GALA TAUCK ESPRIT SUPPER AND ON TO BELGIUM

 Last night we had a gala dinner and I wore my blue ascot ensemble.  The attitude on this ship, though, is that t-shirt/shorts/slippers will still be allowed, but nobody did.

Started with Glenfiddich on rocks in the bar,].

Note my Blue-bar Pigeon bidding us goodbye.

The Tauck All Rivers Tasting.

The first wine was a Mosel Riesling.  The second, an unusual La biole du pape Chateauneuf du Pape

I am allergic to shrimp, so I had a salmon caviar dish instead.

An Austrian Cream of Pumpkin Soup with coconut foam

We had swordfish and beef tenderloin

At around 8PM the ship departed.  Still mostly daylight.

With a white port and Vinha Maria, dessert and petit four.

 Six wines and water.  The supper was fabulous.  The departure was wonderful.

We head for Belgium.  Remember the fim, If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium, a 1969 rom com with Suzanne Pleshette and others, including cameos by John Cassavetes, Joan Collins, Vittorio De Sica, Donovan, Anita Ekberg, Ben Gazzara and Robert Vaughn?  Well, click on this, and you can see the whole film. Has to do with covering 9 countries in 18 days. Film includes Amsterdam and Brussels, our beginning and end point.

Well, in any case, we next go to Antwerp (largest population at 536,000), Belgium, then tour Ghent and Bruges.  What do you know about this country?

• 
  Officially known as the Kingdom of Belgium, gaining independence from the Netherlands in 1830.
• Is a constitutional monarchy.
• King Philippe is head of state, with limited powers.  Alexander De Croo is Prime Minister.
• There is no Belgian language, so speaks Dutch and French, with 1% German.
• Uses the Euro.
• Has a population of 11.7 million, with an area between that of Nevada and Arizona.

• 
  During the colonial era controlled Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, part of Sudan, with concessions in Guatemala, Tianjin China and Tangier.  Just one, the Belgian Congo was 76 times the size of Belgium.
• Suffered greatly in World Wars I and II.

• 
  Brussels, with a population of 193,000, is the capital of the country and de facto capital of the European Union.  There are 3000 castles in this city.
• Might have invented French fries, and known for beer (1100 varieties), chocolate (11% of world production) and waffles.

• 
  The national symbol is a statue of a small urinating boy, called the Manneken Pis.
• Has one of the larger Christmas markets.
• Famous Belgians?  Peter Paul Rubens, Jacques Brel...and I bet you didn't know this...Audrey Hepburn.

Possibly the most popular Belgian song of all time is the 1986 version of then 13-year old Sandra Kim's winning Eurovision tune, J'aime la vie.  Belgium was dead last in 1985, but Kim's win was the only time the country was victorious.

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