Lisbon, Portugal (by Gabe)

My favorite thing in Lisbon was the Oceanario de Lisboa (or the Lisbon Aquarium). My Mom and I went to the big aquarium. When you first walk in there is a turtle exhibit. There was one smaller sea turtle and one that was big. It reminded me of a turtle that I saw when we were snorkeling in Maui. There is a clear plastic pathway at the aquarium that you walk across so you can see the sea life under you. When you leave the turtle exhibit, you come to a section that has a variety of sea life, such as sharks, sting rays, amphibians, jellyfish, penguins, otters, and much more. There is a large tank where the sharks, sting rays and many other fish live and an environment set up for penguins. Some unusual sea life that I saw included a fish that looked like a plant, a large oddly mouthed blue fish, and a long eel about 4.5 inches in diameter. I also went to the zoo with my Dad (while my Mom was at her conference) and saw a monkey that had a large adams’s apple that puffed up; he also made a very strange noise that sounded like a long honk followed by a scream. Very odd. We also saw cool peacocks with long feathers. I knew their big feathers fanned out when they were threatened by predators, but I didn’t realize how long their feathers were. It was fun seeing all of the cool fish and animals up close. This is probably what I will remember about Lisbon. Oh, also we had fun eating dinner with my Mom’s students, April, Manning, and Angela.