Kids in Lisbon

Today we are armed with '10 things to do with kids in Lisbon' which I've ripped out from Ruk's diary somewhere in blogland. Running down the Liberdade, sliding over the tiled pavements and shouting doesn't seem to be one of them, so I tell Shark to shut up, walk, and look where she is going because Lisbon is notoriously crime ridden and she may be stolen at any moment.

OK then, probably not. I wouldn't take a chance with Shark. She's as heavy as a mule and has a kick like one too. And she didn't get her nickname for nothing with those fangs. On top of that, there's the shouting she has to do. This is basically along the lines of 'I have to walk like this, a sister is pushing me'. On balance, she's probably safe.

First thing up today is education, besides screaming in the Liberdade. At home we've been slogging away at our Explorers project, finding out all about Vasco de Gama in preparation for the big event when we can walk down into Vasco de Gama town, see his model boat, look at his maps, go up his street and eat his pizza. In fact it doesn't take us long to realise that he's the Daddy round here, so no messing with the name.

At the Maritime Museum, Squirrel dutifully copies out information on frigates, and Mummy Grit does her teaching job in front of a Vasco de Gama model boat, so now that's done, we can enjoy ourselves.

And we do. Shark says the monastery is very nice but she wouldn't want to live there. Tiger grumbles and squabbles going up and down the steps of the Belem tower. Squirrel buys herself an ice cream which immediately sparks off demands all round, and we all linger over the view of the river from the cafe, which means we miss out on the electricity museum, because it closes before we get there.

At the end of a long day we negotiate the transport system back to the hotel and eat pizza en route. Pizza is in compensation to Shark, Squirrel and Tiger for dragging them off to a small restaurant last night where Mummy Grit and Daddy Dig had a splendid meal while the juniors all collapsed in their chairs or went face down into a platter of rice and fell asleep.

And my goodness, those Lisbon pickpockets are good. Their haul today is one camera, which is pretty good going considering Dig says he would have had it shoved down his underpants for most of the day, if only we hadn't complained when he was getting it in and out.