Category Archives: Guided Tour

Where we paid for someone to guide us.

Touring Las Palmas, Gran Canaria

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We polished fuel all night last night. We are pleased to report that it looks really clean. The men changed Racor fuel filter this morning. Then they tested the wing engine to make sure it is working properly. All looks good with it.

Colin’s son, Neil, was flying in this afternoon to spend some with his dad and see us off tomorrow. After the chores were done, we still had time to kill before Neil’s arrival. We walked a few blocks north to the commercial district and meandered around, killing time. Here is the yacht club, which we passed on the way to the center. This wins the most unique yacht club building façade award.

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We wandered into a department store called El Corte Ingles that has a grocery store, curious to see how it stacks up against our new favorite grocery store, Mark’s & Spencer’s. In most ways, El Corte Ingles is your typical nice grocery store, comparable to Carrefour that we have mentioned in previous postings. But it does have a lot of high end specialty products, including a gift basket section. Almost every single gift basket had an Iberian Ham in it. Wow, it must be popular. We made our way through the store and found an entire Iberian Ham department. Lucky us, they were on sale, down from $145 USD each to only $119 USD each, with the purchase of a particular brand of wine, olive oil or sausage. And, they even have the special holders in stock. If you look carefully at the photo, you can see the little hooves on each of the legs.

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Colin had a look around the Continue reading →

The Rock, Monkeys, St. Michael’s Cave and the Siege Tunnels

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It was high tide when we got up, and we were surprised to see that one of the fenders set high specifically for high tide had popped out and our rub rail was bumping up against the dock. Oh, what we would give for a floating dock right now. The things we used to take for granted”¦ It was yet another day of heavy wind and cold, though not as bitterly cold as yesterday. We decided to brave the cold and go sightseeing.

Our original plan was Continue reading →

Segway Tour and the Eiffel Tower

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Continued from yesterday”¦ The main entrance to the Jarden Tuileries, the gardens on the northeast side of the Louvre, is off the Place de la Concorde. Riding Segways is not allowed in the garden, so we left the Place du Concorde and rode along the outside of the south side of the garden until we got to the Place du Carrousel, which is a little area between the Jarden Tuileries and the Louvre. From the Carrousel, we had a nice view of the garden. The garden was created in the mid-1600’s, and it is typical French, symmetrical, neatly laid out and immaculately groomed. It is pretty, with fountains, lush grass, lots of trees, flowers and statues. Our guide told us that the Nazis had cut down all the trees during WWII, so all the trees had to be replanted after the war. That is why they are not very big. In this photo, you can see the obelisk at the opposite end. The French are very precise with symmetry, so they made sure the obelisk lined up perfectly with the garden walkway.

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Back when the Louvre was the Royal Palace, the Carrousel was where the royalty practiced their horse riding skills and etiquette. The entrance to the Louvre is flanked by to the Arc de Triumph du Carrousel, a Roman style arch fairly similar to the Arc de Constantino in Rome. It is topped by a statue of someone standing on a chariot. Here is the Carrousel, the arch and some of the Louvre buildings.

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The Louvre was originally built in the 13th century as Continue reading →