Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Day 227 - Last day in Paris .....

Last day in Paris .... so it was our last chance to visit the Louvre. Arriving there around 9:30am we purchased our tickets and headed in. The Louvre is huge, and as we weren't planning to spend all day there we concentrated on the highlights - including of course the Mona Lisa (which was smaller, and not as impressive as we had expected), and Venus de Milo After our highlights tour we bid A&L a fond farewell (they were driving back home), and we visited a few more sections of the Louvre.

The rest of the afternoon was taken up by a walk back through the city and afternoon tea on the sidewalks of Le Marais, before jumping on the train to the airport for our trip out of Paris.

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Day 226 - We knew it was closed, so why did we go there?

Paris - Hotel du 7e Art

We knew the Louvre was closed on Tuesdays - but for some reason this slipped our minds when we arranged with A&L to make it our first visit of the day. We finally realised our mistake when we saw that the ticket queue was empty ..... doh! We made the most of it though by continuing our walk along the Champs Elysees to the Arc De Triomphe, then to the Eiffel Tower via the Trocadero. There were huge queues to climb the tower, so we hopped on a Seine cruise where we continued our misadventures with French food. Tip - take your own lunch when you go on a river cruise.

After the cruise we headed back to the Eiffel Tower and walked up the equivalent of 42 flights of stairs to the second level, before taking the lift to the very top for the magnificant views of Paris. We didn't indulge in the champagne on offer .... 10 euros for 100mls seemed a little excessive, but it helped us work out why there were so many baggage checks when we entered!

After the tower we jumped on the Metro to visit Montmartre and the Basilica of the Sacré Cœur. After the church visit we had an afternoon tea of crepes and coffee, followed by some souvenir shopping, and a look at the Moulin Rouge, before going back to the hotel and out for dinner. We finally managed a very tasty French meal at a restaurant near our hotel, followed by a pleasant evening with A&L at a nearby bar.

Monday, October 3, 2011

Day 225 - Back to the mainland

Puerto De La Cruz (Spain) to Paris (France) - Hotel du 7e Art

We had to get an early taxi to the airport for our flight to Paris - this is the first time we've arrived at an airport to find it wasn't open yet! The day was a typical travelling day, the first flight to Madrid, then a change to get the next plane to Paris.

On arrival in Paris in mid-afternoon we negotiated the railway system and made it to our hotel without too much difficulty. We'd arranged with our English friends A&L to meet them in Paris, so while we waited for them to finish their drive from Bristol, we decided to get an early start to the sightseeing.

First off a visit to Notre Dame, then along the Seine to view the various bridges, ending up at the Louvre. We only walked around the outside of the Louvre, we were planning a proper visit for another day.

We arrived back at the hotel shortly after A&L arrived, and spent the evening catching up over a drink, followed by a slightly disappointing dinner (after having heard so much about French cuisine over the years!).

Sunday, October 2, 2011

Day 217 to Day 224 - Back to School: The Sequel

Puerto De La Cruz - Best Semiramis Hotel

Day 217: A "rest day" before K goes back to school for more Spanish lessons, so we spent some time walking to town. The info we'd read about our hotel said there was an ocean pool, however when we went down to check it out it looked like it hadn't been used for ages .... false advertising? Town was a combination of a black rocky beach (with a surprisingly high number of people sunbaking - too uncomfortable for us!), a pool area nearby, and a mix of outdoor restaurants and locals selling necklaces and fake handbags. We finished the day with a nice paella - with enough food for four people.

Day 218: Just as you would with a child heading off to school for the first day, M escorted K into school, with a promise to meet her afterwards at 1pm. While K sat in her first class for the week, M walked around town to get a feel for the area. It was pretty quiet at 9am, few shops were open that early. After school we didn't do much, a walk back to our hotel, lazing by the pool for the afternoon, and dinner at one of the many German style restaurants in the area.

Day 219: We are really getting lazy, K has been at school in the mornings, but M really has no excuse! Today was very similar to yesterday, perhaps a little warmer, which was a good excuse for spending more time by the pool.


Day 220: A change of pace this afternoon - after K finished school we decided to visit Loro Park, a marine park in Puerto De La Cruz. We caught the free shuttle bus from town, and after avoiding the photo they try to get you to sit for on the way in (and pay for on the way out), we headed for the various animal shows and displays. The orca show was lots of fun, though a little on the cheesy side, while the emperor penguin display was very impressive with snow falling from the ceiling and penguins darting through the water in front of us. The gorilla display was a little depressing after having seen them in the wild back in Rwanda, and the bird show was just plain embarrassing. On the whole though it was definitely worth a visit.

Day 221: Back to lazy mode today. While K was in school, M arranged a rental car for the weekend (which took all of five minutes ....), and another afternoon was spent lazing by the pool.

Day 222: K's last day of school, so after farewelling her classmates we went for a drive to the centre of the island, intending to head up to the top of Mount Teide, the still active volcano that dominates the island. However as the afternoon progressed cloud gathered around the peak, and when combined with K's dislike of extremely steep and windy roads, we decided it would be best to turn back.

Day 223: Time to explore the rest of the island, so we drove around to the more popular south side of the island. Because of the volcano, it's easier to drive all the way around the outside rather than through the middle. We lunched at Los Cristianos, then spent some time walking along the beach. These were the first beaches we'd seen on the island with white sand, which apparently been imported from the Sahara. We took a whale watching cruise later in the afternoon, which guaranteed that we'd see some whales, with the chance of dolphins. We managed to see some pilot whales, which were a lot smaller than we expected. We weren't so lucky with the dolphins, though K did see one in the distance.

Day 224: Another theme park today, this time we went to Siam Park, a Thai themed (why?) water park on the south side of the island. The weather was overcast and a bit on the windy side, but as it turned out this wasn't an issue, in fact it kept the crowds down and the queues short. We had lots of fun on the various slides, finishing the day trying to catch a wave in the wave pool.
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