Brügge, Belgium and Honfleur, France

Even though I only write about two ports, I have many photos to share.  It was a very busy and packed two days.  

Brügge Belgium
5 July

On this day we did it again. We opted to take a beer tasting tour.  We were just in Brügge with our friends a few years back on a bike tour so we had seen most of what the ship had on offer.  This tour included a walk guided around the city (ho hum) and a beer tasting followed by a half an hour of free time.  That sounded like a good way to get into the city as any, so we took it.  

We wandered around the city in the rain.  The sights that we stopped at were as expected, so while George sat under an umbrella listening to the same old talks again, I ran off and took photos of what ever interested me on that day.  One set of sculptures was the four horsemen of the apocalypse. 

The mermaid was also interesting, as were a number of other public works.

At one point the guide showed us the only remaining brewery in town, but that wasn’t were we were going for our tour.  Lost opportunity but oh well. 

There was another time when he stopped everyone in a narrow corridor and began talking about a plaque on the wall. I recognized where we were and ran off to the main square to take photos before the area got crowded with tourists (she says as if she isn’t one of them).  My plan worked and for the most part my photos were umbrella free.  

These buildings are over the top with the decorations and the legends behind them are, as always, amazing.  Today the guide told us that the blood of christ had recently been stolen from the little church next door.  

Again, while he was talking I took a wander and headed into the town hall to take a few photos. I knew that I didn’t have time at this point to pay for the entrance to the Basilica of the Holy Blood and go inside before he took off again.  I tried to turn a lock over to get a photo of the back of it but got chastised for touching the display.  Ah well.  I guess it’s ok for kids to do, but not adults.  I’m sure it wasn’t a real puzzle, it only had 4 keyholes.  

The tour moved on as I came out and we headed off for the beer tasting.  When we arrived at the Museum of Beer, we were given some cheese cubes and a packet of crackers for the 9 people at the table.  We were also given 4 different types of beer ranging from 4.5% to 8.4% alcohol.  No quadruple beer for us today.  Since we do not eat breakfast, and by now it was 1:00, I ordered some spreadable cheese and a farmers paté for the table.  We enjoyed a nice midday snack with the beers and it satiated George and me until dinner.  

When we were given our free time, we took off for a little shop just outside the square to purchase a few bottles of chocolate liqueur.  After this I headed over to a chocolate shop and bought a few chocolates as is required in Belgium and a coffee liqueur for George. We met up with the rest of our group and headed back for the bus.  

My thoughts on this trip in a nutshell are that while the beer tasting was nice, the tasting at the brewery would have been better.  This place was packed because everyone and their brother wanted to have 4 beers for 10 Euros (they didn’t say that the beers are only 4 ounces each). The last time we were here we took a boat tour and got a much better view of the city than we did on foot. The guide on that tour pointed out more things to us and even gave a wonderful description of what we would see in the town square.  Oceania offers one of those tours, take it.  Or better yet, to really see Brugge, skip the tour and do it on your own.  It’s a small enough city.

Honfleur, France

6 June

Our tour today was to two cities: Etretat and Fécamp.  We first went to Etretat. At the first stop we were shown where the bathrooms were, and were pointed in the direction of the beach. Now we know nothing about this city.  The guide really only told us that it was made up of flint buildings and if you take a pebble from the beach (which is made of tiny rocks, not sand) there is an 80 euro fine. She also told us if we took 370 steps we could see a chapel and a needle sculpture.  Not much of an introduction was that?  

So off we went.  We opted to climb the 370 steps to see the cathedral.  It was worth the hike.  I want to start by saying it was very hard for me. Between wonky knees caused by a bicycle accident when I was 13 and not owning my lungs from having smoked for almost 30 years it was a struggle.  (Public service announcement:  If you don’t smoke, don’t start!  If you do, I know how hard it is, but quit!  You will be better off for it in the long run.)  George ran ahead, and I slowly made my way up to the top. The views were spectacular!  It was worth the pain I was feeling in my chest.  We stayed at the top for a while then returned to the bus.  

