The tourist office can be helpful

Day 6 (February 7, 2011)
Itinerary for today: Visit the tourist center, Hike in the La Caldera area

It is always lovely to sleep in. We relaxed in the room and then on the rooftop terrace until about lunch time. While out in the sun, on the roof and on our balcony, the day felt nice and warm without a cloud in the sky. The breeze was still chilly, but the sun felt wonderful. It looks like a good day for hiking today.

The tourist office was finally open and we were able to score all kinds of useful information like maps, bus schedules, and the most important, a hiking map. The helper behind the desk spoke English and recommended that we head up the mountain a little ways away to La Caldera. It's just on the end of the Teide National Park, I believe.

Over a tasty lunch at a nearby tapas bar, we studied the hiking and bus maps to find that we would probably have to wait quite a while for the bus to go up the mountain. Thankfully, the taxi ride up was inexpensive and took us right to the trailhead.

The area was full of hikers all decked out with hiking clothing, backpacks and trekking poles. They were all retired-age Germans. It was quite amusing to see such a large group of them, but it did make it feel similar to Switzerland. The area on this part of the mountain is treed and shady. We wore our fleece to stay warm, though the strenuous hike kept us pretty warm as well. The Germans seemed to be finishing their hikes and eating at the cafe while we were starting out. The trail was fairly empty of people. We found a great sign post with lengths and maps at the trail head. I was a little surprised at how well the trail was labeled. We found a decent route that included a one-way path to the town just south of us (with a bus stop) and also a loop that promised to give us the history to the water route.

In total, we hiked about 5 miles. There were several spots that reminded me of the Inca Trail in Peru just due to all the steps, but we did get to see some great views of the valley and the coast below that held La Orotava and Puerto de la Cruz. We didn't pass many people. Our first main stop was at the Casa Agua (or water house) where we could see inside an upper window that it had once held and routed water through the stone structure. On the loop hike, we followed an old aqueduct and found several structures that held and routed water along the way. The aqueduct was incredibly steep at 30-45 degrees in some places.

At the end of the hike we ended up just up the road from the bus stop with a bus about 5 minutes away. I don't think we could have timed this any better. Back at the hotel we are killing time before dinner. While Mark plays Epic Mickey on the Wii, I'm typing up some blog posts.

Tomorrow is our first day that wasn't booked before I left Houston. We've since decided to rent a car and drive up Teide mountain. We are going to stay 2 nights at the hotel up there and do hikes in the area. There is a cable car to the top of the mountain, and if we are lucky we can get a permit to be one of the 150 people per day to hike to the summit as well. Teide is the highest mountain in Spain.

Happy Birthday, Mark

Day 5 (February 6, 2011)

Happy Birthday to Mark!

Itinerary for the day: Bus to Puerto de la Cruz, spend time in Loro Parque, eat dinner in Puerto

With actual plans today, we had to set the alarm and of course wake up earlier than we really wanted to. However, we were the first people down for breakfast and found the included hotel breakfast to be more complete than we would have expected. They had everything from hot food to mini pastries to yogurts to fruits and more. The itty-bitty croissants were especially adorable. The were only about as long as my palm and were tasty as well.

We had no problems catching the bus to Puerto de la Cruz. It was only about a 20 minute ride. When we got there we saw one of the free trains that transports guests from the east side of Puerto to Loro Parque. However, the bus station was already halfway there, so we started walking. We didn't have a map and we could only guess the route, but eventually we did find some signs that pointed in the direction we were headed. The area really isn't that big.

Loro Parque looks very asian. It is owned by the same company that owns Siam Park (a water park) in the southern portion of Tenerife. Siam Park is apparently very Thai. Loro Parque's entry area was inside of a very Asian building. Once inside we passed over a bridge with fish on either side that looked just like some fish we'd seen in Singapore. Actually, the whole park reminded us off the Jurong Bird Park located in Singapore as well.

The park is a mix between Sea World and the Singapore Jurong Bird Park. I'm not sure if you can picture it. The park had the typical Sea World attractions like an Orca show, a sea lion show, a shark tank, a dolphin show, and a Penguinarium. However, it also had other zoo animals and it is home to about 3000 species of birds. The park is really mostly about the birds and the sea creatures.

