Aeroporto, Lisboa

I am at the Lisbon Airport now. At first I was struck by the incredible commercial nature of the place. Shops, stalls, restaurants etc. bombard you with colors, lights and sounds. You have to actually look around for the airport info, as it is out-glammed by the businesses. I got here very early. My flight doesn’t leave for 4 hours but I felt in light of how difficult I found it getting even the most basic information I decided to avoid any time crunch. Of course I got the nicest cabbie who quoted me half [15EU] of what it cost to arrive and he got me to the airport in 10 minutes. He even helped me with my bags. So, I am here with time to kill.
First of all, come with a map of the airport; they are hard to find. You need a map [download one from the internet], as it is a bit confusing. It’s not a new airport not very big. They are building a new one scheduled for 2010. I didn‘t see any lines on check-in. They let me check my bags early so I could go to the lounge area and hang out. They have the standard gate chairs aplenty and they have larger tipped-back seats with attachable leg rests. These are in front of a TV with the usual confusing game show on… for hours. The TV is a Grundig [“made for you”] and they must supply then to the airport for free as a promotion. I had to pay to get on line here and there is only one choice. The minimum was a day pass for 10EU so I might get a bit long-winded in order to get my money’s worth. But you only have 5 more days of this anyway. After I get home I guess I’ll have to write about Healdsburg and all of you.
I saw that Dengue Fever is going gangbusters in Rio so I will spray and slather and rub when I get there. My hotel this time is in Centro [more urban, less beach] and I will be exploring the nightlife and such. I probably told you this before but I do need to be longwinded. I think I’ll post this, send some photos to some of you and post again later after I locate something of interest.