Our bus ride then took us to Fécamp.  Here we were to visit the Benedictine Palace and have a liqueur tasting.  This place took me by surprise.  As we stepped up, I was immediately taken aback by the stark difference between this palace and the rest of the city.  We entered the Palace and were taken on a short guided tour.  As is my usual, I wandered off and took photos. 

One room I came to was filled with locks and locking mechanisms from a number of different periods.  I took as many photos as I could, but between the lighting and the glass, they aren’t the best but I put them here anyway for my puzzling friends. 

Of course, there were other interesting sites in the museum and the stained glass windows are beautiful.  Even the advertising ones.  

Eventually we made our way to the tasting room.  Here we were given a choice of three different types of Benedictine Liqueur.  I opted for the 1888 and George took the sweeter Dom.  We each tasted the liqueur and decided we preferred the Dom.  I then noticed the French amongst us were having a tasting of all three.  How unfair. So up I went and got another of the sweet Dom and the middle option. It was dry, but not as dry as the 1888.  We again chose the Dom.  

From here we were brought to the shop to make the obligatory purchases. Another two other passengers and I lined up at the back of the queue and patiently awaited our turn to pay.  While in line, there were three local customers who lined up on the other side of the register.  The clerk waited on them first and told us to move to the back of the newly formed line.  We had no choice but to do this as we wanted our purchases, and I bit my tongue inside.  

When we got out some of the other passengers were discussing the rudeness of the clerk and we all came to the agreement that that is just the French.  I guess the most fitting statement came from a Brit who said something along the lines of "It’s D-Day.  They should be more polite on of all days today because we gave them their freedom."  How appropriate.  This fact had eluded me before then. 

We boarded the bus and man did we have a quick driver!  The trip out took us 11/2 hours, the trip back?  30 minutes!  I didn’t complain.  We decided to go into town as I had just ran out of milk and wanted to get some for myself since the ship won’t provide it.  When we arrived there was a shuttle bus waiting and George and I hopped on only to be told it was a mandatory break and not running for another hour.  

UGH!  There goes lunch in town.  We went up to the Terrace Café and had a bite to eat then ran back down to catch the bus. We wandered around the town in search of puzzles, but as it was Whit Monday, the shops we wanted to go into were closed.  

Along the way, we came across a church of the oddest appearance; St. Catherine's. The inside roof is shaped like the keel of a boat.  The outer walls are half timber. It's really a neat looking building.  On that day, there was a procession that went from the harbor to a chapel on the hill. This is one of the reasons that there were little fish every where.  Of course I went in and took a few photos.  

We decided to go back to the ship stopping by a grocery store for that milk and a few bottles of wine.  Guess what! No milk!  We heard lectures about the quality of the milk for the cheeses of Normandy and the vast amount of milk they use in each of the cheeses.  Why not keep a bit of the milk for drinking? Unlike my beautiful lover, I don’t think cheese is just concentrated milk. Oh well.  I guess I’ll go without until we hit Portugal in a week's time.  

This evening was another Oceania club party so we went ahead and had a glass of wine.  We met friends and had a lovely chat before heading to dinner.  Here we met up with Rod and Merry and I’m pleased to report that while he has that neck brace on and feels pain when not wearing it.  He’s in high spirits and has a bunch of new witty retorts on his predicament (He got conked on the head by a parking gate which was closing. Perhaps if he were a bit more spry it wouldn't have happened.  But then, he wouldn't have all these jokes to tell.)

Sea Day

7 June

Today was an extremely lazy day.  George looked up something new that Google is working on while I blogged and watched movies.  Lunch in bed and I'm thinking the same for dinner tonight. It doesn’t get any better than this.  Laziness at its finest.

I realized this morning that we have only 28 days left of the cruise.  It will be good to go home again.  168 days at sea is a very long time.  

Until next time, Happy Puzzling and Smooth Sailing.