Today after brunch and an adventure in purchasing mass transit cards, we had to use the restroom and just happened to be by “The World’s Sexiest WC.” After paying one Euro apiece, we (Laurel & I) selected from many colors of toilet paper and used the toilets and then the giant yellow sink. There are racy photos on the walls advertising the toilet paper. Laurel said, “Now I know you can sexualize anything.”
We took Tram 28 – similar in appearance and purpose to San Francisco’s cable cars but different technology – around the hills of the town. We got off in the Alfama neighborhood and walked up to Castelo São Jorge where we took in the beautiful views – including the longest bridge in Europe, the Vasco da Gama Bridge (whose long white line may be visible in the distance on one picture) – and climbed up and down the outside steps of the “castle” – an 11th-century Moorish military fortress. We ate dinner at the Indian restaurant across the street from our hotel for the second time where our waiter suggested we take the train to Sintra tomorrow before flying back to Paris in the late afternoon. Not sure if we’ll have time for that, but we’ll see. The Elevador de Santa Justa is just around the corner and can be paid with our mass transit cards, so we took the elevator after supper and then climbed the winding staircase to look out at the city. We were far enough above most buildings to escape some of the light pollution, and Laurel noted that we could see stars – something we haven’t seen in a while.