June 14 - 21, 2012 - Tenerife

Hola everybody,

We took a much needed break from the miserable weather in the UK now that I have my Indefinite Leave to Stay visa in place, and hopefully, the sun will burn out whatever bits of a virus I have been suffering with since our Paris trip.  The flight was only 4 hours but seemed much longer as there was a kid that screamed and cried the whole flight which was really annoying.  The picture on the right is a view of a volcanic crater on Tenerife that we flew over as we came in for our landing.  Fred booked us into a H10 hotel that caters to couples only on a half board basis, which is breakfast and supper.  We arrived at the hotel in time for supper and the buffet seemed to offer a good variety of food from what we saw on our first night.  Our room was what they call a bungalow style and it was on the ground floor which we really were not too happy about as we prefer to be higher up due to the ease of breaking in.  I asked at the desk about changing the room and the lady at the desk informed us we had been given a premium room and that if we had booked through the hotel website we would have paid an extra 40 euros per night so we decided not to move.

We have decided to totally veg out on this trip as it is only a week and I wanted to get some much needed sun.  We had made prior arrangements to meet up with John and Anita and their two boys for the European Championship Game England vs Sweden.  So after a day of sunbathing around the pool we headed off to Avenida Playa de Los Americas, the area were they are staying.  We walked along the  promenade and some how managed to miss a turn so we end up walking along the street rather than the beach.  The picture on the left is a close up of a flowering tree.  We had a great evening with John, Anita, Ethan and Seth.  Fred, John and Ethan headed off  to a pub to watch the game while Anita, Seth and I headed off to window shop and walk along the promenade.  The Ethan and Seth are amazing kids and very well behaved.  We meet up at a pub where the boys were watching the match and I found it very entertaining.  You would have thought that some of the Brits had scored the goals themselves given their reaction when England scored.  England won 3-2 over Sweden.  We didn't eat until almost 10:00 p.m. and given the time the kids were still really great.  Seth who is the youngest was very entertaining at the restaurant taking a menu and ordering a drink.

We said our goodbyes and walked back to our hotel.  We passed a section called Veronica where there are 100 bars in 100 yards. We were asked if we were happy on numerous occasions and invited into the bars, something for the younger ones, but not us anymore, definitely a sign of old age but we were never clubbers even in our younger days.

Our time at the hotel was relaxing and the food was good given that the meals are buffet style. On Sunday I decided to have a fried egg for breakfast and as you may or may not know I like my eggs (yolk) well cooked.  That means yolks broken and cooked hard.  I explained this to the chef and while I'm talking to him a Brit says oh American style.  I responded no Canadian to which he says whats the difference.  I bit my tongue but I should have responded British or Scottish no difference but then again he was not worth any response at all.  Man have I mellowed with age.  I also had rabbit or "Thumper" as Fred calls it for supper tonight.  I have not tried rabbit since I was a very little girl, when my Grandma by the River cooked a rabbit that my Mom and Dad had shot.  I remember my brother and I being very sick after eating it so it put me off it for well over 50 years.  The rabbit was very tasty and since they sell a lot of rabbit in the U.K., I think it may be worth a try to cook it once we get back home.  By the way, Grandma by the River was how we as kids we differentiated our grandparents.  My Mom's mother lived on a Reserve by the river Thames in Ontario and my Dad's mother lived on the same street as us while growing up and was known as Grandma down the Street.

We totally chilled out with Fred meeting me at the pool around noon as he updated our iPads daily for the Times and staying out of the sun so as not to fry while I made the most of the rays.  On Tuesday we walked north along the promenade to check out what was along there and to take in the sunset as posted on the right.  The resort which is couples only had a mix of newlyweds, very young couples, some our age and then a large number of much older couples.  While sitting around the pool I spoke with a couple from Yorkshire and the lady was quite interested in my heritage, where I was from and why I was living in the UK.  Thomson Holidays put on a goodbye champagne party which they attended and she requested to have a picture taken with me.  She must have thought I was some kind of celebrity.

On our last night we attended a special 5 course dinner the hotel puts on, in the outdoor restaurant which overlooks the beach/sea.

The menu for the night started with a warm salad of mushrooms and king prawns with current and seed vinaigrette, followed by cod gratin with honey alioli on a nest of spinach.  This was then followed with a mango sorbet with millets foam and then pork tenderloin in puff pastry with port sauce and glazed vegetables. Final course was a papaya lasagna cooked au gratin with pernod cream.  This was accompanied by a nice red wine from Tenerife and Champagne.  The evening's wait staff were fabulous as was the entertainment, a perfect way to end our week in the sun.  We will definitely return to this location and hotel for a longer period so that we can explore the sites on the island.

Hasta la vista,

Sandy & Fred