We really liked the sea lion show and the dolphin show. Both were done very well and the animals had many tricks to show us. The sea lion show was done without any voices in any language, but the dolphin show was in both English and Spanish. When we travel, I am reminded about how accommodating all these countries are to people of multiple languages and how tourist attractions in the US aren't. The dolphin show had about 8 dolphins at least all doing tricks together. It was amazing to see two dolphins swim underneath a trainer, lift him up in the air, each dolphin's nose holding one of the trainers feet, then launch the trainer up and through a hoop lifted up in the air. The trainer of course did a flip in the air. Wow. The sea lions did lots of tricks while balancing a ball on their nose and even came out in the audience to kiss a few lucky people.

The Orca show was a little lacking, but mostly it was about seeing their 4 orca whales do a few things while educating us on proper conservation to save them. The most interesting part to me was watching the video on how they brought the 4 whales over on planes from Sea World San Antonio and Sea Worlds Orlando. What was even more amazing was that while I was in San Antonio applying for my International Driver's Permit at AAA, I met one of the guys who helped deliver the whales. He was telling me about how they sent the whales over on a plane to the Canary Islands and I couldn't quite believe it. And here I was today, seeing the very same whales this guy had helped send over. Small world indeed.

The other neat portion of the park was their walk-in bird aviary. We could walk right in and up to various beautiful birds while they sat in the bird seeder off to the side of the walkway and snacked on breakfast. I got some pretty good pictures doing this.

Loro Parque didn't take the full day. We had time afterwards to walk along the black volcanic sand beaches and watch people body boarding or playing volleyball. We found a nice spot to watch the sunset and ended up at a place for dinner early enough, but not too early. Dinner in Spain is similar to dinner in the rest of Europe in that it usually starts after 8p.

We came back to the room with enough time to play around on the internet before bed. Overall, it was a very good day in Puerto de la Cruz.

Touring La Orotava

Day 4 (February 5, 2011)

Itinerary: Tour La Orotava

Today feels like the first real day of vacation. We woke up in our wonderful hotel room and went out on the porch to see the gorgeous day ahead. It is beautiful, sunny, and should warm up into the 80s again in the sun today.

We missed the included hotel breakfast and instead hung out in the hotel room. This hotel is great. It has an amazing wifi connection that is both fast and easy to use and located almost right outside our room. Also, there is a business center with a printer downstairs that I've needed to use as well.

We toured La Orotava today. Mostly we just picked a direction to start walking and kept going that direction. We started going towards the coast and then realize that those buildings on the coast are a) part of another town called Puerto de la Cruz and b) we couldn't cross the highway to get there anyway.

We happened upon a place for lunch that ended up being rather entertaining. The waiter didn't speak any English but through our Spanish we were able to answer his questions as to where we were from. Once he heard we were from Texas he went on and on about his relatives in central america and I think he was telling us something about the influence of the culture from San Antonio. He came back often to talk to us about various things and show us pictures of places in Canaria where we should visit. We had a good time. The food was great as well.

We wandered around through a high-priced area with beautiful houses, lavish gates, and a few guard dogs. We also wandered over to a high school futbol (soccer) match. We watched the first half. Eventually we wandered around past several obviously historical buildings, but as we found out earlier today, the tourist office is not open on weekends. So we didn't know what we were looking at. As we found out on Monday, the tourist office would have been so useful had it been open today.

Eventually we found ourselves back at the hotel and decided to use the afternoon to start planning out the rest of our vacation. We have a bit of an outline now. At least we have a plan for tomorrow to go to Puerto de la Cruz. After that, we are still planning.

Dinner tonight was at the hotel. There are only about 8 tables, so a reservation is necessary. We managed to get the last one. I think the hotel only has about 8 or 9 rooms anyway. There is only 3 staff working in one night. One waitstaff is manning the bar, waiting tables, and all kinds of various other things. Then there were two cooks in the kitchen. Needless to say, it was a long and relaxing dinner. =) We even sprung for dessert.

Almost there

Day 3 (February 4, 2011)

Itinerary: Fly Barcelona to Tenerife, check into Hotel Rural Victoria in La Orotava

I'm ready for vacation to start. I feel like I've been traveling for 3 days, and I have. I left the US on Wednesday and it's already Friday. I'm still not at the final destination.

The Barcelona hotel has been nice, but we were up early to catch the train to the airport. Once we purchased our train tickets and entered the turnstile, however, we found out the airport train had been canceled! The next train wasn't for 30 more minutes and we didn't feel as if it would leave us enough time to check in at the airport. So, a taxi it was.

The Barcelona airport is much bigger than I thought it would be. It definitely rivals any other international airport I've been to. Spainair was easy to check in to and soon we were eating breakfast near our gate. The flight to Tenerife was uneventful, but rather uncomfortable as there seemed to be less leg room than usual.

