Sofa pleasures
Sometimes it comes down to blogging or knitting and this past week I found myself more inclined to spend my evenings on the sofa making progress on the Myrtle Leaf shawl. Thirty-one repeats done. I'm thinking I'll have the body finished by mid June, which makes me very happy. And it's starting to look as if I might have enough yarn for the whole thing after all.
Other than that, not much craftiness to report. I missed a lovely LAF guild picnic last weekend (business got in the way), but this Saturday I am planning to attend the Sand & Sea knitting guild meeting in Malibu. What with working at home and the foot still in not-so-good shape, I'm not getting out much and I look forward to spending a few hours in good company.
Some progress on the vacation planning front: we settled on Portugal. Two weeks is not enough time for two countries, so Spain will have to wait for another time. I bought two guides — "National Geographic Traveler: Portugal" and "Rick Steve's Portugal" — and I'm doing my homework to figure out the itinerary. I'm pretty much sold on the idea of renting a car so we can include some countryside viewing in the mix, and I'll see if we can fly to Lisboa and leave from Porto or something like that. I am really excited about this vacation. I want to learn some Portuguese before the trip, but I only have an audio course in Brazilian Portuguese and I'm not sure how different that is from continental Portuguese. If I learn on the Brazilian tapes, will that get me into awkward situations in Portugal? Should I even worry?
Comments
As someone who's pretty good with languages, let me say that Portugese is a devilishly hard one. Whatever you do, don't speak Spanish-- they don't like that. Many of them speak English or French. When my computer gets fixed I will send youu recommendations for a hotel in Lisbon that is a former mansion, and a good car rental deal. You won't need the car until you leave Lisbon, though. We never made it to Porto, but we went to Sinta and the south coast. If you plan to go to these places as well, I will send you info on them.
Posted by: katie k | June 7, 2007 6:22 PM
Also, check out this website re: Portugal:
http://www.leitesculinaria.com/
Posted by: katie k | June 7, 2007 6:24 PM
Ciao Francesca anche io ho avuto il piacere di vivere 6 anni proprio dove sei tu ora..un po' ti invidio. Ho frequentato l'Art Center a Pasadena.
Salutami la California (presto ci ritornero'..)
http://www.lucianobove.blogspot.com
Posted by: Luciano | June 8, 2007 5:22 AM
Great choice! ;-)
I found this link for you
http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/other/portuguese/talk/
so you can compare the accents. You'd learn portuguese in no time, being an italian speaker!
Posted by: Mari | June 8, 2007 5:43 AM
I envy you your ability to learn languages. I am hopeless. Love the shawl. It is hard to photograph lace isn't it, but yours still looks lovely.
Posted by: Jan | June 8, 2007 5:48 AM
I don't think it will get you into very awkward situations, I wouldn't even worry. I've never been to Portugal, but in every overseas trip I've taken, people are just happy that you have made the effort to speak their language. It sounds like an awesome trip.
Posted by: Bea | June 8, 2007 6:46 AM
WOW!
Knitting at Malibu......... how exotic.
Posted by: helle Jorgensen | June 9, 2007 9:00 PM
Hi! I've tagged you in the 8 things meme. I can't recall if you've been tagged before, but what the hey, do it if you're up for it :)
Glad you decided on a trip. I'm looking forward to hearing all about it. Two weeks in Portugal sounds lovely.
Posted by: May | June 10, 2007 8:09 AM
ciao francesca,
sono loredana in vacanza in italia, stasera ho acceso il computer dopo quasi un mese e leggo del tuo viaggio in portogallo. ci sono stata nel 2003, qualche gg a lisbona, poi giù nell'algarve affittando una macchina. Non hai bisogno di imparare il portoghese. Nei grossi centri capiscono abbastanza l'inglese ma con un pò di italiano e di spagnolo ti farai capire benissimo, se poi ti vuoi impegnare in discorsi di politica, arte o scienza...
Se ti piace il caffé espresso ed il pesce in portogallo ti troverai benissimo.
safe trip
lore
Posted by: lore | June 13, 2007 3:10 PM
I do not speak Portuguese, but I have many Portuguese or Brazilian colleagues who speak it when I'm present. Knowing Spanish and Italian, I can understand pretty much everything the Brazilian say without effort, while Portuguese speakers require a lot of concentration on my part because they leave out so many syllables. Apparently it was already something travelers noticed about Lisboans in the 15th century. On the other hand, most of the serials on the Portuguese tv are Brazilian, so you should be understood quite easily even if you use exotic expressions, but it may be more difficult for you to understand what people say to you. I hope you enjoy your trip as much as I enjoy reading your blog!
Posted by: Séverine | June 19, 2007 5:32 AM