Monday, July 20, 2015
Day 76. Two days before we get home. Clay was up first this morning. He did not go to the gym
today. Since we leave Marina tomorrow morning, I guess yesterday was his last
gym day, if he went. I don’t know. I’m babbling. I’m exhausted. It really is
time for us to pack up and go home. But first a return to Brugge. This time in
the rain. I am so glad we have already seen these places on good days! We had a
final good breakfast because we know tomorrow will be an absolute zoo if past
segment ends have been any guide.
We arrived at the dock in Zeebrugge on time at 8am, but then
they couldn’t decide where to put the gangway and we were delayed leaving the
ship. The ship had staged the exit on deck 5 but the local dock crew used their
own gangway and put it up on 6. It was steep and slippery! The buses were
waiting as were, this time, taxis. We were the first ones to board the
complimentary shuttle bus to the train station in Blankberge. But, they had
posted that the first bus wouldn’t leave until 8:30am and it didn’t. That meant
there was no way to make the train at 8:42am. I am sure the shuttle providers
understood that. They timed the buses to meet the departing and arriving trains
when we were here last month. I can only guess that caused a problem with the
merchants of Blankenberge and this time, they timed the buses to drop us off as
the train was pulling out so we could buy our tickets for 5 Euros return and
have 45 minutes to kill in town. We did walk through the Kerkstraat walking
area to the seaside promenade to have a look at the Belgium Pier but all the
shops were still closed. They were open on the walk back but I refused to spend
any money on the principle of the thing. We caught the 9:42am train and on
neither train ride did we get our tickets checked this time. I used the toilets
again at Brugge station on the way to the bus. .50 Euros. Today we noticed a
sign up that said that the bus was 3 Euros per one hour ride or 5 Euros for a day
pass. We bought 4 tickets last time and only rode to the Markt and back to the
station. This time we got a one ticket-two person daypass for 10 Euros. I don’t
know how or why we missed that the first time. We must have looked like
tourists when we bought the bus pass because the woman who sold us the tickets
told us which bus to take and to get off at the 3rd stop for the
Markt. A woman at needlepoint had told us all there was a great cross-stitch
store just off the Markt. We did not see it when we were here before so I
Googled it and found the address. It was indeed just off the Markt on
Philipstockstr. We walked there first. I can’t believe it but I bought another
cross-stitch for this trip! Mom is going to have lots of work to do for us!
Next we walked back across the Markt. We had about an hour to kill before
looking for the Segway place to meet our noon 1-hour tour. We didn’t walk up
the Belfort last time because one we were in Brugge before it opened and two
because my knee wasn’t bending without locking with the knee cap out of place
then. There are 366 steps and that just seemed too hard to come back down
without bending one knee! Today it was open and both knees have been working
fine, so we paid out 6 and 8 Euros and started climbing. I forgot about spiral
staircases. I had Motion Ease with me and had to use it about half way up as I
was fighting vertigo. We had thought we could pace ourselves slowly but that
wasn’t really possible due to the number of people climbing and descending the
tower. You had to go when it was clear and rest when you got to an exit room.
It was interesting. We didn’t plan to, but we arrived at the bell/carillon
chamber just a minute or so before 11am. We had to hold our ears for the next
few minutes as the carillon played and the big bell rang 11 times. It was a
trip. There is a large brass drum (the world’s largest) in a room below and they
say they rearrange the pegs every 2 years to change the tune it plays. We
looked out all the sides and all the openings and did not see a place to fall
out of the tower a la “In Bruges”. We climbed back down again to real rain. We
started walking to the Segway office. We were walking past an ice cream shop
when I pointed out to Clay that the guy was using a giant wooden ladle/spoon to
scoop gelato out of a big mixer looking machine and into a serving freezer. We
stopped. Clay had 2 scoops and I had 1. It was 2.50 for one or 4 for two
scoops. Clay’s was a better deal. They dipped the cones in chocolate first and
then stuck a half a stroopwaffel on the side of the ice cream. I don’t know if
there is a name for the cookies only that make up a stroopwaffel, but it was
just the crunchy cookie side without a gooey center. It was good and would get
us through the next hour in the rain. While we waited for the group to assemble
and fill out paperwork, it really opened up and starting pouring. The only
people that looked sadder than us were the ones on canal boats under umbrellas!
So, there were 3 of us doing a 1-hour tour and 4 doing a 2-hour tour. We all
left together, but Clay and I and guy from India left after an hour and a group
of 4 from Mexico carried on for another hour. Since it stopped raining after
about an hour, they may have made a nice tour of it. One hour was 35 Euros and 2
hours was 50 Euros. We’d have like longer, but didn’t want to worry about getting
back to Marina on time this close to the end! Our tour stopped at St. Anne
church and at the statue of Jan van Eyck who the guide and some random local
guy told us was the most important artist ever. I’ll let you decide. We also
saw the Markt, heard about the history and development of the town, heard about
the Belfort and the town hall and other buildings on that square. We stopped
behind the Jerusalem church and beside the lace center and the old almshouses.
It was interesting and we saw a lot that we didn’t see the first visit. After the
Segway Tour we looked for a place to have some frites but everything was packed
with long lines. We just went to the bus stop and took the next bus to the train
station. We had time to stop at Starbucks and get a mug as well to pick up some
snacks for the train ride back. The 14:05 train was sitting at the 5B track
waiting when we got on the platform at 10 of 2pm. We got on and found 2nd
class seats and ate. We got on the 2nd shuttle bus back from
Blankenberge and we were back onboard Marina by 3pm. All aboard is 4:30pm and we
sail at 5pm. It was a bit longer day here last time as I have notes that the
last shuttle bus was at 4:50pm and today it was at 4pm. When we got back to Marina, the dock's gangway had been moved to deck 5. It was an almost level walk. Much better.
We have a last dinner tonight at Toscana. It wasn’t our
first choice to have a final dinner at one of the specialty reservation
restaurants, but when we made reservations back in May that was just the way it
worked out. So, we’ll go and then get our 2 bags each outside the cabin by
10pm. I’ll post this now in the assumption that nothing else newsworthy will
happen. If it does, I’ll talk about it another day perhaps. It isn’t clear that
I’ll post again before we got home, but I’ll try to keep notes to update the
trip blog and post them later.
