Gran Canaria

Friday 5th December

Both Jenny and I had difficulty waking this morning but managed to meet up again for breakfast at 9:00 in the restaurant. It was strange to only be able to talk to Judith by phone! She described her Norovirus experience as 6 hours of unpleasantness followed by 2 days of boredom!

We set off walking into town, hunting for the bus to take us to the old part. It was not quite as I expected from the internet, but we finally found the bus stop and a bus station to buy tickets. There was a queue taking about half an hour but we had acquaintances from the ship who helped us to buy tickets. We needed either the number 1 or 12 bus. While in the queue to get on the bus itself, we found we could have bought tickets there instead of queuing up. It may have cost more but it would have been better than spending ages in line.

There was very little to see, and I did not feel inspired to take loads of photos. We had coffee sitting in the shade (could not find a seat in the sun) and then I visited the cathedral. I loved the open spaces (seats only in the centre aisle) and the sun shining through the modern windows (circles of coloured glass in a larger pane) to put rainbows on the stone pillars. It was a lovely space, not too ornate.

Jenny wanted lunch, so ordered spaghetti carbonara. She had to send back her first plate because the bacon was more gristle than meat, and it was swimming in butter. The second plate was better. I was happy with my banana bread and ate it as we walked along.

We caught the bus back to the ship and were on it in time for afternoon tea.

Both Jenny and I were tired and decided to go to dinner in the King’s Court at 7.30. It was pleasant enough. Jenny had to leave in a hurry, with pains in her stomach. She rushed back to her room. She decided it was the result of the lunchtime food, rather than the Norovirus, as she felt much better once she had emptied herself. However, she stayed away from dancing.

I did not get down until 9:45 when the dancing started. Because it was a formal night, the room was full. We played musical chairs for a while, with me sitting in the seat of any of my friends who was asked to dance! After the demonstration there were plenty of available seats.