So it begins

Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to Spain I go!

Published Date : April 7, 2004

The play, Kangaroo Valley, turned out to be really good.  It was over the top, but it was entirely accurate and highly entertaining.  It was another small theatre – max capacity of about 50-60 people.  I have to say I really prefer the smaller venues.  They’re great.  While we were there we picked up some brochures on some more shows to see in the near future.

Lambeth Palace Gardens

Saturday, Gray and I headed into town with Dougal (NZ), one of our old buddies from Olave House, and did a self-guided walking tour.  It was about 2 ½ – 3 hours walking along the Thames and through Lambeth Palace Gardens.  The weather almost co-operated with us.  It was threatening to rain, but fortunately it held out until we made it home.  It was bloody cold and windy, but it was worth it though.  The gardens are only open two or three times a year because the palace is still in use, it’s the London residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury.  So we walked, learned some interesting tidbits about the Thames, sat in a pretty English garden having tea and scones (well actually hot chocolate and cakes, same difference right? ;-)) Then instead of tubing it back home we decided to walk.  That was a great idea!  It was about a 5 mile (8 km) walk and we got to see some new parts of the city.  We just followed the river the entire way and saw some really cool parks and bizarre sculptures.  The rest of the night was just chatting and drinking some beer with some homemade nachos and fries.  Yummy!

Tomorrow it’s off to Palma de Mallorca, Spain for 4 ½ days of sun (hopefully), sand and surf.  It isn’t nearly long enough, but it’s better than nothing!

Colder than London

Published Date : April 8, 2004

Sunset over the Mediterranean Sea

Travel day today.  I was up at 9am-ish to catch the tube over to Earl’s Court to meet Cynthia and Emma.  From there we took the tube out to Victoria Station to meet Olivia and then a train out to Gatwick Airport.  Lucky for us they had a 4-for-2 deal on the Gatwick trains: 4 adults travel for the price of 2.  Discounts are always a good thing!

The flight was about two hours and uneventful.  There was some confusion finding the transport out to our resort, as the rep told us the wrong bus number.  Luckily we realized the mistake before it left.  Our final destination was the small resort town of Santa Ponsa, about 20 minutes away from the capital, Palma.

My first impressions of Sun Beach Apartments and the Santa Ponsa beach resort:  excellent!  The apartment is fantastic with tiled floors, new fittings and décor. We have a view of the beach, and there seems to be a plethora of bars, nightclubs and restaurants.  There’s an information session tomorrow morning and I can’t wait to find out what else this island has to offer.

Tonight we went out for a nice dinner on the beach, followed up with drinks at The Dubliner.  It would appear that this resort caters to the Irish and the Scottish tourists.  The pub was average, the band was decent, and the jokes were funny.  A decent way to start the trip.

There are only two problems of note so far:

1) The weather forecast is very bleak.  No sun in sight for the whole weekend.  With the wind, I think it’s actually colder than London.  Fingers crossed that it gets better!

2) I think the girls and I are on completely different pages on what we’re expecting for this weekend.  They want to get drunk.  I want to have fun.  I’m sensing some conflicts in the works.

Houston, we have a problem

Published Date : April 9, 2004

Top of the world at Puig de na Morisca

As the representative for our room, I was up early this morning for the info session with our tour rep, Becky from Wales.  In other words I was the only one capable of crawling out of bed at 9am.  Becky plied us all with sangria, told us about a few tours available, and gave us some general info about things to do on the island.

I headed back to bed for another hour or two, but then it was up to face another dreary day.  We did a bit of grocery shopping to stock the kitchen, had some brunch, and did about an hour or so of souvenir shopping.  That pretty much killed the girls for the afternoon and they resigned themselves to drinking at the apartment.  I suggested going for a walk around town, but none of them were interested.   I picked out a likely peak on the other side of town and went for a hike by myself.

The peak, called Puig de na Morisca, was smaller and closer than I had expected.  It only took about half an hour to walk across town and to climb it, but there were some excellent views from the summit.  I asked a middle-aged German fellow, Heinrich, to take my photo and we got to talking.  He knows the island really well, and he pointed out a few nearby resorts to me.  We hit it off straight away, and he ended up taking me for a late lunch.  He said I reminded him of his daughter.  It was a pleasant way to spend a couple of hours.

After eating I headed back to the apartment to find the girls still drinking.  I tried to get a decision out of them on a tour that Becky had mentioned that went to the Caves of Drach (Dragon Caves). The cave is supposed to be like walking into the mouth of a dragon with all the stalagmites and stalactites, and it has the largest underground lake in Europe complete with a floating orchestra.  Unfortunately, by the time a decision was made, the tour was already fully booked.  Very disappointing.

We finished out the day with dinner and drinks again.  We went back to The Dubliner first, but they were playing all the same music and the same jokes from the night before.  I bailed pretty early.