Belem

Jan 6th
Morgane and I took a tram down the Avenida da India along the coast line to the neighborhood of Belem. We visited the Tower of Belem, Padrao dos Descobrimentos, the Jeronimos Monastery, and the Carriage Museum. As we sat on the edge of the water between the tower and the monument of Descobrimentos it almost felt like we were in San Francisco. The sister bridge of the Golden Gate was off in the distance, slightly shrouded by a light fog. But Jesus Christ loomed above it, reminding me exactly how far from Northern California I was.
I finally decided why I am so enamored with the sculptures, monuments, and buildings here in Lisboa: they are solitary. As you walk through the streets of Paris everything is old and/or big—it all more or less runs together into one never ending spectacle. Here, in Lisboa, when I stand beneath the giant Descobrimentos caravel I’m amazed not only at the design and content but at the brazenness of its sheer size. I’m awestruck in its presence, its audacity.





In a completely unrelated note, we watched “Bobby” on my laptop before going out to dinner. I remember reading positive reviews for the film but sadly not much beyond that. Obviously I’m in no real position to comment on 1968 since I was still 14 years away at that point but to me it seems to have been one of the most cataclysmic years this country has experienced. That the film was able to capture the nature of the time (and the emotions felt by the people) so succinctly is a feat in and of itself. This is magnified twenty fold when you take into account that Emilio Estevez wrote and directed it! I loved Young Guns but I never would have seen this coming from him in a million years. Watch it and decide for yourself.