Lisbon: Anything can happen....

When you are in a same place for a longer time, you start to look away 

from the touristic highlights. There are the unexpected small things

 in the streets. Unexpected things that happen

Surprising, funny, strange...... 

A lot of people try to earn money by doing "something" like playing music,
singing, dancing, pretending to be a statue......

But then there is this pair of "lazy beggars". They have their own webside. 

Take a picture for 278 euro... (sorry, I didn't see it....). 

They even tell you how they intend to spend the money. Obviously liquid assets.

"Pelo menos sincero"..... At least straight!

Except f course for the Lazy Beggars everyone has to work. This small dog carries the plastic container to put the money in for its master. 

A giant soap bell passes over the street.....

And here is a cow sticking her head through a window. How nice he has a scarf to keep warm.



Now don't get your head in this cloud. It might be a small thundercloud according to the colour. It is made of what I would call Brillo pads; these iron scrub sponges to clean dirty pans. Already getting a bit rusty.



This bronze man has his head literally in a book. OK, it is Fernando Pessoa, the great poet. He was born here in the house of this lovely orange cow (completely inside the window).

Waiting for you in front of A Brasileira, he invites you to take the seat next to him....

You are not his first companion. The chair is extremely polished.

After some interesting discussion and a few glasses of good Portuguese wine, anything can happen.

Did I see someone flying through the air near the statue of Dom Pedro IV.......???

Where angels fly....

These angels fly in the Metropolitan Cathedral of Brasilia. They are made (in 1970) by Alfredo Ceschiatti together with Dante Croce. The Cathedral is one of the many masterpieces of Oscar Niemeyer.

Looking down from the bus station to the parliament.... there behind the half globe of the National Museum you see the cathedral.

Niemeyer was not a church going person. Yet he did build churches. And this church is magnificent. The light coming through the glass patterns is full of joy. This is a church where the message of joy and light comes alive.

An exceptional building.

More blogs about the architecture of Niemeyer...
An igloo in the sunshine...
The airplane in the serrado

A washing day in Céfalu...

On the north coast of Sicily - more near to Palermo than to Messina - lays the town of Céfalu.

Like the island of Sicily Céfalu has seen many cultures come and go. It has a large beautiful cathedral from Norman times. But somehow Céfalu for me is connected to washing. In the main street there is flight of steps leading to a place where in Arab times a washing place was build. Here the women of the town could wash their clothes and probably keep each other informed about everything going on.

In the large niche with the "point" the wall protects the washing place from the sea.

Inside you see the basins with fresh water and the stones to "scrub".

Many things may have changed, but the washing still has to be done. Look at the many lines with sheets and clothes drying in the wind.

 Still some clothes left. Not yet completely dry....

Finally!! Done for today..... Let's not think about tomorrow.