Finally we touched down in Tenerife, Canary Islands! It is gorgeous here! The weather is sunny and warm, the sky is clear, and the people seem friendly. We exited the airport and found our bus. We had one connection to make and it was a bit confusing trying to figure out which bus stop to get off of. The bus stops were not labeled or numbered and the scrolling display on the bus only showed the upcoming stop briefly.

While waiting for our next bus, we were able to really appreciate the warm island. When I had looked ahead at the weather, I was expecting 60s, but clearly in the sun it was at least 80.

Finally we arrived in La Orotava by bus and made the longish trek uphill to our hotel. We are at the Hotel Rural Victoria and so far we love it. Our suite has two rooms and a bathroom. We have a big balcony on which we can look out to the mountain or down to the road to people watch. The wifi is fast and easy to connect to. Plus the hotel has a rooftop access with views overlooking the entire town down to the coast. We certainly lucked out here considering I did about 5 minutes of research to find this place.

The hotel was able to serve us a late lunch at 4pm and then we went back to the room to collapse. I don't think we did much of anything tonight except make it to the grocery store to buy some ice cream for dinner/dessert.

View from hotel roof top

Hola, Buenas Tardes

Day 1/2 (February 2/3)
"Today" has been quite a long day for me. I started out in Houston and now I finally made it to Spain.

On the way to Marseille to meet Mark, my plane stopped in Amsterdam. Actually, it arrived about an hour early. The flight was uneventful. I was impressed with my first KLM flight. They minimized the announcements so we could sleep, gave us great food, handed us a warm towel to clean up before breakfast, and the best part was finding free wifi at the Amsterdam airport. Next time I fly to Marseille, I might just take KLM again instead of Air France. I've had enough of the Paris airport anyway. =)

Arriving in the Amsterdam airport was almost like how I picture entering the Mall of Americas would be. There were oodles of shops, great signage, fun areas to hang out, and a whole play forest for the kids. I didn't check out the mini museum, but I did stop in a few stores on my way to my next terminal. I watched the sun rise which did wonders to my inner time schedule. It certainly felt like morning rather than late at night.

The flight from to Marseille was mostly uneventful. I can't say much about it since I was sleeping the entire time, but I did catch snippets from the pilot letting us know we'd be delayed due to various technical difficulties. I think we finally took off about 30 minutes late, however, the pilot also informed us that he was going to contact the military so we could fly through their restricted air space and make up the time. The pilot was probably just trying to impress us. Maybe his boss was on the plane and he wanted a raise. In any case, whatever he did worked because we arrived right on time.

Soon after, Mark and I found each other and all was good. Finally, our vacation can start. The rest of the day was a typical travel day in Europe. We stowed Mark's care package/action packer/birthday gifts at the Marseille hotel we are coming back to and headed to the train station. There are 2 connections to get to Barcelona from Marseille, but we were up for it. In the meantime we enjoyed the beautiful day outside. At about 60 degrees and sunny, the weather was infinitely better than the frozen Houston I just left. Per a recommendation from Mark's coworkers, we tried a CBO at McDonalds. That's chicken/bacon/onion for all you Americans. There were even bacon bits on the top of the bun instead of sesame seeds. It was indeed tasty and not the typical McD hamburger options.

We almost had a hiccup while on the train. Our 2nd of 3 trains was running late and we never thought we'd make the 15 minute connection. We worried for about 20 minutes while we waited for the station to appear in the window and avoided discussing what we would do if we got stuck in Figueres. The conductor definitely did update us on the announcement system, but we couldn't understand what was going to happen. Well, apparently many people were making that connection and when we arrived at the station 5 minutes after our train to Barcelona should have left, low and behold, there was the train waiting for us. =) What a relief. I don't know if I could have canceled one more thing about this trip.

We are staying the night in Barcelona at the hotel on top of the train station. I thought that was pretty convenient when I booked it. Tomorrow we fly to Tenerife in the Canary Islands. I'm ready to relax.

Our hotel, dubbed The Hotel in the Sky was almost like moving into a submarine or a space station room. They went to great extremes to decorate the hotel so it was very modern and space age. The hallways were completely dark with only stripes of blue light every 8 feet. Outside the elevator were circular pod-like chairs that immediately reminded me of CERN in Switzerland. The room was stark white with modern furniture and lighting. The bathroom consisted of 3 stark white pods, one for the toilet, the shower, and then an area for the sink. The bed was amazingly comfortable and we slept so well.

If and when we come back from Barcelona, we will definitely consider staying here again.

