It’s September now and summer is soon ending but I'm a little more accepting of that since we just had our highlight of summer; our summer vacation. Once again we visited Nick & family in Spain and then went on a Mediterranean cruise together.
It was a great way to spend quality time together and being the grandparents that we are, Nick & Sachiyo got a lot of alone-time together while we played with the grandkids. The kids hung out with us A LOT. At their house in Spain, we mostly swam in their pool playing all kinds of pool games and silliness, something they never seemed to get tired of.
On the cruise, the swimming continued and the "kids pool" turned out to be everyone favorite spot.
It was a seven day cruise and we only did two excursions because we wanted to have more time with the kids. On our first port in Marseille, France we started out with our excursion of a walking tour of the town but it was soon interrupted by my brother and his wife who just happened to also be there at the same time. It was totally unexpected but we had texted each other the night before because I saw on social media that they were planning to be there for two days. They were spending ten days on a friend's 52-foot sail boat, sailing the French Riviera. We also know their friends, Troy & Rika, from our days in Boise, Idaho and knew that they had moved to Portugal and were living on their sail boat, Imagine. We were planning to met up with them last summer when we were in Spain but our plans fell through. Nick & family, however, got the opportunity to visit them on their sail boat in Portugal when they visited during Spring break. I mean, how many people do you ever get to know in a lifetime who are living their dream life? I mean, really! So, we were thrilled to find out they were at our first port of call. We immediately ditched our tour group when my brother found us and we headed straight to where Imagine was moored.
It was such a bizarre coincidence that we all felt a little giddy about it.
I had always wanted to see Troy & Rika's sail boat and now we got our opportunity. And she was a beauty. I could definitely live on her, too.
We got a full tour of the three bedroom, four bathroom sail boat, including learning all the proper terminology of the different areas: the salon, the galley, etc. The woodwork inside was so gorgeous and so many nooks and crannies, a place for everything you'd ever need.
Not to mention how beautiful the marina was and Marseille, in general. It's hard to imagine living like this, but then, it is the French Riviera.
By this time, Nick & family had come into town and we let them know we had ditched our tour and to meet us at the marina. We all eventually met at a cafe across from the marina to eat French crepes together.
Our first stop on the cruise turned out to be pretty spectacular so we were feeling pretty good about the rest of the week! Thank you, Troy & Rika, for such a fun day in Marseille and inviting us on board beautiful Imagine.
The rest of the cruise did not disappoint at all. We loved Malta as much as Marseille. We took our second excursion there, so much to see on that island. Bruce and I definitely want to return. The highlight was seeing the Blue Grotto where we took little motor boats out there
where there were lots of caves and crystal blue water, just gorgeous.
We saw locals swimming by cliffs and rocks; they don't need sandy breaches to enjoy a dip. It looked so lovely. I wanted to jump in so bad and join them!
Once in town, the marinas were also beautiful with all sorts of cute boats painted bright colors. We just loved being there.
The cruise left from Barcelona so we had one morning and one evening there, not much time, but Nick has been there twice so he knew where to take us for a quick tour and for a really good dinner and breakfast. Again, Bruce and I know we need to return here and spend several days to really experience Barcelona with so much to see here.
When we arrived the evening before the cruise, we ate dinner near the Sagrada Familia, the famous cathedral designed by the famous architect Antoni Gaudi. Nick wanted to be sure we saw this even if it was a quick stop for us. He and Sachiyo did the full tour inside and out when they visited Barcelona in January (when we babysat...) so he told us some interesting facts about it. The next day he took us up to Montjuic Castle, a fort above Barcelona with specular views. There are cable cars that take you up and down so that was worth the view of Barcelona.
