DAY-09: Bruges, Belgium

Day - 09: Thursday, June 4, 2015

Starting Location:  At Sea En-route to Bruges, Belgium
Interim Location: Bruges, Belgium
Ending Location: At Sea En-route to Amsterdam, Netherlands

For the morning we had ordered breakfast brought up to the cabin. During the last cruise we found this to be an efficient way to get-up and be ready for the morning's adventure, tours, etc. with minimal stress. To think I'm speaking of stress on a cruise, what's wrong with this picture? Today for breakfast Sheila had a fruit plate, a croissant and tea while I had with coffee, a banana, a bagel and bacon to offset the goodness of the banana.

From our cabin I can closely monitor the captain's approach into any port and the actual docking as we come alongside the pier. 

By 8 AM we had arrived and were tied up at the port of Zeebruges, Belgium a man made port for freight shipping and cruise ships; our first port-of-call. Once at the pier, we witness the buses performing a well choreographed ritual of alignment, sequencing themselves to match the ship's tour itineraries making it even more simple to find your tour, your bus or van and guide.

At Zeebruges, we boarded a small van with about 14 other guests for our day in the old city of Bruges. Here we met our guide for the day, Josef, an elderly local with a heavy Dutch accent (see sign #15). It would turn-out that Josef had a very soft voice making for a difficult day.

During the 30-minute drive out of the dock area and through the surrounding city we arrived at the tour bus unloading area of the old town. Our guide Josef had given some dialogue en-route but not loud enough to keep all of us awake; I for one and there were others simply dozed off.

One thing Josef was good at was telling us the rules of engagement, meeting spots, time intervals, departure times, where to follow and when we would be on our own. He must have told us twenty times the location of the "meeting spot", actually a drainage grate set in the cobblestone of the streets near a local restaurant.

Typical tourists amongst a typical tour group in Bruges for the day.

Like so many European cities, Bruges or at least the old city was a compilation of cathedrals, offices and parks. In Bruges the city is laced with canals, thus often being called the Venice of the North.

On the tour we took a 30-minute boat ride throughout the canals. We ducked to avoid the lower canal overpasses and waved to many of the land-bound tourists as we passed.

Pastries and Belgian waffles were prevalent.

Again, I worked on my "Selfie-Stick" skill set, having some trouble with it; need to find someone younger for an assist.

After the canal tour and visiting the market square, Josef who we had followed but not heard took us back to the "meeting spot" and turned us loose. Most of us found local lunch spots. Sheila had cheese croquets and I had a salmon salad with a locally brewed beer. The food was good, not great but good, the service was horrible. The old city is really about tourists and the folks in the shops and restaurants know that each day they'll see a new batch of people so it seems that there's no need to be much more than civil when serving in the restaurants, well at least the one we chose.

After lunch Sheila found some post cards and a sampler of "real" Belgian chocolates for us to pick at over the next several days.

At the appointed time we met up with Josef at the "meeting spot" and once all 16 tourists were accounted for we began our walk back to the van for our return to the ship.

All-in-all this tour was a loser, the guide simply did not engage his group. Some of us actually took to listening to other local tour guides to find out what was before us. We returned to the ship and were back by about 5 PM.

With everyone on board the ship departed promptly at 1800 for the short transit to sea.

Being that we had eaten late, Sheila and I went to the Terrace Cafe and had a light dinner around 8:30. We stopped by the Grand Bar for the nightcap before turning in for the day.

Onward we sail toward Amsterdam.