Bruges Proves a Great Source for My Guilty Pleasure

Day 104, Grand World Voyage

Monday, April 17, 2023; Zeebrugge, Belgium.

One of my biggest disappointments of 2022 was the disappearance of Dark Chocolate covered Ginger from the shelves of Trader Joe’s. I became addicted to it several years ago, so much that in our household it was known as “crack.” As in, if you are going to Trader Joe’s, could you bring me some crack?

I knew exactly where to find it on the store shelves in Plano, Chicago, Kansas City and Santa Fe. My dear friend Marsha always had a box for me when I visited her. It showed up under more than one Christmas tree.

When I went to Santa Fe for the first summer of the pandemic, finding Dark Chocolate covered Ginger was hit or miss. Supply chain issues. Yes, I began to horde it. But over the next couple of years, instead of getting easier to find, it became harder. Helpful store clerks would look it up on their computers and tell me when they expected it in. But by last summer, I got the devastating news that it was discontinued, due to lack of sales. Of course, the sales went down – they didn’t have it to sell!

Yes, this story does have something to do with Belgium. My sisters brought me a wonderful package of dark chocolate covered ginger from Bruges, and I have to report it was even better than the Trader Joe’s brand. I’m sure it was much more expensive. But, boy was it good. It makes me sorry my future cruises won’t include Zeebrugge in their itineraries.

Zeebrugge is a port town with easy access to Bruges, described as a picture-perfect tourist city. It is full of canals, medieval buildings and wonderful shops. Holland America offered a number of tours, including one called Romantic Bruges that my sisters took. When Mom and I spent a month in Paris in 2009, Elaine took her to Bruges for a couple of days, so Elaine is familiar with the fun city. In fact, she found the exact same bridge where she photographed Mom back then.

I considered taking the ship’s shuttle bus to the nearby seaside town of Blankenberge, but decided it might be too much of a challenge on my own. Those nasty cobblestone walks, you know. I also knew that I would be busy the next two days in Amsterdam and thought it best to approach them well rested.

So, I spent part of the chilly day watching dock workers load and unload truck trailers on ferries in this busy port. They zipped around the dock at a surprising speed, hooking up and towing the trailers into the ferries.

Several times during the day the large drawbridge next to our pier raised so barges and ships could pass through. One such ship was familiar from my telecom days, with its distinctive yellow container for holding undersea cable. It’s a good thing I can amuse myself for long periods of time watching port activities.

Tomorrow is the 150^th birthday of Holland America, and there are big festivities planned. Today the crew blocked off the Lido pool deck so they could use a big crane to load supplies through the sliding roof over the pool. We’ve been told there will be a gala party around the pool after dinner. It will be interesting to see how crowded it becomes – I can’t imagine that more than half the approximately 1,500 passengers will fit in that area.

I’m continuing to get around the ship on crutches, which is certainly a lot easier than in the wheelchair. I’m sure all the carpet muffles steps, but it’s not easy to wheel over. The one advantage of the wheelchair is the leg support, but I’m getting to the point where I can sit in a chair and rest my ankle on the floor. Fortunately, my walking with crutches hasn’t left me with any pain or undue swelling. Daily improvement!