I'll be quite honest about this. I don't like London. On the ground, that is. On the ground it is too big, too busy, too dirty, too noisy, the streets are too narrow and it is too expensive for a provincial hick like me. Now, that said, let me qualify my dislike of the English capital. From the air it is magnificent. I had the pleasure of viewing three European capitals from the air today, and London was by far the most awe inspiring. The flight path that we took today brought us over the heart of London, and from our privileged vantage point 2,000 feet above the city (I'm just guessing the height, as I am no expert on these matters) we were treated to a view that, in the grand scheme of things, very few humans have had the good fortune to share. The first sight was the new Wembley stadium, quickly followed by the Gerkin, the London Eye and Houses of Parliament before passing over Buckingham Palace and its vast gardens. I strained to see if Liz was out walking the corgis, but I didn't see her - possibly too cold for HM, so she will have sent one of her flunkies (I hope she picks up after them, though - the corgis, that is... not the flunkies). I don't think that I could easily tire of London from altitude; however, you couldn't pay me to go there if I have to stay at ground level. While the landing at Heathrow was smoothness itself, the landing at Lisbon was just a little bit scary. All of the passengers were grasping onto the arms of their seats (myself included) as the aircraft lurched from one side to the other as the ground rushed up to meet us at an alarming rate. We feared that the pilot's room for maneouvre was becoming ever more limited, and were almost certain that the wing was going to land before the wheels. The pilot sounded relieved when, as we were safely taxiing to our stand, he informed us that there were 50mph crosswinds as he was trying to put the machine down. Once safely on terra firma, I gathered myself together, collected my bag and went out into a rain- and wind-lashed Lisbon to wait for my lift. Alex showed up and, after a couple of important errands, we headed up to Chapitó, where we met up with Sílvia and a couple of her work colleagues to have a pre-theatre meal. We went to see Dom Quixote by the Chapitó Company. It was hilarious and very well acted by its two players - if there are any people from Lisbon reading this, then I urge you to get yourself up to Chapitó and get yourself a ticket for this show (which only costs three euro) - you won't regret it - and if you do, I'll give you your three euro back!