The terrible discovery was about Monday.
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bunnyhugger had not bought train tickets from De Panne back to Brussels because all her research said that there was no buying tickets for what was basically a commuter line; we had that same experience getting from Brussels to De Panne and that worked out fine. And getting from Brussels to Amsterdam, our return flight, was similarly no big deal, trains leaving like all the time. So neither of us had put detailed thought into how we'd get to Amsterdam for our morning flight.
Well, that Saturday, after a good day at the amusement park and some good dinner and even a nap on her part, bunnyhugger thought about the scheduling and what it implied about how early we'd have to get to bed. The immediate question was whether we'd be able to see the sun setting into the Atlantic while riding the interurban, a highly recommended activity for De Lijn.
The horrible answer was: there was no train leaving De Panne early enough Monday morning for us to get to Amsterdam in time for our flight. If we had a car we could get up unspeakably early and make it there, but I dreaded the prospect of my first experience driving in Europe being in the predawn hours and that was even if a couple Americans could rent a car in a tiny shore town on a Sunday. A taxi or an unlicensed taxi service would likely be almost as bad. And rescheduling a flight less than 48 hours before departure would be preposterous.
There was only one way to handle ``be at the airport on time'' that wasn't practically impossible, and that was to get to Amsterdam Sunday night. Which meant leaving De Panne Sunday afternoon. Which meant, among other things, not riding De Lijn all the way to its northern end and back, and certainly not riding it to see the sunset. We could still ride it some, during the morning and early afternoon, at least, and not the whole length. But that was a small consolation.
And no consolation at all: we'd have to leave our De Panne hotel room. We couldn't even close out our stay a day early, as it was too late for us to change our reservation. bunnyhugger kicked herself mightily for if she had realized this just two or three days earlier we could have changed the reservation but now, well, we could use it as a place to store our suitcases until we were ready for the Sunday afternoon train to Brussels.
Fortunately bunnyhugger was able to find an airport hotel in Amsterdam, and to work out the trains we would need to take Sunday afternoon-to-evening to get there. So at least we went to bed confident that we would be able to leave western Europe on time and on the plane we had planned on. But we didn't sleep happy.
And now I bring you the close of our Labor Day trip to Michigan's Adventure. Enjoy some more pictures of buttons!
Trabant is one of the handful of adult flat rides at the park and we almost always take a turn on it.
Arty picture of the fence, with the operator at the dead-man's-switch beyond.
Here's the Trabant control panel being worked. I chose to have the panel be on top of the frame for aesthetics.
Our last ride of the day, on Wolverine Wildcat, with light just pouring in through the fence there.
This stairway is for ride operators and also people using the Fast Lane. This time I happened to notice you could also see the train as it dispatched from there.
And with that, the day and the regular season were done. Here's a last look at the skeletons and the Lakeside Gliders and, not sure, I guess a security guy.
Trivia: Dubai has about forty miles of natural coastline. Source: The World in a Grain: The Story of Sand and How It Transformed Civilization, Vince Beiser.
Currently Reading: American Scientist, May - June 2025, Editor Fenella Saunders.
