Woke up (Sunday) at our normal time 8:38. I don't know why it is always about that time that we hear, "Mama, Papa, I'm awake I'm ready." That is what Sara always says. She never leaves bed. She stays there 'till we walk and get her. In this hotel (Hotel Royal) we have a normal hotel room (not a suite or anything), with Julia by the windows, Dan and I next to her crib, in a Queen bed, then we have some space (with a table etc) and then Sara's twin (roll-away) bed by the other wall. After Sara's bed is the bathroom. The room has a trouser press, just in case we wanted our pants to look extra nice. Right. Having pressed pants would be nice, as would wearing socks that I haven't already worn for two days straight.
Naturally, we went right down to the fancy breakfast. It ends at 11:00 AM, and we like to maximize the time we can chow down (I mean the time that we can eat delicately with good manners.) The lady remembered us (how could she not?) and tried to give us the same table (which we wanted), but it was taken so we sat near the windows. Sara loved going up to the breakfast buffet. It didn't matter if the food was for her or for one of us. She just loved the process of walking up to the buffet, looking it over, and getting something. She liked the cereal dispensers, which were cool. You put your bowl underneath and spin a silver knob to get cereal. "Is that enough Mama?" she'd ask. "Yes, that's enough." I'd answer. She also liked to get us juice, and I'd have her carry the glasses with two hands. She'd take careful steps all the way back to the table and not spill a drop. She is a good kid. She just loves doing things - even things that we think are normal like going to a buffet. To a kid, that is super fun.
I liked the yogurt. It was "natural" and delicious. They also had ham that you could carve and all the same stuff I described yesterday. I asked for "one order of french toast and one order of pancakes" and they brought me 1 piece of french toast and 1 pancake. It was funny. (All that kind of food comes from the server, while the other stuff comes from the buffet.)
After breakfast we packed up our room, which we managed to get just full of our stuff every where, and left. It wasn't raining anymore. The city was fresh and clean. The check out was easy, and they gave us a free voucher to cover our 50Euro parking. The bell-hops helped with our luggage (probably wondering how we get all our luggage into the rental van we have) and then we were off.
As we drove out of Luxembourg Sara asked where we were going. "What is next? How many sleeps are there?" We told her we were going to Namur, and that there was one sleep there.
Before leaving Luxembourg Dan got Diesel for the VW we are renting. He had heard that gas/diesel is cheaper here - so we may as well fill up here. Even so, it was over 50 Euro, and the tank wasn't empty.
Our drive to Namur (Belgium) was short and easy. Through the country. Belgium is so pretty! Very green, un-spoiled, many farms, and few towns. It was cold when we got to Namur. Our hotel was sort of on a deep side street, so we parked against a brick wall and ran in to check in.
Whao. Our hotel (which we got from the Frommer's book) is a set of renovated townhouses that is now a hotel. Our room was up steps, around a corner, up more steps, around another corner, down steps, up steps, through a door way, up a passage way and then up some more steps to door 16. It was funny how convoluted it was to get there. We set our stuff in our room, before going out to find some dinner. Dan was done before Sara and I were, so he took Julia to the front desk to ask for dinner recommendations. Sara and I were to catch up to him. Right. I tried leading Sara back to the front desk, and I ended up on the street level (after several steps and passage ways) and we were on a whole other block! I had to wrap around the exterior of the building, hoping we'd find Dan and Julia - and since we'd just gotten to the town, it was a tad harum-scarum -- but we did find them! As it turns out our hotel was lovely, it is just that the interior of it is very, very, very odd.
Ah, dinner. At 3:40 PM. Right. In the US, maybe. But here? Things don't open 'till 7:00. We needed to find "non-stop" kitchen. That is the only thing that could feed us at this non-meal time. I was starving. We hadn't really had lunch, so I was ready to eat a napkin if it looked tasty. When we saw "Pizza Hut" it looked like a beacon of food. We decided if we didn't find anything else, we'd just eat there. After a few minutes, and a few closed restaurants, we did indeed eat at Pizza Hut.
Not to worry. Pizza Hut in Belgium isn't that lame. In fact the familiar-ness was a good thing. And it wasn't like a carbon copy of what it is in the US, so it was kind of interesting to see what it is like here. I had lasagna, and tomato soup (though I must have ordered two soups, as the server bought two!) and Dan had a pizza. They speak French or Flemish here. Mostly French. The food was good, and they had markers, and a whole packet of kid activities. But the best thing was the had balloons for kids. Sara just loves balloons
We had a nice stroll in central Namur after our early dinner. Past churches, down pedestrian streets, past shops (mostly closed since it is Sunday), and out with other people strolling too. We got some treats to go at one place, and we got ice cream at another. I got Sara her own ice cream cone - chocolate - and the man who made the cone made it HUGE. And I got Dan and I a two scoop to share - and it was huge too. Perhaps he felt sorry for my lame attempt at French. I did a bunch of pointing, smiling, and he was perhaps humored by me. Our ice cream was so much it was almost too much - that it is saying something! It was all under 5 Euro.
We turned in for the night sort of early. It felt good to have some time to relax in our room. Just as the hotel had an odd interior configuration, our room was odd. You walked in, and Sara had a room, then up three timbered steps was a second room (with a timbered ceiling) for Dan, Julia and I. Off Sara's room was a balcony, that peeked out onto the roof top. We also had a room with a potty, and another room with a whirl pool jacuzzi tub. Sara and I made good use of that, taking bubble baths.
Only "one sleep" (one night) here. I watched the first TV of the trip (we've been gone for 2 weeks) and saw something about the debates. CNN international was covering them. It is easy to forget how soon the election is.
I had some nice Mother daughter time with Julia this evening. She wasn't ready to go to bed, so I had her on my lap while we watched CNN, and I also sang to her and tickled her. She is just the best baby. So happy (always!) and just gleeful. She looks me in the eye and is a pleasure to be with. We've stopped giving her baby food, she is back on just my milk. The food here wasn't agreeing with her. We may try again in Holland/Netherlands, but the food in Belgium just wan't her cup of tea. Once we stopped the food, she seemed happier. (Normal poops, less gas etc).
So, good night. Another fun day. :) Lori
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