A Wonderful Christmas Week at Misha's Place Our family is scattered over the globe. We have started a tradition of renting a large apartment in a major city in order to spend Christmas week together. This year the "kids" selected Lisbon because it would be relatively warm - and it was for us. We made our reservations last summer with Misha, Instantly we created a rapport that lasted throughout our stay. The apartment is exactly as described and as shown in the photographs. The kitchen was fully equipped including even a good supply of plastic containers for storing leftovers. There were sufficient place settings for the 9 of us in our party. The dinning table easily seated 8 persons, but one of us was a child so eating together was no problem. Two members of our party arrived and departed using ubiquitous taxis. The fare to the airport was ~9.5 euros, including fee for suitcases. The 3rd member used the Metro for about the same amount. The Metro entrance was just around the corner from the apartment. The apartment contains a good collection of books and sightseeing brochures (plus there are Tourist Information [TI] booths everywhere you travel.) There is also a good selection of language books and dictionaries. The Metro is very easy to use and to navigate. Each rider needs a fare card, which can be refilled using automated machines with instructions in English. We alternated between walking and riding the Metro around town. Also took a day trip out to Sintra. There are 6 bedrooms but we only used 5. The beds are comfortable. There are plenty of closet and dresser drawers in each room. The rooms are well lighted. Only one room has a private bath, but there are 2 additional bathrooms with showers in the apartment. The baths are well stocked with fresh clean towels, soap and shampoo. Misha was a most gracious hostess. On our arrival was a basket of breads, a Christmas cake and a bottle of wine with a friendly note of welcome, a very nice gesture. (This may have been a special gift to us to help us be in the mood for Christmas in a strange country - please don't expect the same for regular visits!) Knowing we would be there over Christmas day she made reservations for us at a nice restaurant for Christmas eve meal. Twice during our stay I contacted her with questions about the town. Both times she responded immediately. And she checked in with us in our final hours to make sure we had transportation worked out to get to the airport. The apartment has very fast wifi system. But because of the stone walls, the signal does not quite reach into the front bedrooms. So our extended family spent a lot of time together in the large living room using our various devices. There are two desks setup of laptop computers. We were a bit worried that there might not be much to do...