Day 64
Location 15: Lisbon
Jan. 3, 2023
Today, three of my roommates and I took a day trip to Sintra, a nearby town filled with majestic castles and ruins. On the way to the main castle, one member of our group, Galit, injected some excitement into our three mile hike to our destination in the form of a fun fact: "You know, this castle was inspiration for the one in Beauty and the Beast." As soon as she said it, we all immediately recognized the nostalgia-inducing design and colors from the animated film of our childhood.
As we approached the castle, we sang aloud to our favorite songs from the movie: "Be Our Guest", "Something There", and of course the titular song "Beauty and the Beast". Passers-by shot us looks of scorn which we ignored, knowing they were really thinking I wish I had the courage to sing songs from this very relevant Disney movie. After a regrettable google search and a few clicks, I learned this was not the castle that inspired the Beauty and the Beast one. Galit was completely, utterly, 100% wrong. The passers-by hadn't been shooting looks of scorn, but of confusion: why are they singing songs from a random Disney movie.
(Below, the top two photos contrast the real castle with the one from Beauty and the Beast. Ignoring the fact that one is animated, there are still many differences).
On the train home, Galit made an astute comment that felt like the last line of a wholesome episode of Full House. "This is the same place we sat on the train into Sintra, and yet our situation couldn't be more different from this morning." She was referring to the bond we had formed in just one day, and how close we all felt to each other after starting out as strangers that same morning. We all smiled.
As it turns out, we hadn't gotten to know each other as well as we thought because later we learned that one of the roommates' parents had grown up in a Christian cult (where all the members were forced to date each other until they found someone that stuck) before realizing they were in a cult, leaving together, and converting to Judaism. Let's see those Full House cowards do THAT episode!
[If you'd like more Full House-related content, you can read about when I Said "Fuck You" to Bob Saget.]