Au revoir

December 9 (Day 8)

Goodbye Paris, I'm ready to go home.

As expected, when the airport started opening around 6am there were massive amounts of people, much confusion, and never-ending lines. I was directed to stand in a line to check in, but there were no people at the desk. I was told it would open at 6:30am. My line became quite long with lots of other people headed to the US all directed to the same line. At 7am, I gave up on my line and wandered around asking people where I should stand in line.

I was told that since my flight was at 10:30, I was not to stand in the only line that was actually staffed with people yet since they were working to get other people through the check in process that had earlier flights. I went to get some breakfast and then jumped in that line anyway because the line was nearly the size of the whole entire waiting area.

The man next to me in line had a 10:30 flight to New York and spoke English so we chatted about the crazy situation. All the check in lines did not have any signage and different staff had different things to say. There was only one board that listed all the departing flights and when my line moved past this board, my plane was supposed to take off at 10:40am. It was now around 9am and I looked at the size of the line still in front of me and hoped I'd make it on the plane. After check in, there was still security to get through.

Finally around 10am I made it to the front of the line and finally, finally checked my luggage, got a boarding pass and was informed that my plane was now boarding at 10:20am. I figured I had time as long as security was short.

At this point I'd been awake all night in the airport, stood in line for over 4 hours and was ready to get on the plane and fall asleep. After security, which wasn't too long of a line, I ran towards the gate as it was now 10:40 and I was hoping they were still boarding. The information at the gate told me the plane was boarding at 9:55 and I asked if I could board. The staff informed me that actually boarding wasn't until 11am. Well, at least I'm going to make my flight!

After the crowds on the outside end of security, the area back here felt nearly empty. Apparently they delayed all the flights today probably due to the crowds and the fact that no one would make their flight. I sat down to wait and willed myself to stay awake just a little longer so I wouldn't fall asleep at the gate and miss my flight. =)

Finally, we boarded around 11:30am, were bused far away to our plane, and I got on and went right to sleep. I have no idea what time we took off, but it seems that we took off at 12:20. I slept like a rock in my empty row for about 7 hours before I woke up feeling actually refreshed. My 9 hour flight felt short with all the sleeping I did and when we arrived in Houston everything in the Houston airport ran smoothly. =)

I was home by about 5pm. I think I might have to make up some commemorative tshirts that say "I survived the Paris snow storm of 2010." Apparently Paris doesn't get much snow and the 3-4 inches shut the city down. Well, I'm glad to be home and the bunnies were happy to see me.

Below you'll see some amusing photos from my airport stay. Also, some shots of the Eiffel Tower at night. While at the Eiffel Tower, I found a group of Jewish guys driving around in a Hanukkah van. I took a photo, you'll see.



If the slideshow above doesn't show up, Click on this link

http://markandjoannatravel.blogspot.com

Choose Your Own Adventure

December 8 (Day 7)

Today is our final day in Paris.  We fly to Marseille tonight, spend the night and then fly to our respective countries on the 9th.  That's the plan anyway.

Well, plans change.  Tonight I'm in the Paris airport and Mark just barely made it to Marseille.  We both had crazy adventures.  Let me go back to the beginning, though.

Yesterday I confirmed with our apartment owner that we could stay until noon.  So we took it easy this morning, packed, and waked down to the bakery to get breakfast. 

Around noon we said goodbye to the apt and headed into the rainy streets to take the metro to the airport.  We would get there early, but that was fine.  Snow was expected for the day and there might be a few delays.

We were greeted by armed guards at the airport keeping everyone out.  It was snowing hard outside and the train station was cold, but we were kept at bay.  No information was given in English of course, so we just had to wait it out. 

It turns out that it was every airports nightmare.....a piece of unattended luggage locked down the airport for about 30 or so minutes.  Thankfully it was just a scare and we were allowed to enter.

We picked up the luggage we stored in the airport (food and other things for Mark to take to Algeria) and checked in with Air France.  So far everything was going smoothly.

The snow outside was piling up and after a bite to eat, we noticed our flight had been cancelled.  Actually, no planes were leaving in the snow storm.  Air France quickly booked us both on a 9p flight to Marseille and handed us 2 meal vouchers for our trouble.  Wow, really?  International airlines are much nicer than their american counter parts.

We settled down again to wait and then Mark got a call from his coworkers in Algeria.  He was to take the train to Marseille instead. 

So now the adventures begin.  =)  Its not quite "choose your own adventure," but its close.

