All data
Anyway. Roel, together with Dimitri and Dionysus took off to pick up Sophia in Brussels, and at around 8.45 Ellen, Santiago, Amdesion and me (Peter) were leaving for Oostende as well. The weather was really bad while driving to Oostende and we were really afraid that we could not go to the beach and instead had to follow the “rain-plan”. Luckily, the weather gods started to be with us. At around 10 o’ clock, we got to Ellen’s parents place and there she explained us what we were going to do that day. First, we went to the Mercator Marine, an old training ship which is build in 1932 and was used to train people who wanted to have a job at sea. The ship is now used as a museum and it is really nice and whenever visiting Oostende, it is certainly worth a visit ! (See picture)
After visiting the ship, we went to the beach and walked on the pear to have a nicer view of the coast of Oostende. From that spot, we could so the “Seamen’s Memorial” or the “Pying Guy” as every Ostender calls it. Afterwards, we went to search for a place to have lunch. Ellen’s father brought our backpacks so we did not have to carry them with us all the time. After lunch, we went to the beach again where we saw the casino which is possibly a nice building from the inside but not from the outside.
After crossing the statue of King Leopold II who wanted to make of Oostende a nice place for the “grande chic” at the coast, we ended up at a bike-rental where Ellen arranged a go-cart to go cycling. Roel took the steering wheel, while I was sitting beside him. Maybe that was not such a good idea, because in the end I think Roel and I did most of the cycling !! After 10 minutes of cycling, we had a problem…. Sophia was stuck with her trousers between the chain of the go-cart and there was no possibility to get her freed from this embarrassing position. We had to call the guy from the rental shop, who only opened his doors for us, and he had to come over with his bike to free Sophia from the chain. After that we went further and after an hour of cycling, we were back at the shop.
After this exhausting biking tour (at least for me !!), we passed the horse race track but we were not allowed to enter that. We continued and ended up in the swimming pool. Visiting the swimming pool was in fact part of the “raining-plan” but when Sophia and the rest of us saw the gigantic “water-beast” lying in the pool, we went inside. For me it was quite an experience. I am a regular swimmer, but never swam in a pool where there was SALTY water. That [next page]