BEACH!

We had two swimming pools (and a jacuzzi) at our "Al Hamra Fort Beach Hotel" but nothing beats a combination of a hot, sunny day, a warm, clear, blue sea, a sandy beach and a soft breeze.

Golden sunset

The service at the hotel and even on the beach was fantastic. Every parasol had a special button. Press it and a waiter would come running to take our orders...hmmm, cold Chardonnay and a plate of Gamba's please.

Many different birds would join us at the end of the day, looking for scraps of food. Some even thought a special serenade, might do the trick. Sorry mate, not even a crumb left.

Bird on my chair

Guess where I am?

I thought it a good idea to have a little break and go somewhere warm, for a week. My friend Ploni decided to come with me, so here we are, In Ras Al Khaimah, in a fantastic hotel by the sea. Good weather guaranteed!
We're spending a lot of time relaxing, eating and swimming in the warm sea but have also done a sight seeing tour of the city (with body guard) and this evening Ploni and I will go on a desert safari (incl. Bar-b-q, belly dancing etc.)

Would love to have stayed at this amazing hotel (below), but lunch alone (excl. drinks) costs € 120,- p.p.

Above, Ploni drinking coffee, in the hotel lobby.

Sirens

Living in a big city means there's no escaping the sirens.
Early this morning, I was woken up by some which seemed to, suddenly, stop in our street.  Not being able to distinguish one siren from the other, I thought it best to see what was going on, in case there was a fire and I needed to make a quick get-away.
There was a police car parked on our curb (almost through our front door)...then more sirens and an ambulance arrived...a bit later, another one.
Somehow, I don't think it will be long before I'll be a 'Sound of Sirens' expert.

The scene from my balcony

Hello?

The title of this blog refers to me saying hello to the faithful followers of this blog who have persevered and not given up on me, but also to Amsterdam and its residents.
The reason, I've been 'off air' for so long is, partly, because I was busy with moving house and all that it entails (130-ish boxes, packed etc.)
However, the deafening silence was mainly due to an astoundingly inefficient, Dutch version of British Telecom which meant I was without home telephone, tv and, more importantly, Internet for almost 4 weeks.
Anyway....moving on...(because my whole head is turning purple and steam is coming from my ears, again)....I had a house-warming-drink at my apartment yesterday.
'Eric and friends' first went to run the Amsterdam-half-marathon and then came over for drinks and nibbles. Two of my old friends were also able to come and all I can say is that it was lovely to have the place full with people (especially after my trusty, little cat Jerry died just two days before, and the place felt empty).
So far, I love living here and we've (incl. Jerry) been able to enjoy some unexpected, fine weather on the balcony.

Post Marathon house warming drink

Jerry and I on the balcony

Cinque Terre tour

Our 2nd to last stay was at the Park Hotel in Levanto, which was very comfortable but by that time we'd been spoilt with all the proper, home cooked food we'd been given before and here they could not match that. From Levanto we took the train for a visit to the picturesque 'Cinque Terre Vilages'.
We walked the stunning 'Via dell'Amore' from Riomaggiore to Manarola where, over the years, thousand of people sealed their undying love for each other by hanging padlocks wherever they could or even 'tying the knot' in pieces of plastic etc.

Back by train to Vernazza, where we had some amazing spaghetti con pesce by the harbour at rest. Gambero Rosso, then made our way up to the 'lookout'.

SIGH.....

San Gimignano, Toscana (26-8)

36 degrees and we decided to walk all the way to the top of the tallest tower. Well worth it though. It's a beautiful, authentic village.

More wine?

Another wine tasting. We so enjoyed the wine we had at Il Borgo that we'd asked our host 'Fabio' where we could buy some. He sent us to a small, family-run winery (Fratelli Natta) only 10 minutes drive away.
What Fun! We arrived at a huge barn and were welcomed in by hard working men in wellies. Out came many different bottles of wine, home made sausage and large chuncks of parmesan cheese. We ended up having a proper wine tasting session with lots of laughter, a 'language-mix' of Italian, French, German and Spanish and some form of sign language, which resulted in us buying a lot more wine than we'd planned.

OOOOOOOOOOPS!