2022NethBelgiumFranceSpainPortugalHeverly

  08-29-22 Monday I landed at JFK after my economical flight on Azores Airlines. I had a second-floor apartment reserved via Airbnb in Brooklyn so it only remained to get there. It took three subways to deposit me on a street corner in SW Brooklyn, the middle class Bay Ridge neighborhood that was somewhat familiar to me. My best friend from high school had moved there in 1967 and we spent some pleasant afternoons playing stickball thereabouts.  I exhibited my usual lousy navigational skills, hefting my heavy backpack in the wrong direction until a local set me right. I found I was to share a 1950-s era flat with two women. They greeted me cheerfully even at the late hour I arrived, near 10 pm on a Friday night.. I got a tour of the facilities, a shared kitchen, a bathroom crowded with their toiletries, and my spartan room — bed, dresser, closet, TV. The next morning I got my clothes cleaned at the local laundromat, had some NY pizza, got a new SIM card for my phone, and in th...

Monday Ponta Delgada, Azores Two experiences If you’re lucky you get two sublime experiences on any trip.  I arrived at the main Lisbon bus station on a hot Friday afternoon. The station is a somewhat shabby, almost-shadeless expanse of concrete in the northeast corner of the city. My heavy backpack (I’d bought some gifts in Porto that added new weight) made my lower back ache a bit, and my smaller backpack (which I wore in front of me) tugged at my throat enough to be uncomfortable. I carried a thin cardboard container that housed a painting I’d bought as a gift. Altogether I was very eager to reach the LX Hostel down near the Tagus River that gives Lisbon it’s raison d’etre.  My Google directions to my hostel were encouraging — just walk a bit to the Metro Station nearby. Naturally I couldn’t find it for a few minutes until I realized the stop was beneath me, down two sets of stairs, thence to an expansive hall obviously intended to accommodate a sizable crowd of people. Thi...