48 hours … that’s about how long I have to do my laundry and repack my suitcase before I head to California for my grandson’s birthday.

I walked in the door of my apartment last night about 9 pm, having gotten up at 5 am London time at the Renaissance Hotel, staying up all night and watching movies. Plus I did have a 3-1/2 hour layover in San Francisco.

After flying in from Lisbon to London Heathrow there were about the biggest crowds I’ve ever seen at the huge immigration rooms. I never knew that there are three gigantic rooms to snake your way through towards the E-gates, those machines you stick your passport into and have your picture taken automatically. I’ve been in London Heathrow airport dozens of times, and never have I seen the crowds like this!

I heard one security guard say that this wasn’t even a busy day! The line went through three giant rooms like this, and took me about an hour and a half to pass.

Consequently I missed my appointment for getting a COVID test to return to the United States. I had to rebook a new time after I finally exited that ginormous line—everything had to be done online and of course the Wi-Fi was terrible at the test center.

“Go upstairs to Level 2 by the cafe where there’s better Wi-Fi.”

I finally was able to book a new test and got the results in 40 minutes. I was planning to take public transport to my hotel but got so tired schlepping around all my luggage, I ended up buying a round trip ticket on the Hoppa bus, which was more expensive but a lot more convenient.

Last night was a restless one of tossing and turning—after all, it’s morning in Europe just about the time we would be boarding the bus for the day’s activities. I finally fell asleep and then got up to look at the clock.

1:10 am.

I’ve been writing this blog post ever since!

In the meantime, here are a few more pictures I didn’t post earlier. you must know that I took 976 (!) photos in Portugal, and to select which ones are better is difficult! I’ve also included a few which needed explanaion.

There were two times when we heard street singers sing classical music as karaoke and here’s a sample of a countertenor singing Schubert’s Ave Maria. I didn’t catch the beginning of it, and of course, people walked by right in front of me, but I was captivated by his singing just the same.