'Somehow' it's the end of October and there's just one more week onboard our beautiful boat before we have to leave her for 2015. But at the end of that time, we have a bit of a treat in store - a three night stay in Rotterdam. Meantime, we need to do some cleaning, packing and 'emptying' before we leave Pirramimma for the winter. And we need to do a bit of socialising too. But mostly it's just 'pottering' time for us to simply enjoy and relax. Time for a few more lovely memories to keep us warm during the coming winter months.
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| Creature Comforts! And some cosy memories. |
Time for some wickedness indulgences, too. Oliebollen for one thing. Slimming, they're definitely not, but delicious - every once in a while! - they very definitely are. We ate just the one each: they're kind of large and rather rich. And the very first we've tried since we've been visiting the Netherlands. I went for the rum and raisin filling whilst the Skipper went for the fried banana filling. If you're going to be wicked, you might as well go the whole hog. As they rather conveniently say. And I can also safely say that we'll be definitely enjoying a couple more next year.
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| Photo: Wikipedia |
It's thought that Oliebollen were/are the precursor to the modern American doughnut. Maybe. Very likely. But we thought these were much nicer than doughnuts.
The weather still had some superb days and sunsets in store for us to enjoy.
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| Autumn memories - Elburg. |
Sunday, 31st October brought some fog rolling down the channel in the afternoon. Visibility reduced to about 100m at one stage, though we could still see blue sky above us.
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| Fog rolling down the channel. Though it didn't last too long. |
But it's noticeably cooler in the evenings and we eat our evening meals below decks for the rest of our stay. That's not a hardship either; the dining area is cosy, warm and very comfortable.
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| Soft colours in our dining area onboard Pirramimma. |
And the Galley Slave continued to make some delicious meals for us to enjoy.
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| Lush Thai Chicken and Potato curry. |
On Wednesday 3rd November, we drove to Leeuwarden to meet up with one of our lovely friends. And were fortunate to also meet her equally lovely sister. We all enjoyed a very happy couple of hours over a very pleasant lunch at one of the many excellent eating establishments in that lovely city, Leeuwarden.
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Happy times in Leeuwarden.
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All too soon it was Friday 6th November and we found ourselves saying goodbye to our friends in Elburg. Promises to meet up next year and more shared laughter as memories to take away with us.
The weather kindly turned on a spectacular sunset for us that evening.
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| 2015 Season's Finale in Elburg. |
On Saturday morning, there was an extra bonus surprise when we saw two of our lovely friends with their new RIB in the water. Exciting times ahead for them as they make her ready for the coming seasons. Congratulations both!
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| Photo: Richard Hayes |
The car was packed up, waiting for us. Lines on Pirramimma were checked for the last time this season and we reluctantly closed her up in readiness for her to be 'winterised' and lifted out next week.
The drive to Rotterdam was, happily, uneventful and with the wonders of sat-nav we found our way easily to our floating accommodation for the next three nights.
Our night time view from our lovely B&B was fabulous. The tall luminous structure is part of the famous Erasmus bridge and the building is the Wereld Museum.
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| It doesn't get much better than this! |
And this was our view in the morning. Looking aft from the 'stuurhut'…
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| OK.. maybe it does! (Bit of swell in the haven makes for slightly blurred photos.) |
The next day we took one of the Fast Ferries over to the SS Rotterdam. Part of the Holland America line in her heyday, she's now a floating museum and hotel. If you're just visiting for the day, there are cafés, bars and restaurants, and there's a very good audio 'guided' tour you can take too. I particularly liked the fact that you can take the tour at your own pace rather than being part of a group. The ship still has the most amazing Art Déco decor and it's nice to see her still being used and enjoyed by so many people. She's so impressive that I think she just might deserve a separate blog post devoted to her alone.
We were lucky and managed to get a table in the very busy restaurant. And… erm... indulged in more wickedness Kibbeling for lunch. Again, this was the first time we'd weakened and again, it won't be the last time. Delicious! Essentially it's deep fried pieces of cod and chips/fries/frietjes with mayo. A glass of wine and a glass of beer seemed to be essential too.
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| Kibbeling - lunch on SS Rotterdam. |
We came to Rotterdam for a specific reason. And that reason was to finally be able to meet two lovely ladies I know via Facebook. The three of us are members of a women only group there and we've been chatting for some time now about how good it would be to meet up. So we decided to do something about it and they, and their lovely partners, met us for drinks and a meal in the Oude Haven in the centre of Rotterdam. What a fabulous evening of laughter and camaraderie. It was an 'instant' click moment for all of us. What joy it was to finally meet up with you wonderful, wonderful people. From the bottom of our hearts, Thank You so much for making the effort to meet us in Rotterdam. We can't wait to meet up again.
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| Giggles with The Gals! |
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| Group giggles! Cheers! Proost! |
All too soon, it was time to say goodbye to these warm, wonderful friends and walk back to our floating B&B. The Oude Haven kindly gave us one more spectacular view for the evening…
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| The White House, Oude Haven, Rotterdam. Photo: Richard Hayes. |
Tuesday found us back on the ferry for our crossing to Harwich - the last one for 2015. And Pirramimma was lifted safely out of the water by the excellent team at Jachtcenter - thanks to you guys also.
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| Out of the water and muck being pressure washed from her hull. Photo: courtesy Diederick van Wijk. |
It's been a year of discovery for us - new places, new friends, new memories to treasure. We're looking forward to 2016 and to many more happy times onboard Pirramimma.
Vxxx
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