Pictures of Portugal #14

Thought you might be interested in our "local" stuff.  We live in a very beautiful place called Casalinho.  It's about 10 minutes away from Tanners school in Sao Pedro and about 10 minutes further is the bigger city of Tomar.

The front of Tanner's school in Sao Pedro.  It's grades pre-school to 4th grade.  Like the "Smart Car" parked sideways?  Very common in Europe.

This is the front gate to Tanner's school.  I drop him off and pick him up at this gate every day.  The lady behind him doesn't let him out the gate until I get there.  She's also the lady who realized Tanner was wearing slippers to school (past blog entry).







This is the local cemetary - in Sao Pedro.  Cemetarys are very different in Europe than in America.  A lot creepier - which I like.  They are more "monumental" and "Catholic".

Our local "Castle in Tomar".  Enormous!!!!

Interior grounds of the Castle.  Quite amazing.












The next few pictures are of the "Ciganos" (Gypies) in Tomar.  They basically take over a piece of land that belongs to the city and build their own community.  From what we've been told - the "city" is very intimidated by them and won't kick them out once they've formed their "community".  I'm very intrigued by them, for some reason.  I really would love to see the inside of one of their homes.  But, they are very protective of their community and won't let you snoop around.  Rick and Devan tried driving in their neighborhood and some little cigano kids told them they needed to leave.

They build their homes out of pretty much anything.  They usually have wood or metal pieces for their roof with rocks or bricks holding them down.

 



2 cigano women walking out of their "neighborhood".  Couldn't get a great picture because they usually stare you down.







And finally, my weird "health symptoms".  Thought I'd include a couple of pictures of my "symptoms".  Not only have I had a fever on and off for like 4 months, but I also broke out in a rash and my fingers and toes keep going numb at random times.

Not a great picture of my flabby arm, but basically I got these little red itchy bumps all over my arms, legs, tummy, and a few on my face.

Can you tell which of my fingers were numb?  This happened one day when I was cleaning the house (so I wasn't cold because I was sweeping and such), but then all of a sudden my hands went really cold and my fingers went numb.

Pretty weird, huh?  My toes do the same thing - I'll have to take a picture of my beautiful feet the next time they do it.

So, I couldn't decided if this ambulance was actually for dead people.  Doesn't it look like it would carry a casket?