Moureira.
Well, we somewhat fixed the camera issue...
Woke up around 9, took our time with breakfast and went out with the goal of hitting the Colombo shopping center. Took a bit to get to the Restoradores metro - stopped by for cigars at a Tabaceria on Rossio, visited some stores, had coffee at the Starbucks located inside the Restoradores train station. After that hopped into the metro, went to Collegio Militar station, and headed into the mall. Yuri and I split from Olga and Tanya, and went to FNAC and then to Warten's in an attempt to find a replacement lens. Unfortunately, nobody carries the stock Sony lens without the camera body, so )-:
Looked around for "second hand camera shop". Google maps suggested a chain of stores called Cash Converters. One was about 8 min walk from the Colombo center, one - right next to where we used to live in 2017 off of Sao Simeon station. Met with Olga and Tanya briefly, then left them in the mall, walked to the first Cash Converters store. Really nice place - lots of different electronics and cameras (somewhat scant on musical instruments though, but we weren't looking). They had a Sony alpha 5000 with the lens I needed for 319 Euro - a decent price. I tried offering money for the lens alone, unsuccessfully. We decided to check the Sao Simeon store, and if unsuccessful - come back to the one on Collegio Militar. Returned back to the metro, took the train to Sao Simeon, walked to the second store.
The second store had even more cameras and lenses, including several Sony mirrorless bodies. They had a Sony a6000 with the lens I needed for the same 319 Euros. I tried again negotiating for the lens alone, but got rebuffed. At the end, the price for the entire camera body + the lens was only slightly higher than what I would have paid for the replacement lens, so I bought the camera. I also bought a stock A-mount lens for older Sony DSLRs (like my Alpha 330), because it was 29 Euro (when its regular price is like 200) - this is a very cheap backup for the DSLR camera.
After solving the lens problem, we went to the basement of El Corte Ingles for lunch. Yuri wanted "something Portuguese" so we settled on a soup and bifana place. I got Sopa de Pedro (elbow macaroni, sausage, thick roux), Yuri got Juliene de Legumes (essentially cream of beans). Both soups were good, bifanas were ok, but I missed the mustard.
After that we went back to the metro, took the train to Alameda, crossed over to the green line, took the train to Intendente and went home. I used some of down time to call Israel and congratulate my cousin with her birthday (I also called my uncle and congratulated him).
Played with the lenses and the cameras a bit. The old stock lens is dead - it did not attach to the second camera either.. The new camera body is fully functional (the store actually has two-year warranty). I wound up putting the new stock lens on my old camera, and my 55-210 lens on the camera I bought. Both cameras fit into the bigger bag I purchased earlier (I would have preferred somewhat more insulation, but I think we can make the two camera co-exist - I don't intend to violently shake the bag while out on the mean streets of Lisbon).
Olga and Tanya returned home around 5pm, chilled a bit, after which the three of us went out around 7:30 pm to catch sunset at the King Jorje's Castle. We cheated a bit and after walking down our street (which turns into the heart of Mouraria, and reaching Martim Moniz, we took an escalator up to Alfama, and walked to the castle from there without having to step through the entirety of the elevation gain. I used our walk as the means of checking both cameras - took some pictures along the way.
We arrived at the castle, bought tickets, went in. The sun was still a bit high, making it hard to take pictures. Once we got out to the open space, the temperature went down to about 18-20 Celsius, so we literally chilled for a bit, before heading up to the castle wall. We were on the wall when the sun went down (unfortunately, I got to the western wall a few mins after it went down), so I got a chance to take multiple photos of various Lisbon neighborhoods.
Mouraria and Graca.
I got some nice shots of Mouraria, and a nice closeup of Largo do Intendente Pina Manique where we live.
Largo do Intendente.
We then went up and down the stairs leading from the wall to the outpost above Martim Moniz.
Stairs.
Around 9pm it got dark, and we went home. On the way down, cheated again, took an elevator down, got out next to Bifanas as Alfonso, took the street from there to Martim Moniz, and then home, stopping by at the Mini-Preco for some fruit and white wine.
Got home at 9:30, had a bit of food, and then at 11pm had a work zoom call, after which called it a nifght.
Alcohol. None.
Steps. 17,287 according to the watch, 19,900 according to the phone.
Next: In flux. I have some meetings in the evening I need to prep for. What I do depends on how quickly I can get my prep out of they way.
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