La Magnifique

I had planned to blog day by day of the trip, but that won't really work out since some days we are in two locations, or in the same location over night.  So we are still in Brugge, but now on our barge, La Magnifique.  This barge will take us from Brugge to Amsterdam, but first we get another overnight in Brugge.  The barge has 17 cabins and approximately 34 bikers.The captain, Walter, is a great guy.  Ramon the chef is terrific.  We will spend 7 breakfasts and seven dinners with them and the rest of the crew:  Berber, Melissa, and Tom.  To give you an idea of what it looks like:

First deck - 

Our Room

Our Bathroom

Hallway

We arrived on La Magnifigue in the late afternoon, and immediately tried to stake out a dinner table for the nine of us.  In our previous trip on the Danube we were assigned a group table, and we just expected it was the same here.  

Unfortunately, I'm afraid we may have been seen as keeping ourselves separate from the rest of the crowd who were from Germany, Australia, the States, U.K. and New Zealand.  We just wanted to see each other and have fun with each other.  I think by the end, the rest of them understood, but it was a little weird at first.

 We spent that first afternoon unpacking, drinking beer on the aft (sailor's term for the back of the boat) and having a very good meal.  That evening Tom (the bike tour guide) explained what would go on the next morning.  To our surprise, the bike ride was assumed to be led by Tom as the tour guide.  On previous rides we were given a map and told where to meet up---and that's what we intended to do on this trip.  So, next morning we got our bikes and panier, put on our gloves and helmets and left the security of the Magnifigue with more or less directions to the next stop.

Points of Interest:
ON BARGE:
Beer - 4 Euros or $5.60
Wine - 4 Euros or $5.60
Wine (bottle) - $21.00

Gasoline (we weren't drinking this, but thought you might like to know):  $9.05/gallon (if my calculations are correct).

1 gallon = 3.78 liters
1 Euro = $1.40
1.71 euros per liter
1.71 x 3.78 x 1.40 = $9.05