Mediterranean Cruise 2011

Had breakfast, started writing up this trip journal, then lunch. Hopped into the car and headed North to the city of Brugge. Checked in at the Hotel Kampinski, a beautiful hotel in the center of Brugge.

Pat's second surprise for us was that we were going on a balloon ride! Waited for the van to pick us up, around the corner comes a Land Rover towing a trailer with a balloon on it; I think that's us!

Had a short ride to a farmer's field, helped set up the balloon, then off we went. Headed directly over the center of town, had spectacular views.

Flew over many fields to the South of the city and then landed in a cow pasture (with an angry bull roaring at us!), what a fantastic flight!

Back in town we found a restaurant that was still open and had dinner on the main square. After a nightcap at the hotel we headed to bed.

Had breakfast at 8:30, went up to the room to go through pictures and work on the trip journal. Around 10 we walked around the center of Brugge.

It was raining, so we skipped the boat ride. We saw the central tower and the church, then did some shopping along Brugge's many shopping streets. Had lunch at a nice cafe, played another losing game of European "catch the waiter's eye".

Checked out of the hotel and drove to Brussels. As we got to the center of town and attempted to reach our hotel, we discovered that there was construction and one way streets everywhere. We spent 45 minutes trying to find the right combination of streets, but in the end we called the hotel and they send the valet down the block to meet us! Ollie and Cath came and joined us and we walked around the city center. We saw the main square and Brussels' famous "pissing boy" statue. Had beer and apperitif shots at a local bar, then drove to The Lounge at the Sofitel hotel (experiencing some additional road closures along the way!)

Had a great dinner then walked around a bit. After some confusion at two different potential clubs, we decided to go back to the hotel for a nightcap. We once again found that it was impossible to actually drive to our hotel, Ollie solved the problem by driving a block the wrong way down a one way street. After midnight we said goodbye to Ollie and Cath and headed to bed.

Woke up at 6:30, showered, then met Pat for breakfast at 7:15. Randy was heading home today, Rick was staying another week with Pat to go to Bonafacio on Corsica and spend some more in Belgium. Randy caught a cab to the airport and boarded his Swiss Air flight back to SFO.