Sunday June 29th.
Great to be aboard and in a cabin the right way around – for me. That is, port side and the feet towards the stern! We opted for Caribe (Deck 10) for the larger balcony (pics of the ship later) and our night’s sleep was relaxing and as usual, virtually no evidence that we were moving. Just a short hop to the port of Zeebrugge. (Pronounced with a hard ‘g’ as in lugger, not a soft ‘g’ as in huge. Pity some of the ship’s crew weren’t up with that, given their extensive travel knowledge!)
The alarm was set for 7:15 but we were up and about before then, despite the one hour forward and the weather was a bit dull, a bit damp. Even before we managed a good buffet cooked breakfast, we spied a familiar face (see pic previous table mates of 2011!) as we had no idea when we would get the opportunity to eat, as we were booked on a Princess tour of Bruges.
Usual check in at the Wheelhouse bar to show the tour ticket and get our ‘Red 4’ sticker. (Yes, we were Red 4 yesterday too…) Someone at Princess also changed Bruges…
On time down to the modern Mercedes coach, with guide Gabby and the relatively short run to the City of Bruges. Now if you are expecting a history lesson from my blogs, you are going to be very disappointed, so just remember, Google is your real friend. As we left Zeebrugge, it started to drizzle and within minutes, it was really raining, so by the time we’d all hopped off the coach, it was bucketing down. We dived for shelter whilst Gabby waited for his fellow guide, as the group was to be split into two.
Due to a communications mix up between them, there was a delay of probably 15 minutes and no sign of the other guide, but we headed off across the footbridge anyway and I volunteered to carry the other ‘#4’ lollipop, as in single file and a coachload, the line was long.
Anyway, within a few minutes, the other guide showed up and we went with Johann. Standing out in the open with the usual guide spiel and heavy rain – especially as I hadn’t packed the ponchos – wasn’t a very pleasant experience, but as we progressed through the ancient town, the rain gradually eased, until about half way through the 90 minute tour, it stopped altogether.
We loved the city and enjoyed the commentary, but I was still ‘lollipop man’, so that Johann only had to worry about his brolly.
The swans in the photograph are significant, as the story is that if the numbers drop below 25. The City is doomed. There are currently about 150 tagged, so they are playing it very safe. Males are tagged on one leg, females the other.
We then boarded a low, open canal boat for a pleasant 20 minute trip along the canals – all part of the tour – again with a good commentary.
The spire in the pics is notable for being the tallest built totally out of brick, standing 122 metres tall.
Towards the end of the canal ride, on the street, we spied a band in what looked like Canadian Mounties’ uniforms. We have no idea whether or not they were Canadians, but Bruges was liberated by the Canadians at the end of WW2, so naturally, they do have an affinity with Canada.
We were then led back to our meeting point and given an hour or so on our own to wander the town. Probably not long enough to explore the dozens of chocolate shops! Our only purchases were a Bruges beer glass and some Belgian chocolate with an attractive wrapper (featuring a pre-war German race car…).
Back to the ship OK by which time the sun was shining, so those who did the afternoon tour would have had a much better experience - though we really enjoyed ours. A lovely City and well worth a longer visit.
Back on board (and despite carrying our passports as requested, we never had to show them) we went straight to deck 5 and the International Café. I decided to give them a second chance with the meat pie and this time it was fine, washed down with a coffee.
We continued our usual support of on board trivia and also continued our losing streak. We were joined by Tony & Sheila who we’d met a couple of weeks ago in Nottingham. I suppose 10/20 isn’t too bad considering we are out of practice.
We went to the 6:30 Princess theatre show featuring Chris Watkins – a violinist. Not exactly a traditionalist with his modern electric ‘skeleton’ violin, decorated with a band of sequins, to match his sequinned tie. At one stage in the performance, he used a bow decorated with LED lights. A good show and decent patter between numbers.
To 8:15pm dinner (a bit late compared to our 6pm dinner at home) and our table companions included our next door cabin occupants (from Australia, also on last year’s cruise!) and two other Australian couples.
A nice meal and excellent waiter and assistant waiter – with Neil looking after the adjoining tables…
A wander around after dinner and we bumped into another staff member we knew – Maria, who was a bar waitress in the Vista lounge last year!
A sea day tomorrow. Yippee. Yes, we DO like sea days, as they are often a time to get to know the other passengers.
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