Tour Description: Your tour will start with a scenic drive through the quant little village of Damme passing the rural beauty of the Flemish countryside. The historic character of this beautiful village has remained over the centuries and is really worth a view. Your bus driver will drive slowly so that you can take pictures of this magnificent little village. Your coach will drive you around Bruges, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, catching sight of the windmills and the impressive medieval gates surrounding the city. Returning to the ship your coach will pass through the port of Zeebrugge. The Port of Zeebrugge ranks at the top of the world’s leading ports for the export and import of new cars.
Link to Google Map
Our day started with an announcement at 0703 that the visit to Zeebrugge is canceled. Tour costs will be refunded.
The reason given was that winds were 30 knots with gusts to 45, swells of six feet, and the pilot boat refused to come out. The captain wisely didn't want to get into a narrow channel with high winds and no guide.
So we are cruising slowly south toward LeHavre, hoping to stop there tomorrow. The picture at right shows the famous "white cliffs of Dover (England)". More later.
So we loafed for a while, then did breakfast in the Lido. Then an exploration of the Lido deck and the deck above it, where a little cafe with New York emphasis is located; new to us. We returned to the cabin to take it easy until an event comes along, like Trivia or a Port Lecture.
D did a long nap, O went with his book to the Crow's Nest (finding it fully occupied). At Trivia we had to sit on the outskirts of the place, but we sat next to a nice couple from Lakeland FL with whom we exchanged experiences.
We returned to the cabin to change into "Dressy" for dinner and went to the MDR. They put us up on the upper level (deck 3); we're questioning whether we should move to assigned seating or open. Food was good upstairs and the service good as well. We'll give Open one more try.
The captain announced that they had negotiated a deal with LeHavre to enter port tonight so everything would be ready in the morning. After dinner we took it easy in the cabin and watched the approach to LeHavre on the TV - nice mooring.
The ship''s repair guy came along to fix the door leading to the cabinet the safe is in. Took 5 minutes to re-seat the hinges and away he went.
The ship put out the gangway and let those ashore who wanted to experience night life in LeHavre. We went back to loafing.
20241014 Monday LeHavre, France
We were waitlisted on the tour of Rouen then decided not to do it. Instead we'll take the "Bee" bus tour of Le Havre. It will pick us up at the cruise terminal gate to take us to their normal departure point in Place du Perret.
However, we woke up with pains, and the weather being dismal, we decided to stay on board. D has a suspected sciatica, and O´s foot caused him to limp.
So we did a light breakfast in the Lido and loafed. Lunch was burgers & fries from the Dive Inn on the pool deck. More loafing. O is having problems uploading this document to the internet.
When Lightning Trivia came along we participated, and scored 23 of 30 - not bad for just two people. We wandered back to the cabin and later went to dinner.
We were seated with another couple, very nice. D had the turkey dinner in honor of Canadian Thanksgiving. O enjoyed the saurbraten mit spaetzle und red cabbage.
The evening entertainment was a magician - we decided with could do without him and entertained ourselves to sleep.
