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I contacted the Heritage Lisbon Hotel and they rent the room for €180 (without catering). But they don't have a piano... it's true

But don't worry. I've some other contacts and my request is being studied. I'm sure I'll find the right place for us.

Thanks for your help

I hope it all comes together nicely in the end

If you need any specific information feel free to ask and I'll see what can be found as will many others I'm sure.

Hello,
(Long time without writing here...)

I've been quite busy (job, family and piano related stuff), but I'm still working for our EPP.

Well, I've to say that our EPP is already well known by local piano stores, piano dealers, and some hotels (Lisbon is a small city and everyone knows each other...). Believe it or not, the interest in our party is growing everyday and I have been contacted by people who wants to know more details about what I'm organizing. Quite interesting!

So, I may have some great news soon.
But don't worry: our party will always be a private party (no TV crews, no outsiders, etc)

Now, it's time to wish you a Merry Christmas!
CarlosCC

Wow Carlos, that's so neat. I had not realized Lisbon was so small- or perhaps it is the piano community that is small and chats a lot? Either way it looks like things are going to work well for the party!

Feliz Natal, Joyeux Noel, Feliz Navidad, Buone Natale a tutti!

And a Very Merry Christmas to You and Yours CarlosCC!

Thank you for all your doing to organize this party.
Who knows, maybe by then Kathy & I will have won the lottery and can come too :-)

Ah, Frank. As an "honorary guest" you will always be present in our mind and hearts!

Merry Christmas!

I wish you all a merry christmas!

I look forward to be in Lisbon next year. Then I take a hot bath in a nice hotel and I will float a glass of cognac in the water to warm it up.

Thanks for organizing the event, Carlos!

hehehe, I need to get practicing... still terrible at reading and chords

Don't worry... You're not alone...
In fact, I'm trying to recover from this Xmas season. I didn't play for a couple of days and I feel I need to return to the practicing routine.

btw, I'm already thinking about the pieces I want to play in our EPP, so I want to ask to all EPP2014 guests:
Do you have already chosen the pieces you're going to play???

Maybe.

I will probably play the sonatina I'm working on now, and perhaps a jazz or blues piece.... I think I'd like to have 3 that I'm comfortable with.

I just got a Beatles book for Christmas, it could be fun to try something from that!

I know barely any classical and play mainly by ear, I doubt I will have anything worth contributing to be frank... that said it wouldn't hurt to play for fun

But no I have nothing really planned, I am just looking forward to the experience more than anything as it will be a first for me... both in terms of meeting you folks and travelling at all.

I cannot seem to edit my previous post for some reason weird....

Anyhow since it looks like I am 99% going to be here, anyone from England (south east) popping along to this? I could use someone to travel with to ease the nerves first time round.

UKIkarus, don't worry about the trip. Everything will be fine, even if you do the trip alone. As I told you, we're from here, and so you'll never be alone.

Some updates: I'm still searching for the best location for our EPP. The next spot I'm going to visit is a space for about 50 persons - that's enough, I think - near the Lisbon Cathedral. The owner is well known for doing "small events for artists" so I think this can be a good idea for us - the owner is a musician, btw -.
The room has a piano, a bar, and a kitchen so they can provide food and drinks for a small price. I think it's a kind of "typical Portuguese food house", and they can close the doors to the public if we decide to do the party with them.
I don't know the space, but a friend of mine says it's perfect for us.

Time to think about where to stay in Lisbon!
Lisbon is not a large city, but you must avoid too busy or downtown areas. So, I would suggest a hotel in "Parque das Nações" (aka "Expo") area. This is where I live - it's the "new" city area -, it's near the Tejo river, it has transportation of all kinds for everywhere (subway, bus, taxi, tourist-bus, trains, near the airport), and it's very pleasant.

And because it's near my house, it makes my life easier

PS: I'm sorry. It's not possible to do a "true" negotiation with a hotel without knowing the total number of guests. In addition, I don't know the financial situation, nor the preferences of each of you, so it's impossible to me to choose one hotel for everyone. Of course, I can give some advice based on your own surveys.

I hope it helps:
Google Maps: Hotels in "Parque das Nações", Lisbon
Booking.com: Hotels in "Parque das Nações", Lisbon

And I made this (sort of) map:

Nicely done

It does not look like the hotels are too far apart so I don't suppose it really matters who stays where with regards to distance, I would however be interested to see what ideas others have (if any) or where others have booked and why?

Will keep an eye on the thread to see what happens, going to have a word with family members to get the ball rolling

Carlos, the location you're checking out sounds fine! Room for 50 is more than ample!

Thanks also for the info /suggestions on hotel locations.

UKIkarus, I'll let you know when we've picked our hotel so you can see if you want to stay at the same place.

Last year we stayed at the same hotel as SwissMS and Mr.SwissMS and that was nice. We had lots of opportunities to chat, dine and tour about together!

Carlos - I wish I may, I wish I might be able to come to the EPP but won't be able to.

I enjoy keeping up with all the plans you have made and it will be a great get together. You would make a great travel agent.

Hope you and everyone have a great time and post pictures if you can.

Bon Voyage in advance one and all.

And we are watching this unfold from here in the States, and very grateful to you Carlos for putting this all together.

At the very least we will need to send over official Piano Forums member pins for everyone.

Carols, please PM (or direct email frank@pianoworld.com) your address details, and when you know, how many members will be attending.

One of these days Kathy and I will come over ourselves, we'd love to visit Portugal.
I used to work for a Portuguese man at a car dealership in Newport, RI (eastern State in U.S.), and my daughter's Godparents are Portuguese. They turned me onto Chourico and meat pies that were to die for!
Lovely hard working people with strong family values.

Have fun, take lots of pictures!

Someone wants to share an appartment with me instead of a hotel?

The appartment is a bit too big for me, because it has two bedrooms with double bed. It has airco and a great view:

Appartment

Maybe someone who loves soccer too, because 4th and 5th juli there are WC quarter finals.

Anyway, when split the appartment costs 60 euro per person per night, which is cheaper than an hotel.

Musdan, next year there will be europian piano party III, I'm sure. I hope to see you then!

And we are booked! We've got our flights!

We used TAP, the Portuguese airline, and got a pretty good rate!


Now...to continue the search for the hotel!