Gran Canaria - Day 2

On Sunday, we woke up early enough to catch the sunrise on camera and it was gorgeous. Our flight back to Madrid, luckily not affected by the volcano cloud, wasn't scheduled until eight p.m. so we decided to check out early and head back to the airport to rent a car and drive around the island. The interior of the island can reach heights of over 6,000 feet and we decided it would be a great idea to ride around through the mountain roads. We first headed south to the touristy Playa del Inglés and found that we felt like we'd stepped into Myrtle Beach and Pensacola Florida. It was awful and kitschy and full of English and German tourists and aggressive people grabbing your arm and trying to put bracelets on them so they can force you to give them money. We headed out quickly and went north towards the town of San Bartolomé. We drove up and down and found all kinds of amazing vistas and the mountains and valleys formed by the volcanoes that had formed these islands millions of years ago. From San Bartolomé, we headed on north towards Tejeda, the city at the very center of the island. As we went higher, the temperature got colder and colder but the views were more amazing. We found two great rock formations called Roque Nubo and Roque Noble that are natural formations on the islands. The cliffs and valleys are everywhere and show an great stratification of rocks as the years have ticked away. Alas, we found our way to Tejeda and could see it from the road and when we wound our way around to it, we discovered the road was closed and under construction. We turned around and took another mountain road towards a town called San Mateo and we ended up riding through a heavily forested part of the island used as a camping ground. Everywhere there were tons of tourists and families having picnics and lounging around and enjoying the clear beautiful day. The strangest thing was right after we passed this clear beautiful day and people camping and picnicking we turned a corner and started descending a mountainside in which the fog was so thick we couldn't see anything other than the road we were driving on. We finally arrived to our destination of San Mateo, where we had lunch, a not so good showing of fish and pork chops. Afterwards, we made our way back towards the airport but since we still had three hours to kill, we headed south again to an area recommended to us called Maspalomas. The area is really upscale and nice and has a few golf courses around to play on. The light house was set on a beach that instead of sand had large pebble stones that made a really relaxing noise whenever the water washed away. After a short walk down the boardwalk there, we headed back to the car and headed home. The car had an interesting day itself as we picked it up with a full tank of gas and as we drove all day through mountains, up and down steep angles, the gas gauge never moved off of being full and after about five hours of this, we started to become convinced that the gauge was broken and thus the guy at the place probably didn't know how much gas was in the car at all. Finally, after heading down from the mountain and towards Maspalomas, the gauge ticked off one notch, which we happily refilled relieved that the gauge worked and wasn't going to leave us stranded. the overall weekend was a success minus leaving an iPod on the airplane after arriving back in Madrid.

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Gran Canaria - Day 1 1/2

Our weekend in the Canary Islands was incredible and our way of celebrating our birthdays. We found some really cheap tickets online on Spanair's promotion for 50 a piece each way and decided we had to do it. Also, thanks to Izzy's mom for a generous birthday gift that really helped to make the weekend more enjoyable, we hadn't stayed in a proper hotel for some time. We arrived Friday afternoon and the landing on Gran Canaria is quite a bumpy ride as you basically drop quickly and pull a 180 degree turn to land on the runway on the east side of the island. We caught a bus up to Las Palmas, the capital of the island(s) and found our hotel right on the coast line with a view out over the east and the Atlantic. We walked around the historic part of the city Friday afternoon/evening and found some really beautiful old buildings. The Canary's were the jumping point for Christopher Columbus before he set off to discover the islands of the Caribbean. We found a museum called the Casa de Colón but no one is sure that Columbus ever lived here but might have just passed through on his way to the Americas. Anyways, the architecture is quite nice and the balconies and outside access to the nice weather via the house seems enjoyable. We had dinner in a local plaza and enjoyed relaxing in the cool breeze. The temperature the entire weekend stayed between mid 60' to mid 70's. On Saturday, we spent the day at the beach lying in chairs and trying to add some color to our skin that hadn't seen much since for a few months. The picture of the beach is where we spent that day.

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London, England - Day 3

On our third day in London, we met a couple who is getting married in June in Bristol, England. They have worked out a deal with Iz to shoot their wedding and since they live in London, they wanted to show us around the eastern part of the city and so we could meet them first. They were really nice and took us to a nice pizza place over near an area called Brick Lane. We spent the afternoon with them wandering through all kinds of markets that had tons of amazing looking food and really nice clothing that was made by people and brought in to sell. The couple took us to a small museum that had an interesting photo exhibit of a guy who had traveled through all the African countries taking pictures of the cities. We said goodbye to them and headed over to Hyde Park because we had been saving it for a Sunday afternoon walk. Hyde Park has become synonymous with having demonstrations and has hosted many open air concerts. On Sunday, we saw lots of people having roller blading competitions. We were also able to take some nice pictures near Buckingham Palace since the ones from Friday had gray clouds all throughout. We ended the night by having dinner with our friend's brother and his girlfriend at the local Japanese place again because it was one of their favorite places and they wanted to do dinner. We can't thank them enough for letting us stay there for our weekend and it was finally time to head back to Spain and all we were hoping for was warmer weather.

