Canarian Holiday

Hello friends and family. Here is your post card from Gran Canaria in blogger form. The story starts with Jens calling me in New York / Connecticut when i was there this past April visiting my sister and her family. Jens asked, "Hey Eddie - do you think you can get off of work on the 7th of May for a week?". "I don't know", I said, "I'll have to ask my boss when i get back to work". "I need to know now", he replied, "because there are only 4 seats left for a nice price." So Jens ended up calling my boss and got the time off for me. (I was wondering if he could get me a raise too) Ok - so Jens called and he was ready to go on vacation because he was feeling well and just wanted to get away from all the doctors, and the gloomy Copenhagen weather and get out of the house. I was really happy to hear that he was doing better. But even so, I cut my USA east coast trip short to get back home and be with Jens. That was a good idea because his time of feeling good didn't last long.

The 7th of May was just around the corner and Jens was getting the pains in his legs again. I said to Jens that if he felt we should cancel the vacation plans then we should just do it. He said no way; "If i have to be sick in bed then it makes no difference if it's here at home or in the sunshine of Gran Canaria and I'd rather be there in the sunshine." So with that in mind, we ended up getting a rental wheel chair just in case. In this first picture you can see that Jens is in the wheel chair as we waited in the long long loooooooooooooooooooong check-in line at the airport.

We bought our tickets on-line and i was so happy that we could check-in ourselves in the do-it-yourself check-in machine. It spit out the luggage tags and then we had to get in line anyway to drop off the baggage. How dumb is that? So having the wheel chair was a great help.

This is our goofy dinner picture. The camera is at arms length - my arm - and i told Jens to smile. I had to remind Jens that smile in English does not mean to act like a retard. Ha Ha - we were just having a bit of fun. The waiter too was wishing all the patrons a Merry Christmas.

Ok and here is a real pix of Jens at the restaurant on the evening of our arrival day. Notice that all the dishes are pictured on the wall. That's how it is in almost all of the restaurants because it's a tourist town and many tourist who come to visit don't speak Spanish and many of the workers speak only Spanish. The menus are in several languages and all the dishes are numbered. Just point to number 6 in English and it's the same number 6 in German, French, Finish, Swedish, Danish, Dutch and Spanish. Finding horrible translations makes for a fun start.

This is where we ate the 2nd night. Restaurant Merlin - it's our favorite. For those of you who don't know, that's our friend Torben in the checkered shirt. He's a fun guy to have around. We tease each other all the time and he has a good sense of humor. The restaurant is on the ground floor of this bright colored apartment-hotel. Jens and Torben are standing at street level with the welcome menu in a glass case to the right of Torben and the restaurant is just down the stairs to the left of Jens's elbow.

This time we are here at the end of the tourist season. Normally we are here in the winter. But now the air is fresh and warm enough to have outside seating and the windows are wide open for those who want to sit inside but still feel the Canarian beach breeze. Jens is having appetizer number 6: Gambas al Ajillo - sizzling shrimp in hot garlic oil.

After Restaurant Merlin we head out to the Yumbo Center. This is where all the tourist end up for the evening for their after dinner cocktail.

Torben is driving so he is having a coke and a smile.
You need to keep your balance in tact with Parkinson's, so Jens is having.... a coke and a smile.
Me? I opened the menu card and pointed to number 6; something pink and pretty with fruit wedges, umbrellas and sparklers.

Today we decide to take a drive to IKEA. Sure it's not your typical tourist trap. But we are not here this time just to soak up the sun and the local cultural flavors. We are home shopping. And Jens wants to know what kind of furniture they sell here on the island. The reason is because ALL of the apartment-hotels we have been to have just one kind of furniture and it's dang ugly. So when we move here, Jens wants to be sure that we can buy something very nice and far different from what you generally see everywhere. On the way to IKEA we stopped at Tropical Center for a pick-me-up sandweeh and café con leche. ( i guess the Canarians can't pronounce 'ich'. Or maybe that is really how you say it in Spanish; Sandweeh)

The view is here - wish you were beautiful!

You will see lots of pix of Jens and Torben on this blog.
That's Torben's professional camera on the table. He bought it on-line from a shop in NY. In that camera is where all the pix of Jens and Me are.

How about this great pix??!
And great background too - eh?
The large sand area in the background is Playa del Ingles. That's where we always stay.

Sí señor - café con leche para me, por favor!










A muy delicioso sandweeh con huevo y bacon.

