Thursday, June 4, 2015
Clay was up early after a short night last night. I guess
since he went to sleep directly after dinner that he had slept long enough.
Since he did that, he had not transferred his photos or uploaded any for the
blog. I am guessing that is another reason that he was up and out of the cabin
an hour before the gym opened. He woke me up when he opened and closed the door
and since I knew we were to meet up with others and try to leave the ship at
8am, I just got up too. We never saw much of the English Channel sailing at
night, but even better we didn’t feel it either. It was like sailing on a lake!
Breakfast was exciting with the Terrace shaking dishes off
the table as the side thrusters were abused for about 15 minutes trying to turn
the ship to dock on the port side in Zeebrugge today. Cruise passengers are not
allowed to walk in the port of Zeebrugge but must use a shuttle bus between the
ship and the port gate. The good news is that the port provides that shuttle
free of charge. The other good news was that if you are thinking of going to
Brugge alone, it was simple. The port provided a shuttle from the foot of the
gangway to about a block from the Blankenberge train station. The first shuttle
left about 8:20am and the last returned at 4:50pm. The shuttle bus ride was
about 15 minutes long. (In the bad news category, we had planned to take a taxi
to and from and had arranged with a couple from our roll call to share, but we
never saw a single taxicab until we reached Brugge!) The shuttle bus is timed
to meet the trains. The shuttle dropped us about a block away, but the driver
just pointed and told us to go across the street. To his credit, the bus driver
did advise us to go inside and buy tickets because that would be cheaper than
buying them onboard the train. The problem is that we had 7 minutes to find the
station, buy tickets and board the train. That might not sound like a problem,
but there was a block long construction site between us and the station! We
crossed the street where the driver pointed and turned left because I had been
watching on the bus ride in and had seen the temporary entrance through
trailers. We made the 8:42am train! The trains to Brugge from Blankenberge
leave every hour at :42 past. The trains back to Brugge from Blankenberge leave
every hour at :04 past. We went to the ticket counter instead of using a
machine, because there was no line and we thought it would be faster. Clay
asked for a return ticket Brugge. Not only was it faster but the ticket guy
asked if we were from the cruise ship and we said yes, he turned around a big
colorful sign that advertised a special RT 5 Euro ticket! We had expected to
spend about $100 on taxi fare today! The train to Brugge from Blankenberge
takes about 15 minutes too. So, we were in Bruges by 9am. Clay advised me to
use the toilet before we left the station. I probably could have skipped that.
It was an unpleasant encounter that cost me .50 Euro and some unnecessary human
interaction and I found plenty of other free toilets at places where we did
business later. We found our way out the main entrance at the bus stops. All
the buses with Centrum on the front will stop at the Markt Square area. I think
that might be about 8 different bus routes. We got on #16, the first one to
arrive. The fare is 3 Euros. It was about 7 or 8 minutes on the bus from the
station to the Markt. The return buses had different numbers and there only
appeared to be 3 different routes that would stop at the station, but there is
signage and they have STA on the front with their other destinations. Again, we
got on the first bus to stop along the Post Office side of the Markt. It was
route #2 and we asked the driver, train station? before we paid. The only other
glitch today was that the 3:04pm return train was about 20-25 minutes late and
there were never any announcements in English. There were probably more than 50
people from the ship waiting for that train and there was a lot of stress. It
all worked out!
Since we got to Brugge so early, things weren’t open yet.
But, the quiet and lack of crowds and brilliant morning light were worth it. We
checked out the Belfort, or Bell Tower, fist because Clay loves that kind of
thing. It was going to open in about 10 minutes but that was 8 Euros each and
366 steps. I probably could have made it up, but for a couple of weeks now my
right knee cap has been sliding out of place when going down stairs. It comes
and goes but had gone out this morning. It is painful. I have to go down only
bending my left knee which is tricky because it does the same thing from time
to time and if both go at once I don’t know how I’ll get down stairs. Anyway, I
made some whiny noises like Clay should go alone and we decided to skip it. We
went back out into Markt Square to admire it. As soon as we crossed the street,
a couple of teenaged boys approached us. They asked if we spoke English. Then
asked if we were Americans. They had a sheet of paper that had questions on
both sides and they needed to interview an American for a school project. They
asked if we were willing. I went. The 2nd question after my name was
my age. This caused both boys to turn red and have a conversation between
themselves in their own language before they both eyed me and made a decision.
They told me this was rude, but the next question is what is your age? It was
very funny. I told them unemotionally while Clay made fun of how old I was and
we all had a laugh. They asked several more questions about me, my impressions
of Brugge and my own homeland and languages and American attitudes to other
languages and tourism. One of the questions they asked was what was I looking
to buy in Belgium or Brugge to take home? They prompted me to say chocolate and
I agreed. Clay told them I would be looking for and hoping to find a patch from
Brugge. They didn’t understand what we meant. I had 2 NC patches in my purse.
