8th Unlock the Past Cruise: Day 2 Blankenberge, Belgium
Day 2 (Sunday 12 July 2015) and the ship docked at Blankenberge, Belgium. Well, actually is docked at a freight yard just outside of this town. The reason for that would be that it is such a BIG ship that smaller docks simply can’t take this mega-liner.
Anyway many of the 2500 passengers were booked on tours to Flanders or Bruges, I however wasn’t. But I took advantage of the bus service they offered to take me to town, so then I (along with my mum) wandered around Belnkenberge for an hour or two before heading back. If we’d taken a train ride in we could have gone to Bruges, but I was happy with seeing what we saw.
Lots of amazing looking places, and coming from Australia, everything have such a different look to ours – especially the houses!
The ship left port at 3.30pm and there were two talks on after that in the afternoon, with one on in the evening. Chris Paton spoke on “Genealogy without borders”, and Cyndi Ingle spoke on “Evernote for every genealogist”, and Carol Baxter “How to become a skilled historical detective”.
Chris’ talk was excellent and covered why you need to know, and be looking beyond “just” your country, as guaranteed you’ll need to in your genealogy. He gave examples of not only himself, but several of his ancestors who were born in one country, baptised in another, went to school elsewhere, married in a different county or country, and moved again afterward numerous times. Don’t limit your options of finding your ancestor simply by assuming that they HAVE to be where you think they are. Wise words indeed.
And Cyndi’s talk I needed to go to, and I still haven’t managed to get my head around Evernote, as much as I have tried. I can see that the possibilities with it are truly amazing. Basically putting it, it is a complete online filing system. So every note, every website, everything you’d write in a notebook, the documents you find etc – can all be stored (and retrieved in seconds) using Evernote. But to put it into practice is going to take some work. But I shall persevere, and one day I will master this program.
I didn’t make it to Carol’s talk, but for reports from others it was another excellent one by her.
Here’s a few photos from Day 2 …
welcome to Belgium … this was the view I had from the ship once we’d docked
taking the bus into Blankenberge, Belgium
we made it there, now to find our way around
wandering around Blankenberge, Belgium
we found the shopping mall in Blankenberge
you can’t go to Belgium, and not go to a Belgian chocolate store
this was unexpected!!
love this shot in Blankenberge
I love the flowers pots that were everywhere – they look stunning against the old, old buildings
I’m pretty sure these buildings are houses
yes, she’s a BIG ship
Chris Paton speaking on Genealogy without borders
Cyndi speaking on Evernote
dinner time in the Oceanview cafe
I do apologise for the poor quality of the speaker photos. Lousy is the technical term that comes to mind. We were on a ship that was moving, the speakers moved around too, and hey, I’ll admit no pro photographer. So they are what they are.
Day 3 is a sea day, and is our first full day of conferencing …
4 Responses to “8th Unlock the Past Cruise: Day 2 Blankenberge, Belgium”
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This all looks great to me, the city looks so clean and ordered… love the style of the buildings. Hope you enjoyed that chocolate, it really is the best, Belgian Chocolate, to my taste anyway. I agree the flowers are a lovely touch… enjoy.
What a pretty city. Must have been such a surprise to find the Aust ice cream shop. Love the chocolates. Seeing that pic of Chris Paton reminded me of the cruise we enjoyed so much last year.
I’m enjoying your photos and stories. Thanks!
Ummm… I was on this cruise with you! The port we stopped at here was Zeebrugge, Belgium’s container port. Blankenberge is the town 3-4 miles along the coast from the ship that you went to! Also, I lived in Belgium for 7 years and visited the area several times …