Well today is our last day in this fantasy world that we have been in for some time. I am writing this in the morning around 10:00 as the ship is docking in Zeebrugge, Belgium. We are scheduled to get off around noon for a walking trip through Bruge. We have been here before but it is the last chance to get out before we head home.
Tomorrow at this time we will be at the airport and the long travel day ahead awaiting us. We leave at 1:00 pm and arrive at 2:00 pm, Lord willing. We will be out of kilter for a few days but at least we will be in 100% control of our life and can crash any time we want to.
The view the last two days has been a far cry from the green, green fields of Ireland. Somehow, all big cities have a certain similarity. Looking out the balcony windows we could be any where in the world in some industrialized city: grey looking with containers piled high and uninteresting warehouses as far as I can see.
Fellette is busy packing the bags as I write this, and all done as I finish this.
*********
Our day went well. We had a guide who was obviously Belgian and proud of it. He was also a history buff and we became saturated with facts about this tiny country within an hour. I am befuddled as to state one or two facts about this country because we had over 1000 facts given to us before we had done two hours of walking.
We started with a tour of a chocolate factory which was very interesting and then we continued our history lesson while strolling through the streets of this very busy but beautiful city. The weather could not have been better and it got better as the day went on.
We managed to squeeze in some power shopping for chocloates, a wee gift or two and also time for a refreshing Belgian beer before heading back to the ship. We had about 10 minutes to freshen up before heading down for dinner where our friends were kindly waiting for us. The menu was fine and the evening was delightful.
We noticed that the ship was headed in completely the wrong direction as we came out from dinner and never did find out why we are heading due west when we should have been going due east. I suggest we will know what happened before the trip is over.
The packing started as we waited for our tour to be called.
Everything is well organized, these tags let us know when we can get off tomorrow morning.
One of the old gates to enter the city, some few hundred years ago.
The old city had canals as a measure of defense.
Almost like Amsterdam, but a bit neater in some regard.
In the Chocolate Museum, [?]. Given to the troops in the British Army in South African in 1900. We have one such tin.
Yup, you guessed it, made from chocolate!
Our chocolatier, he has been at it for some 20 years.
How do they get these perfect berries in this climate?
Too many people here is the only problem!
A canal cruise seems the way to see Bruge, and it is, we had one a few years ago.
It was hot enough for even Fellette to have a cool one today.
This evening after dinner as the ship steamed west [?] at good speed. We suspect it is returning to Bruge with a medical emergency. We had a Dutch lady collapse on our tour but she 'refused medical treatment' when she came back by taxi to the ship. Who knows, maybe things worsened for her.
No comments:
Post a Comment