Friday's Excursion - Mafra and Ericeira

On Friday, we took our weekly excursion. We went to Mafra. In Mafra, we visited Palacio Nacional de Mafra. It was the first castle we went inside during our trip. My favorite room was the library. It was shaped like a cross and nearly a football field long. The bookshelves were built into the two outer walls. There was also a balcony with bookshelves on the outer wall. All of the books dated back to at least when the castle was built in the early 1700s. Heather enjoyed the Basilica that sits in between the north and south (or his and hers) towers of the castle. Parts of the castle also served as a monastery. Emilia liked the ceilings in the castle best. They were all painted with murals commissioned to commemorate various births. Audra's favorite room was the trophy room. Everything in the room was made from various animal parts. I had a brief flashback to living with Mike Kraemer and the assorted animal parts that adorned our apartment in college. Couches, chandeliers, tables, and, of course, wall decor made from elk, deer, and boar. Audra liked attempting to imitate the boar heads that were mounted with their tongues sticking out of the sides of their mouths.

After visiting the castle, the girls and I decided to have lunch. We went to a place called Fradinho, which is a bakery. I wanted more pastries. We all had multiple rounds of pastries and brought some of their specialties called Fradinhos, or little friars, back to Himmelwrights. The Fradinho is a mixture of almonds ground up with egg yolk and sugar and butter and then baked in a tort like shell.

I also had a cup of coffee. Really, it's espresso served in a little mug. I think I have now officially sprouted hair on my chest.

After Mafra, we went to Ericeria. Ericeria is a coastal/resort village, and we heard our first English outside of the house since being here (we had a snack at a cafe and the people eating next to us were from England). Friday was a little cold, so we didn't go down to the beach though Carla and Flor both went swimming. We found a playground and the girls got in a little swinging and sliding. It's got to be neat swinging and at the top of your swing being able to look down a cliff and see the ocean. We ended up back in Ericeira on Sunday, but that's another story - one I'm not sure I want to own up to yet.

By the way, we have given Emilia one of the cameras we brought, so she can capture things that are interesting to her. The pictures with people are ones that she took.