Olá, amigos: Let's get together and feel alright

We're back from our trip to Switzerland (Lugano), Italy (Lake Como and Milan) and Portugal (Porto).

Porto's Livraria Lello is so popular people pay 10 Euros to enter, but get it back if they buy a book.

We had some issues with the Italian train system: Unnecessary announcements -- the door is opening -- are made in Italian and English. Vital information -- your train is arriving on track 1 rather than track 5, so you have 90 seconds to pick up your suitcase, run down a flight of stairs, run down the tunnel and run up the flight of stairs to see it leaving the station without you -- is offered only in rapid Italian. Also, if it's true that Mussolini made the trains run on time, I have a strange, new respect for Il Duce.

We were in Milan during Design Week, which means it was very crowded. People were standing in long lines to see teapots. Also, there were many stylishly dressed women and oddly dressed men. I assume the men were stylish too, but not in a good way. We recommend the Cathedral tour, especially the rooftops, and the tour of La Scala, the opera and ballet theater.

Then we flew to Porto. There were moments of sunshine, then drizzle, then rain and a very cold wind, then a bit of sunshine. Then it rained. Nonetheless, we were diligent tourists, and did a walking tour, made it down a very steep set of stairs to the river, took a river cruise, etc.

After seeing the beautiful Lello Bookstore -- allegedly J.K. Rowling was inspired by its design in her years teaching English in Porto -- we sat at an outdoor cafe and listened to a street musician segue from "Don't Worry, Be Happy" to Bob Marley's "One Love." The clouds had blown away and the sun shone. "Let's get together and feel alright." I saw a man put money in the guitar case and dance away. A middle-aged woman danced past us with a skippy step. For a moment, I thought it was a flash mob, but it was just random people feeling alright in a moment of sunshine.