The state flag and the state seal. It took both Clay and I to dig through the
bottom of my purse to finally locate the patches but when I did I gave them to
them. They discussed it between themselves and didn’t not come up with another
word they would use for a patch. One of the boys tried to hand the patches back
and I told him, no they are for you, one each. They were very surprised but appreciative.
The last question on their survey was to provide proof they had interviewed me.
Now when Clay and I have done this in other countries (and it has happened
before!) they usually take a photo with us. This time the boys were all smiles
because I had already given them proof, a NC souvenir! They thanked us again
for our time and cooperation and the patches and we all went on our way. Since
Clay was still taking photos, we wound up not far apart and we heard a lot of
loud voices and turned to find a whole bunch of teenaged boys staring at us as the
2 with the patches pointed and passed them around! How funny. I guess our 2
boys got the best proof. I had to put 2 more patches in my purse when I got
back to the cabin. My goodwill diplomacy gifts.
After that we headed for Maria Str. I wanted to see the Michelangelo
Madonna & Child in the Church of Our Lady and the Hieronymus Bosch triptych
at the Groeninge Museum. Clay wanted to buy chocolate, do the De Halve Maan brewery tour and have lunch.
We both thought a canal boat ride sounded good. We got all of the done plus
some. We stopped at a now open gift shop and I not only found a Brugge patch
but a lace bookmark. Later we saw a woman outside a shop tatting lace by hand. Clay
bought chocolate that we watched some women in a shop making. We came upon a
canal boat ticket stand and bought tickets and walked right on. It was a very
crowded boat and a less than positive experience. We paid 8 Euros each. It
lasted about 30 minutes but people were crammed in there all facing each other
and not out, so no one had a clear view of anything but the sky and all of the
photos anyone took would just have either heads or hands with phones, tablets
or cameras stuck in them. We made it down to De Halve Maan brewery in time to
buy tickets for the 11am first tour of the day in English. (I think it was 8
Euros each.) It was a large group and only about 5 minutes of it was in the
working part of the brewery. It was the hottest and sweatiest part. The other
40 minutes were more comfortable and we must have gone up and down about 100
ladder like steps and tiny doors. We were atop the roof for a while! The payoff
was the free beer at the end. They serve their unfiltered Brugse Zot. That
means Bruges’ Fool and it is their lightest beer. It is served unfiltered because
the truck it at 6am every morning out of center Bruges to their filtering and
bottling facility 3 km away. They are currently building an underground pipeline
between the brewery and the bottling plant. The canal boat driver told us that
first and we thought it was a joke. Evidently, it is a big joke in Bruges but
it is also true! When we left the brewery, Clay was on his way to being drunk.
He drank my beer as well as his. It was noon now and Clay was thinking about
lunch. I wanted fries and waffles. Clay wanted beer and mussels and didn’t mind
also having fries and waffles, but wasn’t sure where to find them all. I didn’t
really care if we even ate. So, I was focused on finding mussels that he didn’t
think were too outrageously expensive. A challenge in Bruges! But, just a bit
down and across the street from the brewery was the Brugse Zot Frite. They had
indoor and outdoor seating. Clay had a big pot of natural mussels for 15 Euros and
a .5 L Brugse Zot for 5.50. I had a Friet for 2.50 and mayonnaise was and additional
1 Euro. My strawberry waffle was 5 Euros. It was delicious. The waffle was a
little crunchy and sweet and flavorful. The strawberries were juicy and sweet and
tasted so delicious. It prompted another conversation about how bland and
tasteless and monotonous the food on Marina is. How do they make even the
raspberries and strawberries tasteless?
After lunch, we backtracked on our morning walk to find the Church
of our Lady and paid 3 and 2 Euros to view Michelangelo’s Madonna and Child. It
was exquisite and they had some other Flemish artwork on display as well. We
walked up to the Groeninge Museum last. We were now feeling in a rush because
we weren’t sure how often buses ran to the train station. It was about a block
long maze of a walk from the front entrance through the gardens and courtyards
to reach the door and ticket counter. We paid 6 and 8 Euros and had to check my
purse and Clay’s string pack into a locker with a 1 Euro coin deposit. They
evidently did not have any floor plans available because we looked and didn’t find
one. We knew we were looking for a Bosch triptych of Judgement Day. We did not
find it, except on a magnet in the gift shop! We did find a Bosch triptych
though it was about Job. Go figure. We used the rest rooms and made our way
back as described above.
We will have dinner in Terrace tonight and not go to the
show. It is Anthony Scott again, Scottish Comedian.
We have been sailing for over an hour and a half now leaving
Zeebrugge. We are sailing due west into the setting sun. I am pretty sure that Amsterdam
is East of here…
Tomorrow is Amsterdam. We will be last minute replacement
passengers in a private car with a couple from our Cruise Critic roll call who
had their travel partners cancel on them. It is $125 pp for a 7-hour tour
outside Amsterdam. It visits cheese and wooden clog makers, windmills and
Volendam, a fishing village. More tomorrow! It is amazing how a good night’s
sleep on calm seas and a sunny warm day and some good luck can cheer you up!
