Downtown Willemstad

Monday day started off with a delicious hot caffe latte courtesy of the previous renters with my feet propped up and tropical birds chirping all around.

Speaking of the birds. They are beautiful with many yellows and greens, blacks and orange in their feathers. In the early morning hours I watched them ride the morning breeze and have little spats in the bushes. Bird photos are not my best but here are two little yellow ones and a much larger yellow-orange one.

After everyone was up and a a dozen eggs were gone Little Bear's enthusiasm for the pool won everyone over and we all went for a swim in the infinity pool. It was so relaxing and Little Bear played and splashed with Papa and Daddy. 

We still needed to stop at a regular grocery. The little one on the resort was pretty well stocked but prices were steep so we planned the rest of our day to end with a stop at the grocery and a home cooked meal.

Down town Willemstad is beautiful down by the waterway for the port.

The floating bridge I'm on in the above photo has one side the swings via tug boat to rest against the shore so large international tankers can enter the port. Below is a photo of the bridge being moved; the little yellow hut is the driver of the "bridge".

Grandma and Papa took Little Bear to look at the street vendors in their little stalls while Jon parked the car. They came across a local musician who made up a "vacation song" right there on the spot. He included the names of our hometowns and had maracas for Little Bear to play. Grandma said Little Bear was shy and didn't do much with the instrument but it was a neat experience for him even if he didn't know quite what to think.

We ate lunch at the Gouverneur Restaurant which was actually the residence of the Dutch Governor of Curacao until 1880 something. 

Photo by Feitse Boerwinkel

This lunch cannot be glossed over by just a line a a nice photo. I ordered a smoked red snapper sandwich that was amazing. The flaky, flavorful red snapper (which happens to be one of my favorite fish) was piled open-faced on a generously cut piece of homemade artisan bread topped with capers, a drizzle of spiced mayonnaise and many other flavors that all blended together to become the highlight of my dining experience.

Island time runs slower than my normal pace back home. We sat down to lunch around 12:30 and didn't leave until about 2:30. We ate, we talked and Jon even took Little Bear on the ferry across the canal and back before the food arrived. While Little Bear is very patient he is only five so when Jon and I ordered a dessert coffee Grandma and Papa took Little Bear exploring in the shops and looking for ice cream.

The dessert coffee was as good as the meal and the view was amazing. Soon is was time to, even on island time we couldn't drag lunch out into dinner. 

Jon and I got the car and picked up the rest of the crew. We went to the grocery and came home to make a wonderful dinner of grilled steaks, sausage, mashed potatoes, broccoli and watermelon. 

That evening we sat at the pool while Little Bear swam his way to bed time. A great peaceful day.