Sunday, December 21, 2008

A Ride In The Heli

During the Portugal trip, we took a helicopter out to an Air Force base. We traveled inland on the way out to the base and then down the coast on the way back to Lisbon. A spectacular ride! Here are some pics:



In front of an F-16 at the base

Dependable Pratt power









Here are two quick video clips from the ride:

A Run In Portugal

Mark and I were on a business trip in Lisbon, Portugal last week and we were able to get out for a run around the city. Here are some pics from the run:

We headed out from our hotel along the mosaic limestone tiled sidewalks...

And then we passed the Marquês de Pombal Statue.

We cruised through Eduardo VII Park...

And ran up to this funky Christmas tree with neon lights.
(We went back to the tree at night to see what it looked like all lit up. It was pretty cool how it periodically changed colors)



We continued our run through the side streets of the city, dodging a few barking dogs and making our way over to the Águas Livres Aqueduct.

We found the aqueduct and thought maybe there was a pedestrian path on it that we could take over to a park on the other side.

No such luck. So we had to navigate our way down through a valley of highways, railroads and construction...

And then make our way up through a low income housing development on the "other side of the tracks". As we ran through, the music stopped and people stared. So we picked up the pace.

When we got to the top of the stairs, I took the camera out to take a pic of the city but the lens got jammed. I couldn't fix it, so I was unable to get any more pics on the rest of the run. Bummer. We made it over to Parque da Serafina which had a cool series of trails around the park. We ran to an observatory at the highest point of the park. Luckily the building was closed and fenced off and we really didn't get that great of a view. Otherwise I would have been pissed that I couldn't get pics because of my out of service camera. So we headed back down and found our way back to the hotel through a different section of the city. It was a great 10 mile run.