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London, England - Day 2

On our second day in London, we reunited with Jarrod and Ana to go see some museums. We started the day by going to St. Paul's Cathedral in central London. The entry fee to get in is a little steep but we figured it would be more worthwhile than going through the Tower of London which cost more. The inside of the Cathedral is lavish with designs and the dome in the center is just breathtaking. There have been several churches dedicated to St. Paul over the years built on the site due to London being prone to great fires throughout it's history. The dome was the highest in the city until 1962 and in terms of other domes is only beaten by St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. At the top of the dome is an area where you can walk around and its called the whispering gallery. According to the design and the acoustics of the dome, you can whisper something and it be heard clear across on the other side. Of course, there are way too many tourists up there whispering at the same time so you can't hear anything except yourself whispering to a wall. We found a small doorway in the whispering gallery that leads up to the top, where you can also get a wonderful view of the city skyline. The weather was perfect so we were able to take some great photos up there. From there, we headed to the British National Gallery located on Trafalgar Square. The Square pays homage to the victory of the British Navy in the Napoleonic Wars. In the middle of the square is Nelson's Column and it is guarded by four lions on each side. The fountain is dedicated to Lord Jellicoe, who I only mention because the name just sounds funny. Inside the museum is a ton of artwork from all kinds of periods and the best part about it is that its free to get in. We walked around for a couple of hours and after our fill of art, we headed onto the The British Museum, which is full of historical artifacts. They house an impressive array of objects from ancient Persia, early Europe, Africa, and a ton of history of Egypt and the mummies. Afterwards, our stomachs started talking to us so we made our way over to Chinatown in one of the large typical double decker buses of London. We passed through Piccadilly Circus, which seems to be like London's version of Times Square. There are a lot of lights and big stores and things to look at and its full of people so that added to the Times Square feel. We found a nice little Japanese place in Chinatown but the waitress quickly showed she had an attitude problem. We posted a picture of someone's dinner because it just looked really neat. What you see is Phad Thai wrapped up in an egg. The dinner was good so we overlooked her attitude problem and didn't leave her a tip in typical American fashion. We headed north to the more alternative section of the city called Camden Town. It was full of all kinds of shops and open air markets and plenty of the more off the beaten path kinds of places we enjoy. We stopped into a pub to have a drink and ended up getting some free t-shirts from a girl who was traveling with a rum company trying to have people in various bars sample their product. The night ended and we bid farewell to our friend Jarrod as he was setting back to the States Sunday morning.

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London, England - Day 1

We arrived to London early and dragged ourself to our friend's house so we could shower and take a nap and catch up on emails and pictures. The house was in a nice neighborhood called Kensington and our friend's brother was a very gracious host. Around noon, we made our way out and caught a bus towards a central area where Hyde Park ends and the parks around Buckingham Palace begin. The rain started around this area and made our walk quite unenjoyable and wet. We arrived to the palace and as the picture might say itself, its a tad underwhelming. Actually, its really disappointing and the dreary weather magnified that aspect. After poking around the palace, we made our way towards the river, where in one area, you can find Big Ben, the Parliament building, Westminster Abbey, and other famous landmarks. The rain eased up so we were able to take some good pictures but the wind on the river was strong and made the cold air feel really cold. The name Big Ben actually refers to the bell in the clock(named for Sir Benjamin Hall) and has been extended to mean the tower but the tower is actually called St. Stephen's Tower. During both World Wars, the clock bells were silenced and the face was darkened at night to prevent providing help to German fighter pilots. The Parliament building(Westminster Palace) had some very impressive architecture. It was originally built in the eleventh century and served as home to the Kings of England but burned down in 1512 and after being rebuilt, it became the home of the houses of Parliament. It burned down again and was rebuilt in the 1830's but retained the original form as much as possible and still looks quite Medieval. Westminster Abbey was closed because of the Easter weekend celebrations but the outside looked quite Gothic in design and the church has seen several different floor plans and designs over the years and houses an impressive array of famous tombs such as: Geoffrey Chaucer(The Canterbury Tales), Charles Dickens, John Keats, Rudyard Kipling, Alexander Pope, and even Sir Isaac Newton. A recent addition to the London skyline as of 1999 is the Millennium Wheel, commonly called the London Eye. It is a large ferris wheel with egg shaped pods that take you up so you can get a bird's eye view of the entire city. We passed over the London Bridge, the one that inspired the famous children's song but it was quite uninspiring as its just a bridge. The really nice bridge in London is the Tower Bridge, close to the Tower of London, which is why its called the Tower Bridge. The bridge construction was started in 1886 and took eight years to finish. Now the two towers and walkways house various public exhibitions. From the Tower Bridge, we walked over to the Tower of London but didn't pay to go in because we've heard its quite expensive and not that thrilling. The Tower construction was started around 1078 and has continued until it became the current tower and has housed lots of executions over the years. We had lunch at a great Japanese place that had reasonable prices. One thing that surprised us overall about London was how inexpensive the food was in comparison with other touristy cities similar to it like New York or Paris. Anyways, our first day was really fun and we enjoyed checking out all the sites.

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