The Casino’s walls
After 1 pm we packed up and started our walk back through the streets to where the coaches were by the church. On the promenade is a casino. For some reason it has large sculptures of babies on its roof and climbing up the walls.
Blankenberge’s shops
The steps down from the promenade are flanked by a couple of imposing lions.
Blankenberge has its own chocolate shops so not going to Bruges didn’t mean that we would miss out on buying Belgium chocolate. The street was busy with holidaymakers enjoying the sunshine.
After the chocolate shop we crossed over and bought ourselves ice-creams from the Australian themed shop. We stood in the shade to give them the attention they deserved and to eat them before they melted.
Further down the street we went into a small supermarket to pick up some drinks and crisps for our coming days on board. In the small park we noticed the men’s loo strategically placed under a tree.
Back to the ship
At the side of the church there were a couple of shuttle buses and after a cruise card check and collection of our tickets we were on the coach for the 15 minute journey back to the ship.
At the dock gates we were stopped as a private security guard passed through the coach checking everyone’s cards. The iced water and towels were very welcome as we waited to board.
After a quick change we went to the Atrium and into Alfredos for a pizza. This restaurant too was empty and we were the only customers for quite a while. I ordered an off-menu pizza of pepperoni and mushrooms and a bottle of Grolsch. A perfect way to relax after the beach.
After lunch I had to go to the Internet cafe to try and sort out my connection difficulties. I had slightly miss-spelt my name as my username and I had to use this miss-spelt name as usernames could not be changed.
The weather by now had really turned and we were in the middle of a violent thunderstorm as the final passengers were returning to the ship.
I went out on a higher deck watching the storm and looked at the Belgium Navy ships scattered around the port at the side of us.
Then we left the port.
Evening on board
We went for dinner much later than the evening before. This time we tried one of the restaurants on Deck 5. As we left the lifts the singers and dancers were gathered in the Atrium below us waiting to start a performance there. We stayed to watch them perform ‘Can’t stop the feeling’ before moving on to the restaurant.
We had to wait for a table and were given a pager.
I had vegetable sushi, onion garlic soup and roast beef with Yorkshire pudding and yes this meal did have vegetables. I rounded the meal off with ice-cream with strawberry topping.
After dinner we wandered through the shops before retiring to our cabin. There we found a letter warning us that some children who had attended the kid’s groups now had chickenpox.
I sneaked back out well wrapped up to watch the sunset.
… Day 3 The North Sea then the Baltic Sea