Victorian-era bathers wade into the North Sea surf at Ostend's famous Chalet Plage, their dark wool bathing costumes heavy with water, children splashing at the waveline while parasol-carrying chaperones watch from the firm sand, the grand white resort hotels and the distinctive Chalet Royal pavilion — beloved of European royalty and the Belle Époque leisure class — rising elegantly against the wide Belgian sky; published by Le Bon of Ostend (Osteude) as card no. 13 in their beach series, this undivided-back card was printed before the 1903 postal regulation changes and, though bearing a handwritten "M" salutation on the address side that was never completed, it was never posted, preserving the image in sharp, contrasting detail that shows the density of seaside tourism at what was then called "the Queen of Beaches."