Boston Marathon 2009 here I come.  I advise anyone looking for a lose weight fast program (regardless of cost) to come to Europe for 6 weeks.  Between lack of funds to actually purchase food, lack of appetite due to travel, and countless stairs and hours of walking, I have lost 19 pounds since I have been here.  And I feel good suprisingly enough.  Today I went to the Marriott gym and rand for an hour along with some pushups and situps.  Times get a little boring when you have all the ammenity in the world but you have to wait for your sister to get home from class to actually do anything sightseeing wise.

We are heading to Belem today, although I know I said I was going yesterday.  Instead, yesterday I went to the train station to make sure I was able to get from here to Paris by the end of the week so that I would be able to get there in time to check into my hotel and prepare to watch the tour.  I can not wait until Paris, but I will soak up the Portugese sun as long as I am here.  I have a lot of work to do to get rid of my 5 week long tourist tan complete with neck ring and arm burn.  Its on its way though.

Completely off track from traveling news, I agree with Oprah, everyone should read “Pillars of the Earth” by Ken Follett.  I know a lot of you have heard me rant and rave about “The Life of Pi” by Yann Martel, but this book comes close.  I have about 50 pages left (the book is about a 1000 pages long) and I have had a hard time putting it down.  Unfortunately I will finish before my train ride to Paris which means I will need a new book to occupy my 21 hour train ride.  I might have to scavenge my sister´s Europe reads to find something worthwhile.

So now to track down some lunch, but not too much, as I plan on eating about 11 Pastiches in Belem.  They are these weird looking little egg custard type danishes.  Yes I know that in no means sounds delicious, to be truthful, they hardly look delicious.  But don´t let the description or look fool you, these little pastries will be the end of any good diet, and apparently the best in Portugal reside in Belem, so at least today´s sightseeing will be worthwhile.