castle day:)

okay...not going to lie. The days are getting better. Today was the greatest so far and it even started with me sorta-kinda crying (yes...it's possible to sorta kinda cry: that's where you tear up and people can tell you're about to lose it BUTttttt you pull your shit together right before the actual tears fall...just so you know;).

i seem to get that way when we're 'lost, turned around, getting NO help from locals'. Luckily for me, Jacob isn't scared and he just moves forward and it's not like he's got to put my crazy crying ass in his backpack in order to keep me going...my sorta-kinda cry passes in a mere minute...

POINT: like most humans...I get a wee bit home sick ONLY when I'm scared. And that hasn't happened too much. And I thank Jacob for that:)

today though...turned into a fantastic day:)

UP started at the train station...where we were turned away cause they couldn't understand us...we couldn't understand them...FRICK! Luckily Carlos came to our rescue:)

UP/DOWN some of the beautiful buildings and tile:)

UP even after Carlos 'rescued' us....we got on the wrong train, which took us to the wrong town. This is where things started to get better! YES, better:) Luckilyyyyy, we're both pretty chill and this didn't feel like the end of the world. SO we first checked out the Tourist Help and then bummed for a bit before we decided what to do:)

SIDE NOTE: the entire point of this day was to get to the Castle - Quinta da Regaleira in Sintra, Portugal. BUT we got off the train in the wrong town.

UP me chillin' with ice cream while Jacob got the info. on where we needed to actually be.

DOWN and then the bumming begins:) Jacob checking out the sites!

UP/DOWN this adorable town turned out to have some gems for shopping. I found Zara, a store that I've been loving for quite some time. That JUST started shipping to the US. So I held out on buying anything but did try a few things on and took photos and mental notes for the future:)

AND we found THE.CUTEST. little baby shop where we spent wayyyyy too much on THE.CUTEST. little 'bebe' outfit. OMG.

is crying in front of the owner of the baby shop weird?! It just seemed like such a monumental moment:):)

UP/DOWN another beautiful beach in this small town. Much, much smaller than the first one we went to.

FINALLYyyyyyy after another hour of bumming, one more 40 minute bus ride and a 30 minute walk. We FOUND the castle!!!!!!

UP jacob says "take a picture of your heart posing with a heart":)

Quinta da Regaleira

it was such a beautiful place and even better for walking around. We were able to just wander where ever...take little hidden trails and stair ways. It was so fun to explore:)

UP just so excited, he couldn't hide it;)

UP the sun was PERFECT for some amazing photos on the way back down the hill!

DOWN eeeeeekkkkk...ran right into a Post Office on the way back from the Castle - our lucky day...and yours too...in a week...maybe?! Not sure how long they'll take to arrive but for some of you...they're COMING!!!!:)

and the day was not even done at this point!

- we got on the CORRECT train on the way back and went Straight back to our B&B...literally dropped a block from it. YAY!

- after grabbing a jacket (the breeze can get quite chilly for me:), we headed straight back out for dinner. Pizza:)

more to come!!!