The Food
I haven't talked about the food yet, but of course, that is always the highlight of any trip...besides seeing my family. Basically, we ate a Mediterranean diet the whole time we were on this trip so needless to say, when I got home from a seven day cruise, I did not gain one pound of weight! Can you believe that? This cruise was a European cruise line, not American, big difference. We were definitely minorities speaking English. The Europeans appear so much healthier; thiner, of course; all women wear bikinis at the pool (not me so I was obviously American); and they party to all hours of the night just like in Spain. They also dress A LOT nicer than Americans which we see all over Europe. I eat so much bread when I go to Europe but don't gain weight eating all the high carb foods - go figure. The bread, the croissants, the crepes...eat to your heart's desire! And I do and love every moment of it. I do admit that we are usually very active on these trips, walking probably at least 4-5 miles everyday and swimming a lot on this trip. Also, the portion sizes are smaller everywhere you go, unlike in America. It's so nice to go on a vacation and know you don't have to worry about paying attention to what you eat. In Europe, it's ALL good food. Even the pizza! We had two ports in Italy and we were soon reminded of how good the pizza is there. When we went to Italy in 2016, we ate pizza nearly everyday, we just couldn't get enough of it. Well, Nick has worked in Naples and he and his co-workers were on a mission to find the best pizzeria there and they did. So, when we docked in Naples, he took us straight to his favorite pizzeria called Pizzeria Salvo and we all agreed, it was amazing!
We ordered three pizzas for the six of us but had to order more because we all devoured it so quickly. They have seven choices of Margherita pizza on their menu, our favorite kind of pizza.
Neapolitan pizza is a term used for pizza from Naples that has a very thin crust that puffs up around the side and is very light and airy. It's cooked in a super hot oven, around 900 degrees, for only 90 seconds so it gets those charcoal edges on the crust, it's signature look of a Neapolitan pizza. The center is thin and soft, slightly wet which gives it a nice contrast of crisp outer edge and soft middle. They only use San Marzano tomatoes which have low acidity and are super sweet and are hand-crushed to make the sauce. The mozzarella cheese is made from fresh buffalo milk (water buffalo) which is creamer with higher fat content than cows milk. Our favorite was the creamy mozzarella pizza and we had to order a second one of these.
Olive oil is also drizzled over the pizza before and after baking, enhancing the overall flavor. All in all, it was amazing and I'm glad Nick did his homework for us.
The other thing we had forgotten, was how good the Spritz drinks are in Italy. In Italy, the signature drink is a Aperol Spritz. We ordered one in Sicily, our second Italian port, and after drinking the American version for the past eight years, I'd forgotten how good the Italian version are.
These were strong with lots of Prosecco and Aperol, not all watered down with club soda like they do in all the restaurants around here. I don't even ordered them in restaurants here anymore. Fortunately, they are easy to make at home and if we feel like a good one, we can make them here. Again, it was so enjoyable drinking our Spritz aperitif in the town square with the cute little complimentary snacks they include with it.
As you notice, my first two favorite food experiences were in Italy, my favorite country for eating and drinking. But Spain has pretty good food, too. Nick & Sachiyo eat pretty local with lots of olives, jamon (the aged pork), cheeses and lots of fresh baguettes and croissants from their local bakery. We did go out for lunch one day to one of their favorite seafood restaurants which was pretty special. They bring you a huge platter of seafood that we all shared and they also have a fish market where you can purchase any of the seafood. There are lots of seafood options everywhere we go in Europe, as they are so much more into seafood than in the U.S, of course. Good thing we all love seafood in my family.
One day at their house, we made homemade pasta which the kids are very good at doing because they took a pasta making class in Italy when they visited in February. They had fun instructing grandpa and I every step of the way. Needless to say, our homemade pasta dinner was one of the best meals.
Our favorite food experience on the cruise was a speciality Teppanyaki restaurant we all went to one night.
Teppanyaki is a Japanese style of cooking where they cook all kinds of seafood and meats on a big grill and you can watch as you all sit around the grill.
Our chef put on a very entertaining show for us, twirling his utensils and surprising us with simple magic tricks. He even tossed pieces of his cooked egg dish to people who wanted to try and catch it in their mouth (not me). But Nick and the 8-year old granddaughter were the only successful volunteers who were actually able to catch it. It was a very fun evening and the food was excellent.
