A beautiful start to the day, sunshine and completely clear skies. Everyone played and enjoyed the surroundings, and I was very relieved as it would have been awful to be on that wonderful site but not get to swim in the lake etc.
It was wet for most of the night, then more rain started in earnest around 7am. The children slept on, so Steve and I watched a couple more hours of 24!
Had Belgian waffles for breakfast and then the kids and Steve watched Eragon while I fiddled around in the caravan. Over lunchtime it finally stopped raining! We decided to go into Turnhout, the town nearest the campsite, and visit the Playing Card Museum, and it was fantastic! Hadn’t realised, but Turnhout is historically a place where playing cards were produced, and now holds the headquarters for Copag and Carta Mundi, international card game companies. We didn’t know it was a special afternoon there, but it was – all the printing presses and machines were working and being demonstrated, and it was free entry!
Really really enjoyed seeing all the machines still working, and one particular volunteer tried really hard to tell us as much as possible in English. The kids all chose a pack of cards at the end, you can never have too many packs of playing cards 
We looked at Turnhout Castle as well, and probably would have mooched around and had coffee in the town centre but there was a fair in the main square, which was loud and offputting, so we came back to the campsite.
Sat outside with a beer while the children played cards and then had a sandcatle building competition, just like being at the beach but better, imo!
It rained. Horrible wet drizzly rain. I stayed in bed for hours, can’t remember the last time I did that without a hangover! Steve and the children played cards, everyone coloured doodle patterns, I finished all my books (so did they, I think!), and then the kids went out to play despite the rain, getting wet and sandy and muddy in the process!
During the afternoon Steve and I popped to Carrefour on a secret mission; Steve had been hoping to pick up a small tv/dvd combi for the caravan at some point anyway, so we figured we’d do it sooner rather than later, hoping that we had the right sort of leads/sockets/adaptors to make it work! We found exactly what we’d been looking for, came back, and got it working which was fantastic, Josiah was thrilled to be able to watch his Spiderman DVD that he’d bought in Amsterdam the week before!
The rain stopped briefly over dinnertime so the kids rushed out to play, but then had to come in when it started again later. We cleaned them up (a major operation!) and had stories, then Steve & I watched the first couple of hours of 24 (season 1) which we’d picked up really cheaply in Carrefour – only 5 years after the rest of the world, but we hadn’t watched any of them before – really enjoyed it!
We woke up to a grey misty morning that showed no sign of lifting (it didn’t), so we decided to head for Brussels. Set the sat nav to take us to the Centre Belgique de la Bande Dessinee, and it did a great job, we spotted a car park nearby and parked there. Spent a couple of hours looking round, it was a good museum although way too much for us to take in! We bought the children a Tintin book each on the way out
Started to walk towards the Manneken Pis and Planete Chocolat, our two other chosen destinations, and stopped for lunch on the way. Walked down a street full of cafes, inspecting the menus and not really knowing which one to go in, until we found Chez Leon – advertising free meals for under 12s with their parents! Woo hoo, so we went in, and the food was fantastic – theirs as well – the girls had delicious spaghetti bolognaise while Joe had chicken, chips & applesauce, which he loved. And ice cream for dessert – all free! So Steve and I *really* enjoyed our meals too Felt a bit bad to have steak rather than mussels in Belgium but I just couldn’t stand the thought of ordering them only to find out that my memory was correct and I still hate them!
So after lunch – carried on walking, had to go into the Tintin boutique just because it was cool, then eventually got down to la Grande Place (very grand indeed) and saw the Mannekin Pis, then Planete Chocolat. We’d thought we’d see chocolate making demos in the shop (that’s what the guidebook said) but as it turned out they were only on Saturdays so we just bought a small bag of overpriced chocolate and went back to sit in La Grande Place and have a taste (overrated, imo).
From there we walked back to the car, then decided to go home via the Atomium. The Atomium was pretty cool, both inside and out. Would have loved to see it lit up at night too, but we didn’t stay that long – got home by 6pm for some more playing/tea/relaxing/bedtime.
Tintin books were much appreciated later on and gave us hours of peace and quiet! Just as well, because it started raining when we got back to the tent and didn’t stop for about 2 days!
