Spanish festivals & (Sis & Skip) Shank's 1st Voyage to Europa!

Last blog concluded while still traveling in Seville, Spain.  Here are a few more photos. 

Seville has gondolas like Venice (but this city smells fantastic like magnolias)

Lovely church in Seville

Simply magnificent

Even the horses are well dressed in this country

Ladies in traditional Flamenco dancing attire

Lucky for us, our stay coincided with a huge festival called "Feria de Abril".  The event was packed with "casetas" (tents) hosting all night flamenco parties, loud music, and tapas.

 

Families visited from all over Spain to enjoy amusement park rides, parades, bullfighting, and fireworks.

We relaxed during our final evening at a street cafe in Utrera, Spain. 

The popularity of snails or "caracoles" (on every menu) with the local Andalucians intrigued us so we ordered a tapas portion.

Served warm in an earthy broth, chewy but not as tasty as an oyster

Eating something while staring into it's eyes is mildly unpleasant.

Adorable little guy

Scoots inspecting the dirt and grit on his snail

We spent our last day in Spain at a small peaceful beach town called Chipiona.

Decorative wine barrels & gorgeous Gulf of Cadiz 

The church sits right above the beach

Perfect weather and uncrowded beach- only a few topless Spaniards

We left Spain and flew straight to Amsterdam excited to spend time with Sis & Skip during their first visit to Europe.  Grandpa Dave, a seasoned traveller, helped plan the itinerary.  First stop: iconic Holland windmill

Gal on right desperately needs a haircut 

 After a bus tour around the city, we went to the world famous Keukenhof Gardens.

 Bright colored tulips seemed to bloom for miles and miles (over 32 hectares according to the website)!

These smell magical!

Sis requested we pose with the statues.  The rainy weather was not optimal.

Although we took a million pictures, they don't truly reflect the magnitude of these gardens and gorgeous varieties of flowers.

Indoor flower show - warmest place thus my favorite part

In my opinion, Amsterdam has better waffles than Belgium (although I have not been to Belgium yet)!  Dutch stroopwafels (constructed like a waffle sandwich) have caramel spread between 2 thin crepelike waffles - delish!

Grandpa Dave & Janet getting waffles & hot cocoa

After the glorious tulips, we celebrated our first night together at a delicious restaurant near central station (my Mediterranean sampler was tasty).

Dutch menu with English translation- very common in tourist cities

Grandpa Dave (party animal) finished off his meal with a shot of liqueur for dessert!

After dinner, we ventured to a nearby Irish pub.

Sis loved how her Palm beer matched her glass and the sign

Later, the younger more coordinated Shanks defeated Sis & Skip in an intense game of billiards!

Joyful to be victorious even though I only sunk 1 ball

Skip befriended a local Dutchman on the street.  They bonded over their mutual love and respect for the Steelers.

Skip sure is happy to be in Amsterdam

Scott hysterical listening to his dad and this fellow rap "Black and Yellow, Black and Yellow"

On our last day, we visited some Crucial museums (capital C for cheese and canal museums).

Say "Cheese"!!!

Cheese man extremely generous with the samples 

Truffle cheese was succulent but pricey of course

We purchased delicious peppercorn mustard Goat cheese and herbed Gouda for a picnic on the train ride back to Germany (train ride= scenic & relaxing - castles, Rhine river, old tipsy Germans pouring us schnapps). 

Now we are back in rainy Stuttgart.  Looking forward to meeting up with the Shanks next weekend at a Bavarian castle.

P.S.  Sunsets in Spain are perfect (just like Scoot's ears).