OK - so after the lunch with a view, we drive north to the Capital of Gran Canaria - Las Palmas. At the half way point is the airport and just a few minutes after that is a row of furniture shops. We see the sign for IKEA and pull off of the motor way. I drop off Jens so that he will not have to walk any more than necessary and then i continue on to find a parking space. I park, i get out of the car and walk towards where i let out Jens. He can see me and walks a bit towards my direction. We end up in front of the furniture shop door and i say, "let's try this place." We go in and the furniture is quite different then what we are used to in the apartment-hotels but it's really not our taste at all. We do find this cute little bar however and agree that this is something we need in our basement at home in Copenhagen. You know..... someplace to mix one of those pretty pink drinks and with plenty of storage for paper umbrellas.
We finally leave the store after hiking around all 3 levels. Jens says, "Well they certainly have different furniture in this IKEA." Torben and I just start to bust up because we weren't even in IKEA. It was just some mom 'n pop shop with one of a kind junk. It just happened to have an entrance door very close to the back side of IKEA where they were having a parking lot sale and it was near by where we parked. Jens just assumed it was IKEA but there was nothing Swedish about it.

We did however finally find the front door of IKEA. Don't worry - IKEA is IKEA no matter where you find one in the world. Did somebody say McKEA ?

Here was the drag part about the day. After IKEA we had to turn around and go back to the hotel because Jens couldn't do anymore for the day. He wouldn't use his wheel chair so we had to cut our day short and drop the rest of our planned trip to the capital - Las Palmas.

This is one of the many bizare and super tacky statues at another nearby shopping center. This shopping center, Cita, is loaded with weird things to look at. And it is here where a very well know cakery shop is located.

Café Wien has been here forever. It's very expensive and this is the place for people watching. It is done up with lots of canopies and umbrellas in yellow and white fabric with wrought iron tables and chairs. The cakes are over priced and the tables are under wiped. Here is a scratch and taste desert left over from a previous patron. No no - I'm not upset. I 'm the kind of guy who appreciates freebies.

Again with the funny food - Jens has cream on his nose.

"Jens - I said smile - not retardo !!"

By the way..... this fresh strawberries and vanilla ice-cream went down in 3 minutes flat and i didn't leave any scratch and taste samplers for the next guy.

"Hey Jens - you gonna lick your bowl ?"

Damn those sleepy Spaniards ! They are always taking a siesta. We drove out to a realtor just north of Playa del Ingles in a small village called San Augustin. They were closed when we got there so we just took a few pix instead. In the shopping center where the realtor office is located, are some very beautiful cactus in the planter boxes. This one was in bloom. You are now looking down to the realtor office - it is just to the right of the flower. See the blue sign - that's it. But - ZZZzzzz

Ok - now instead of looking down - you are looking straight out. There is an apartment here in San Augustin that Jens likes but i think that it is too windy and cloudy here in this part of the island. It's like that every time we come here. However this time it was very nice and sunny.

Later that evening we ate dinner at a mom and pop German restaurant. This is mom. We loved her hat but she was very dizzy. I'm sure she's been hitting the pretty pink drinks - i mean look at that hat for gahds sake!

As a matter of fact, we liked that hat so much we ended up going back to Fraulein Dizzy hof the following night. The restaurant is located in the Yumbo Center along with another million or so restaurants. We are at the table in the corner at the edge of the balcony. If you look hard, you can see Torben and Jens sitting and waiting for me to come and join them. I was out parking the car. There is a secret passage drive way that i found and here i could practically drive right up to the restaurants and set off Jens and Torben and then go find some nearby parking.

Waiting for "mom" and her crazy hat.

At the Yumbo Center there is a stage where lots of intertainment takes place. Tonight there is music on stage and that is why all the tourist are standing around and waiting.

But one hour later we are are still waiting for the waiter to come and entertain us with a menu card so that we could point to number 6 and show 3 fingers.

Later that night after the concert there was a very nice fireworks show.

Today we shall try to go to Las Palmas again. But this time we wont stop for ugly funiture. Here is Jens at the front door to the lobby of our bungalow complex. We are waiting for Torben to get the car and pick us up.

We made it! Finally got to Las Palmas and here we are on the harbor side of the capitol. This is where we go - to Parque Catalina for coffee. It's a very very old park and it feels just like stepping back into 1955 or so when it must have been in it's hey-day.

Las Plamas is at the skinniest part of the island with one of Europe's largest harbors to the east and the beach to the west with the city squished in between.

Here we are sitting now on the beach promade at Playa de Las Canteras which is really beautiful.

Here you can see the coast line on the west side. This is where all the modern restaurants and cafés are at. This is the side where all the tourist go. But we get a kick out of the 1959 east side.

One of the trendy coast line out door sunny cafés.

This tourist sign tells you what you are looking at. I don't really remember what it says but i don't think a sign is really necessary here.

In the capitol there are lots of high rises. Everything is really cramped and compact. There is barely space for compact cars. The main boulevard is a wonderful street and there is a large round traffic circle with beautiful plants and statues in the center of it.

So now we have come to our farewell dinner. This was the appitizer i ordered - number 6. Some sort of paté. It was really quite tasty.

No better way to end a great meal than with a side excursion to Marlboro Country.

Good-bye Gran Canaria. See you next time. Hasta luego.