Zeebrugge

June 23rd
Zeebrugge

The tour king reclaims his throne!!! Yes, I’m back on the tour circuit after about 8 months of not having the opportunity. Here, the tour escort process works similar to how it did on the Nav, but with a few more formalities. It’s still the same concept of walk the tour to the bus and then make sure no one gets lost during the day, but there’s slightly more paperwork involved. I had signed up for this great tour today that would have taken me to Bruges and Ghent, but due to a 4:30 rehearsal that I couldn’t show up to an hour late, I had to find another option. I really didn’t want to just blow off my first tour assignment, that’d be the worst first impression ever, so I showed up early in the morning, explained my situation, set them up with a substitute for my tour, and was able to take a shorter tour that they didn’t have an escort for – so everyone wins. I ended up on a tour entitled “Ypres – in Flanders Field,” which took the group to a couple cemeteries commemorating WWI, along with a visit to a museum in the city of Ypres. Now was the tour all that exciting? About as exciting as 12,000 gravestones can be, but I did enjoy hearing some of the history and learning a thing or too. The museum was nice though, and really did a nice job recounting Belgium’s part in the war. I tried to make it through the museum quickly in order to get some time outside in the city’s center, where I was able to buy some good Belgian Chocolate. I ended up with a bag of 6 truffles for around $3.50, and they are delicious. I only had 15 minutes to sniff out a good chocolate place before I had to leave with the bus, so that’s about all I was able to see of Ypres on my own.
After the bus got back to the ship and I returned my tour materials, I still had two hours before rehearsal, just long enough to go on another adventure. I quickly hopped on a shuttle into the city of Blankenberge, a lovely city on the beach whose downtown streets are lined with stores, restaurants, and souvenir shops. My mission was to find a Belgian Waffle, and I wasn’t going to leave till I did. Well, it didn’t take long to realize I had a myriad of waffle joints in front of me, and after weighing my options, ended up with a simple, but tasty, Belgian Waffle that I paid about $2 for. I could have gotten it with ice cream on top, or I could have gotten it covered in Chocolate, but the purest in me wanted a Waffle in its true, unembellished form…or is that the cheap-skate in me? Regardless, it was really good. I walked around a bit longer before heading back to the shuttle which would get me to the ship in time for my rehearsal. Then I had a usual guest show at night, which will now be followed by me closing up my computer, opening up a book, and devouring my truffles. Thanks for reading!