We went to baggage claim and waited 20 minutes to tell air france we need our luggage back and get a permission slip to the baggage claim.  Hordes of people were getting luggage as well, but we were lucky to spot 2 of our 3 bags.  The 3rd was the action packer full of food and items for Mark in Algeria.

New adventure.  After waiting over 30 minutes to no avail, I squeezed into the baggage services office to see what could be done.  It was pure mayhem in here.  There were 6 desks of personel to help and more than 50 passengers speaking.  Some people were getting forms, others looked to be in a line, and more were clumped in a corner.

I waited in what I believed to be the line, but once I was at the front I had no idea what to do or where to go.  I found a crazed Air France attendant and asked him where the line was.  He looked at me and said, "normally only 12 people are allowed in at once and the line is outside.  Why don't I just help you.  Sit here."

Awesome.  He told me no more luggage is being returned and they were going to send it on to my final destination.  I was a bit dubious that they could send it to Marks camp in skikda, but he seemed positive.  He asked me for all kinds of information I didn't have and we kinda got his form filled out. 

We'll see what happens now.  Hopefully they can get the luggage to Mark, but there is nothing else I can do.  Of course I couldn't leave to get Mark or call him since I had no phone.  We live in the communication age, but while abroad I'm so disconnected.  So many times I needed a phone or internet. 

Mark now missed the train his work had booked for him, so we went to the TGV office to buy a new ticket.  The lines here were of course long and eventually Mark was able to get a ticket.  The trains to Marseille from the airport were booked, so he had to get a transfer to Paris and then to a train from there.

Now we had to say a quick goodbye so he could dash off.   =(  I had such a good time while we were together both in Texas and in France.  It was wonderful to have him back and I'm sad to see him go.

Mark took off to start his own adventure, and I started mine.

I spent some time walking around the airport through a few lines before finding out I could not check in for my Houston flight tomorrow and enter the terminal.  I got some airport food and finally after some indecision decided to store my suitcase and head back to the city.

My city adventure was wonderful.  Paris got probabably at least 3 inches of snow...more in some places and the snow was still sticking to the ground.  I went straight for the Eiffel Tower with my camera and tripod and took the night photos I'd been too cold to get before.  The snow turned everything magical and I took many photos.

I also must have looked like a local because many people came to me for directions to the metro.  I was asked in spanish, english, and french.  Also, with my tripod the annoying vendors walking around selling mini towers didn't bother me at all.

My adventure back to the airport was more interesting.  First one of the metro connections I was going to take wasn't running, then when I got to the station to take the train to the airport, I found out there were no trains to the airport.  I went to several stations along the line to confirm.  I saw many others trying to get to the airport too.

Eventually I figured out how to get to a station that also had a bus to the airport.  Now it was late at night and I waited in the cold with several other people to get on the bus to the airport.  I made friends with a couple other English speakers and we commiserated over the airport delays, the lack of trains to the airport, and now the lack of bus.  The bus lines had stopped too!  Several security guards came out and started shutting down the train station.  This did not bode well.  But I was with other people going my way.

Eventually, through one security guy that spoke english and an employee of the train station, we found out that they were going to call taxis for us.  There were at least 15 of us and only one taxi that was going to go back and forth.  We stood and slowly froze while waiting for the taxi and getting frustrated with our lack of understanding French.  Security did stay with us thankfully, but all 5 of them hopped in a van and waited in the heat.  =P

The view was pretty.  The sky became clear enough to see stars for the first time since we arrived and we were surrouned by snow covered trees decorated with lights, ornaments, and ice. 

At 2am the train station employee went inside to get everyone coffee.  This was probably the first time in my life I might have taken the coffee.  But soon after the taxi came back and we squeezed in.  I was with my new English speaking friend; both of us going to the airport, and the other people in the cab were French speaking and going to a hotel near the airport.

Finally I made it to the airport, again.  The place is dead with nothing open.  I feel like a refugee as the staff hands me water and a blanket and I pass people sleeping in all corners on cardboard and in plastic bags to keep warm.  Its not warm in the airport.

The ticket counters are all closed, but the staff is still there sleeping in their chairs.  Only Air France has a working line, but I can't pick up my stored bag until 6am.

I found and internet terminal to see Marks email that he made it to Marseille and now I'm in my own corner typing away on my phone's little keyboard.  I will go ahead and buy some wifi so I can send this off.

Mark's adventure will have to be another post since I can't figure out how to copy the text in.

It has been adventurous, but that's what makes life so interesting.  I'm happy to share my stories with you.

Http://markandjoannatravel.blogspot.com