We lost an hour in the 81.7 nautical mile trip from Dover to the port city of Zeebrugge, so if anyone finds it, let us know. After a nice breakfast on board the ship, we met three other couples to share a taxi for the 20 mile trip into Bruges. We had reached out on the Cruise Critic internet forum site and arranged to share a taxi. By sharing, it cost us 35 Euros (about $55) compared to the $230 the Cruise ship charged for the same transportation.
Bruges is a great medieval city to walk around, very historic with lovely old buildings. A canal runs through the city and we took a half hour boat tour. The Boat Captain was trying to point out everything, but it was not clear what he was pointing at or saying at any one point in time and, his description was in at least three languages, making it even more difficult to follow.
We toured the Chapel of the Holy Blood (12th century) and the 13th century Cathedral of Notre Dame. The Chapel of the Holy Blood has a vial with a drop of blood said to be Christ’s that was brought back by the crusaders. The main attraction in the Cathedral is a marble statue of the Madonna and Child by Michelangelo. It was commissioned by a church in Sienna, Italy that refused it. A merchant from Bruges saw it and bought it for the cathedral in Belgium. The other claim to fame for this building is that at 400 feet the spire is said to be the tallest brick spire in the world. Otherwise the cathedral was pretty plain inside, the walls were unpainted and there were very few stained glass windows. We had lunch on the porch of a nice restaurant on Market Square, did a little chocolate shopping, and then caught the taxi back to the boat.
The following is a picture of the Bruges City Hall, a fantastic 14th century gothic building that looks like a cathedral.
Tonight was the Captain’s welcoming reception (free drinks), and we saw our Cruise Director, Leslie Jon and Assistant Cruise Director Margaret Lynn. This is our second trip with Leslie, and our third cruise with Margaret, so we spent 20 minutes just talking about the past trips and what everyone has been doing.
We had dinner in the main dinning room, there are a couple tables for two at the back of the dining room, which is the back of the ship, sitting beside a huge window looking out at the ships wake. Nancy had Norwegian poached salmon and I had Black Angus Prime Rib. Yummm…..
As we are typing this, we are listening to the band and waiting for tonight’s show, musical hits from Broadway shows featuring Margaret as one of the four singers.
104.4 nautical miles tonight through the North Sea to Amsterdam.
3 comments:
What a beautiful old city and I love the canal. My dad was in Belgium during WWII with "The Big Red One". He had a ring with the name Millie engraved on it and he would get a twinkle in his eye when he spoke very fondly of Belgium. If you see a very old woman named Millie with a twinkle in her eye tell her Bert's daughter says Bon jour!
Oh Nancy and Roger, such a wonderful trip! Beautiful pictures. Meeting up with former tours guides and sharing previous times must have been so much fun! Glad to see you are enjoying yourselves. Looking forward to what is in store!
Looks like good times, unbelievable amount of history! If you see any cool iron work, please be sure to photo for me.. ;)
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