Efteling cont....
I feel like I should mention that DH leaving me with the kids in the fairytale forest was perhaps not his wisest move. I have zero sense of direction, and that particular part of the park is kind of a labyrinth. It's got pathways all over the place with little short cuts, and detours. We had gotten all the way through and I had somehow managed to miss a bunch of the things I wanted to see. When DH sent me a message asking me where I was, the only answer I could give was "In the sprookjesbos" ....nothing more specific. He had to come rescue us and then take me to the one part I had most wanted to see, but somehow went right past it because you have to go onto a side path to get into it. By the time we got out of that, it was 5 minutes to park closing, DS was about ready to meltdown. He was tired, and overstimulated, and just done. So we headed out of the park.
But first, a few random pictures that didn't fit in anywhere else here:
Me playing with the special effect settings on my camera:
Saturday morning, we decided to look for a restaurant near the park where we could all eat so we wouldn't have to waste park time to eat food we wouldn't really enjoy. We found a place that had tapas and a la carte items, with a kids menu including frikandel, chicken nuggets and fries for DS. But, in order to reserve online, you had to do so more than 24 hours in advance....we would have to wait until 4:00 when they opened and call to reserve a table. It was right at 4 when we got out of Ravelijn, so we went and found a quiet-ish corner to make the call....they were full for the night. But there was a restaurant from the same chain that opened at 5....so we tried to call then...also full. In fact, every restaurant seemed to be full for the whole evening. We took DS to McDonalds and there was no parking available, so I took him in and got him fed while DH waited in the car and made calls to every restaurant he could find that sounded good. Nothing. So when DS was finished with his food, I called DH, he came and picked us up and then I took over the restaurant search while DH drove. We looked for anyplace on the way home...the only place we found was in Arnhem....45 minutes away, putting us there at 8:00pm assuming there was no traffic, etc. It is a tapas restaurant chain, which we love, but it takes a couple of hours to eat there, so you have to have time before the kitchen closes. They had a table, so I reserved it and we made our way.
And the parking lot where we always park was full....so we had to go all the way back around and try to find something else. Every lot and garage was full, except one on the other side of the Centrum, which meant a 10 minute walk to get to the restaurant. But it was the best we could do. We were almost 10 minutes late for our reservation, but they still had our table for us.
La Cubanita: This is a chain restaurant with cuban tappas. You get little cards and each person gets to choose 2 menu items per round, unlimited rounds. You fill in your card, they take it and prepare your items and then they bring out trays periodically and serve the items to the tables who ordered them....sometimes things get mixed up. We've gotten things that they no longer knew who it was supposed to go to...we also had the corn we ordered once just never show up...we had to re-order, and then they didn't realize 2 of us had ordered it, and they only brought us one. But the food is good and it's nice to just sit and chatter and people watch. You have to be patient, but it's rewarded.
First thing we notice....they changed the menu!!! My favorite item was missing...and my 3rd favorite wasn't there either...the corn was also gone. So far we were not off to a good start. 3 of our go-tos were gone. There were some new options. I went with my 2nd favorite, spicey beef tips and decided to get some spare ribs as my 2nd item....they tend to take a while so I wanted to order them early.
Sorry....it's pretty dark in there, so the pictures aren't great. The items don't necessarily come in the order that you order them. You can't put up a new order card until you've started eating the previous course. So until we had gotten a couple of the items from our first course, we weren't allowed to order more, but we keep our card ready just in case.
Next up was a new menu item...Pincito? I think that's what it was called. It was a crispy wrap with spicey ground beef. It didn't want to come out of the bowl.
It was much better than I was expecting, but not as good as my beloved Flambini.
I'm sure it's been properly answered by now but MGM
Nope!
), that I noticed comin’ on early Friday afternoon, and don’t wanna’ chance goin’ out in public today.