There were three gelato places onboard the ship so we ate a lot of gelato! I don't know how I didn't gain weight because it was all soooooo good. Another weakness of mine along with the bread, crepes and croissants.
Amsterdam
Along with Van Gogh's museum and Rembrandt's House, they also have several sex museums. And yes, we checked it out...Amsterdam is one of few places in the world where prostitution is legal. And yes, we checked out the Red Light District, too. It's all very fascinating, actually. I like how they are so open to it all and don't treat sex as taboo.
We got a little obsessed about the windmills while we were there. We just loved them.
Bruce was fascinated about how they were operated and we really hit if off with a tour guide during our first outing. He answered all questions relating to Holland. And he even wore wooden shoes, which I was more interested in, quite frankly. They really are not that easy to wear to be truthful. He showed us his 'shoe liners' he wears with them that are like rubber socks to protect his feet from the hard wood. I said they ought to sell those with the shoes, but I don't think they want people to know how uncomfortable those wooden shoes really are. It takes a long time to get use to them. They wear them because it's so rainy and wet there, a lot like Seattle actually, only I think probably worse because the windmills will only turn if it's at least 25 mph winds which we don't get that often in Seattle. So, the wooden shoes protect them against the dampness of walking around in the fields and countryside when they are working on farms. Give me a pair of rubber boots any day.
He loved that we were both so inquisitive about everything and he loved talking about everything. We felt like we had a new Dutch best friend.
The weather was like Seattle weather while we were there so maybe that's why we liked Amsterdam. I'm one who's always loved the rain and overcast so probably a good thing I live where I do. I also loved all the water and canals. We took a canal ride guided tour which was really fun. It was a small-ish boat that served drinks and the two tour guides were really good.
So many of the buildings look like they are falling over, it's amazing they actually stay upright.
We saw lots of stroopwafel shops everywhere; a popular Dutch cookie that looks like a small, round waffle and they put all kinds of toppings on them.
They were almost a little too sweet for me but I liked the plain ones. And some were very fancy.
The first night we were there, we had their popular pannenkoeken or Dutch pancakes. They can be sweet or savory and are like big crepes with toppings on them. Bruce got an apple one.
It was dinner time when we arrived but it was really morning to us since we had just gotten off a 10-hour flight plus the time difference. So, pancakes sounded really good to us and one of the best places was walking distance from our hotel. I had a cinnamon and chocolate one and we both thought they tasted really good after a long travel day of airplane food. When they brought our order, I thought they were huge and that it would be too sweet for me but guess what? I had no problem eating every bit of it!
The main thing I wanted to do in Amsterdam was see the Anne Frank Huis which was also walking distance from our hotel. It, too, was in one of those tall, skinny buildings with a large, attached museum next to it.
This was one of my favorite things we did since I have always been fascinated with her story. It's so hard to imagine how we "suffered" through the pandemic like so many people complained about but look at what people endured during World War II.
They had her actual diary there, too. She wrote so tiny. I got a replica of her diary at the gift shop and gave it to my granddaughter when we got to Spain. I told her the story of Anne Frank and the war and how her family had to hide from the bad guys for two years but they got caught and were taken to "jail" where she died. (I didn't want her to have nightmares about concentration camps!) But Anne Frank wrote in her diary the whole time and now they have a museum about her. My granddaughter got so inspired by her story she immediately started writing in her new diary.
I was hoping she would like it because she is a really good writer, in both English and Japanese, and she makes up stories so easily and even songs. Some people are just gifted like that. Like Anne Frank was. So, besides the windmills, this museum was my highlight of Amsterdam and we were then eager to get to Spain to see our son & his family and continue with our vacation. I can't even say which part was the best part. We had three weeks of very different experiences but they were all wonderful. We mainly wanted to spend time with the grandkids and we feel like that was our best time. It doesn't matter where we are with them, they are always fun. And now we have lots of new memories we shared with them and that is what is important. It's okay now for summer to be over. I am as fulfilled as a grandma can be right now. Another memorable summer vacation is completed.
Family is everything! I am so glad you all had a fine time!
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