Brugge, or Blankenberge?

This is our waiter, I forgot his name though. He was from Eastern Europe and was so cute and friendly. I do remember our housekeeper, Her name was Heidi.

Blankenberge we decide. Brugge was once a world-class city that rivalled
Amsterdam and Antwerp but their access to the sea silted up and they
did not dredge it. So it just stopped , fell behind and stayed preserved
in time. So now it is a fantastic mid-evil jewel. Because it is as it
was historically it is a destination you must see. It is back on the
map. We spent time there years ago and loved it but don't want to take
the train there from the coast. So we stay in Blankenberge, shuttle into the city center and explore the shopping street. Of coarse we get chocolate, Belgium chocolate yum, it is wonderful. As we stroll down the street we come across a
staircase which we decide that we'll walk up, at the top we are surprized to look across a beach and see the sea. We're on the boardwalk, it looks like a Santa Cruz/Venice beach combination but it is cold (it is December)! I'm sure that it must be fun in the summer. We walk down the beach and then back into town, where we go into cool shops, buy stuff for mom, eat lunch, have a beer and just relax. It's a good last day in a port city. When we were in Antwerp years back we saw little
statues of pigs, all over the place. So we ask some one why the pigs and he says
"the Belgians are pigs". This Belgian guy said it, not me, and we didn't care for Antwerp very much so that stuck in my mind. Not this time though, I think the Belgians are delicious. We enjoyed Blankenberge and the Blankenbergers. Sorry I couldn't resist. This has been our cruise, and there is so much more I didn't mention, but that is all I'll share for now. We had a great time on this historic Maiden Voyage. Queen Victoria did not sink like the Titanic did on her maiden voyage, which was also Cunard. Oh, there is something else, many people on this voyage are "Cunarders", there are different levels of Cunarders all coded. We were Coded red, we discovered our bording pass had a red stripe on it which means something. We needed to show this pass getting on and off the ship for security reasons. What we didn't know was that every one was Cunard coded. Red is the color assigned to first time Cunard passengers. Silver is the next level, and after your first cruise you automaticly up-grade to silver to make you feel better. Rusty and I are now silver. Then your third voyage you go gold, and then platium, and finally diamond. You get a promotion with multible cruises, a marketing ploy that appearently works because people would ask each other what level they would be. Many were gold and higher. To our surprise it's a big thing. They now send us Cunarder magazine and promote all their up-comming cruises. It sure looks like we're moving up! `*):-)