I had no intentions of blogging about my Rest & Relaxation (R&R) leave in Portugal, but this place is simply too wonderful NOT to share!

After living in a shabby, windowless shipping container for over three months, going to my room at the Hilton DoubleTree Fontana Park Hotel was like a trip through a modern art exhibit:

Notice how the room numbers are on the floor, not on the walls or doors.  It took me a while to figure that out.

My room had a very hard-edged outer-space-supervillian-lair vibe:

No art, but lots of mirrors, concrete, and glossy black:

Complete with open tub/shower weirdly lit from below with color-changing LEDs:

My favorite part was the wall of windows and the terrace:

Especially in the mornings with my coffee:

Best surprise:  fabulous breakfast included!  Close runners up:  free wi-fi, luxuries in the room (fluffy robe and slippers, umbrella, espresso machine), and lovely wine shop one block away.

Feature I could really do without:  lighted magnifying mirror only slightly less powerful than a scanning electron microscope.  The only thing more awful than seeing your face that close up is hearing the sound of your horrified screams echoing in all 20,000 of your cavernous pores.

Decorating advice for anybody contemplating a daring toilet cubicle with two walls consisting of floor-to-ceiling mirrors and the other two walls (and door) made of black glass with a single 5-watt light fixture providing indirect illumination from behind a black ceiling panel:  don’t.  Trust me on this.

Lisbon is a wonderful city, and I’ll be sharing some beautiful sights in upcoming blogs.

MM