanted to go into a concert of a revolutionary singer, Sérgio Godinho.
Here is Sérgio Godinho as he was at the time of the revolution.
He was, together with Zeca Afonso, one of the most important artists keeping up the Portuguese spirits during the dictatorship, and rising them up to the revolution with his poetry, which was spread secretly from hand to hand.
In Almada we went first to see a small exhibition where there was original posters and record covers from the time of new freedom just after the revolution.
Here is Zeca Afonso with the lyrics of Grândola, vila morena.
His real name was José, but Zeca was the pet name with which people were calling him.
When we got out again it was already dark, and people had started to gather to the Praça de Liberdade, "The square of freedom" for the concert.
All the fountains were beautifully illuminated for the celebration.
It was a warm evening and little brats were running, screaming, trough the fountains.
There was of course people offering all sorts of products for the concert audience, and many brats got a balloon to celebrate the revolution.
Or a sword blinking light in different colors.
Kiosks were selling "farturas" and wafers, and of course drinks.
The concert began at least, and with the beloved songs the people went totally crazy with joy.
Everyone was hopping and dancing and singing and hugging each other, and some older people were crying with the emotions the songs brought into their minds.
There was many people who disappeared or were badly injured in the political prisons of the PIDE (fascist police force) dungeons..
Here you can see Sérgio Godinho as he is now, in his seventies.
The evening ended with fireworks!
I loved my 25. of April here!
Now I go to sleep!
Good night to you too, dear mom!
Your Poschti
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Posted May 2, 2013, 7:25 pm Last edited May 7, 2013, 3:24 am by Eohippus
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Cristo Rei, Almada, Portugal - 26th April 2013
By: Eohippus
Bom dia, mãe amada!
Como estás?
In 26. of April we went to see the giant statue of Cristo Rei in Almada, and I took some pics for you to see too.
Here is Ponte 25 de Abril "25th of April Bridge", which connects Lisbon and Almada.
I`m standing on its southern end in Almada.
It is a shame it is not possible to walk or bike along it - it is built only for cars and trains.
The statue of Cristo rei stands near the bridge and seems to be watching over the river Tejo.
To me it looks like it was planning to dive into the river any moment, because it holds its hands like that..
There was many olive trees growing around the statue, and we climbed some of them to see if there would be any olives to pick, but Henna told us the olives are ready to be picked between November and January.
We saw very funny looking palm trees, and we were just investigating them to see if they really were palm trees and not pine apples, when we heard a rather BIG voice calling us.
"Hi, come here!" it said.
It was Cristo Rei speaking to us!
Cristo Rei (Christ the King) was built to celebrate the fact that Portugal didn´t land into the second world war.
It was inaugurated 1959, and so it was here before the bridge, which was ready 1966.
The statue itself is not so very high, it is 28 meters tall, but it stands over a tower, which is 82 meters tall and erected over the highest point of Almada, a cliff which stand 133 meters above the sea.
"Hullo, Cristo Rei!" I answered to the statue.
"Come up here, so I can see you better!" he asked.
And so we did.
There is an elevator inside the tower, and we took it, and soon we were up on top of the tower, wonderful landscape spreading in front of our eyes.
In this pic you can see both banks of the river, and the city of Lisbon on the northern bank.
I was just staring spellbound for a minute, but then I went to say hello to my new friend, Cristo Rei.
"Hello, little postbus!" said he. "This is really a happy day, since if I´m not badly misstaken, you´re a toyvoyager!"
"Yes, I am" said I, "and you must be the giant Christ of Almada, unless I´m not badly misstaken, although I don´t think it would be very easy to mix you with somebody else!"
"Ha ha, little postbus, that´s the spirit!" said he. "I´ve already had the joy to meet some of you before, and I´m a big fan of the Toyvoyagers! Such a cheeky little things! Just the right creatures to make my day! I´m getting a bit tired of the pure devotion, you see!"
"Aha!" said I. "In that case I´ll spread the word for as many toyvoyagers as possible to come to chat with you and cheer you up!"
"Jiihaa!" said he.
And then I was watching more around me while he was telling how the landscape around us had changed during the time he had been standing there - from a rural area mainly consisting of fields and little farmhouses into an urban, densely built anthill.
Here I´m watching towards west, where the river Tejo meets the Atlantic Ocean.
Can you see it in the horizon, mom?
And here I´m watching towards east.
If you had a telescope you could see the house we live here in, near the greener spot.
Then I said goodbye to Cristo Rei, wishing him a good summer and nice pigeons, and he wished me safe voyaging and interesting adventures.
We came down again and had a small cup of coffee in the café next to the statue.
My coffee tasted of vodka, which was very odd!
I was just going to ask about it when I heard Cristo Rei giggling.
"Obrigada!" I shouted and drank my coffee with vodka.
See you soon again, dear mom!
Your Poschti
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Posted May 7, 2013, 3:16 am Last edited May 7, 2013, 3:22 am by Eohippus
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