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December 28, 2008—It is a decent winter morning, in the midst of what has been a record snow year for Vancouver, affecting all kinds of travel plans around the busy holiday period. For us, we have been wondering for some weeks whether or not our own plans will get disrupted, but this morning dawns pleasant—cool, but clear. We are off to the airport, and an on time departure for Toronto and connecting to Paris on Air Canada. The flights are pleasant, and we land on time at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris the next morning.
Our trip is to attend a conference in Lisbon, Portugal, but we have plenty of free time built around it including some days in Paris before travelling on to Portugal. We settle into our hotel at the airport, and head for a familiar routine—riding the SNCF train into Paris Gare du Nord. Boarding at the Roissy station, the excellent service with ten car MU electric trainsets operates every 15 minutes throughout the day. (photo page 26)
We spend the next three days enjoying the French city, the weather is cool enough (typically highs of +3 degrees or so and frost at night), and take lots of rides on the Metro system.
December 31, 2008—New Year’s Eve is a highlight, as we take the train into the city and Metro over close to the Eiffel Tower. Seeing the New Year in standing on the Champs de Mar, with the Eiffel Tower flood lit, then strobe lit, then changing colour as the new year comes in will be a lifetime memory.
January 2, 2009—We are off to Lisbon, catching a TAP Portugal A 320 for the flight. It takes just a couple of hours, and we are there. A new adventure for us (never been here before) starts with a taxi driver who sings Fado (the classic Portuguese music) as he takes us to our hotel. After we settle in, we decide to walk down the hill to the harbour. Right off the bat, we discover narrow gauge tracks in the street—event though this line isn’t operating any more, we soon discover the Lisbon streetcar system in full force.
Other than one line along the waterfront, which operates with modern Siemens articulated trams, the rest of the system consists of single truck old style streetcars, fitted with both pantographs and trolley poles (both used depending on the line they operate over). These are classic old streetcars, modernized with only with a few things such as turn signals, electronic fare boxes that accept the computerized farecards etc. They still have the wooden bench seats and run and sound like streetcars of old.
And boy do they go! Up and down the hills, through narrow one lane streets, and around many of the City’s districts—the little yellow cars are fun to ride and well patronized. Over the next few days we ride them on a regular basis, using our seven day pass for transport on the buses as well. It’s a great way to see the city.
January 4, 2009—Also of interest, and also operated by the street railway company, are three funicular railroads that operate up and down some of the steep hills of the city, connecting the upper levels with the valleys. These are also equipped with vintage cars, and make a nice sight as they travel on the steep inclines of the city. (photo below)
January 5, 2009—Speaking of seeing the city, the streetcar lines also operate a sightseeing trolley fleet, that tours all the major areas of the city using several of the streetcar lines.
These special single truck cars are painted red, and feature an electronic headset system to point out the sights in several languages.
January 6, 2009—another highlight is riding across the harbour to a small local city that has a wonderful view back to Lisbon. Here we discover a brand new standard gauge Metro system—with new modern articulated cars. (below) Naturally a ride is in order before we sit down to lunch at a classic small Portuguese restaurant where the owner cooks fresh squid for us on a charcoal grill. This is our most memorable meal in Portugal.
The conference intervenes now for three days, and then it is time to leave. As we climb out of the city on an A 320 we look down at so many historic spots. It has been an enjoyable discovery for the past 10 days. We land in the snow at Paris, where we change to Air Canada and our flights back home.
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