some pictures!

Alright, so one of the great things about staying here at someone's house is that I can put some pictures on my blog!! I'll quickly tell you what they are. Starting from the bottom of this last group of pictures (from feb. 1st), the first 5 were taken at Sintra, a little city about 45 minutes by train from Lisbon. I think Sheri talked about this place in her blog. The girl with us there is Claire, a girl from California who we met in our hostel. The next picture, which I accidentally put on there twice (sorry I don't know how to fix it!) is of an ancient Roman aqueduct that we saw in Segovia today. It was soooo cool!! They were very smart- they channeled water from the mountains all along the top of this thing in a big trough which has a slight grade to it so that they could get water to their towns. Its so neat be shopping in some trendy store, and then walking out, looking down the street, and seeing this thing! Modern life goes on in ancient surroundings everywhere in Europe. The next 2 pictures up were taken on our boat tour of the Rio Douro in Porto. It was a lovely day, and the tour was so much fun! Then we see the main building on the Plaza Mayor (main square) in Pedraza, another town we went to see today. It is a medieval walled city, with narrow streets and arched wooden doorways... so cool. Standing in the square felt very much like being on a movie set! The next picture up is from the castle in Segovia, which is your typical fairy-tale castle. It was so so so fun to be able to go out with Elaine today to see these places where we'd never have been able to go by train or bus. She's amazing! Hope you're all doing well,
xoxo
Starr