The Curse of the Umbrella - One Last Day in Belgium

As you saw yesterday, we bought Liam a new, cheap, umbrella because our babysitter here had borrowed his.  He had a rain coat with him but it just wasn't warm enough and our umbrellas just weren't big enough to fit two people under them without someone still getting wet.  So cheapy umbrella it was.  And within 10 minutes Liam had cut his finger on the umbrella, badly enough that it was bleeding pretty good (see the blog from yesterday for the picture).

Fast forward to our last day in Brussels.  We only had a little more than a 1/2 day.  We wandered around in the morning in search of something for breakfast other than a waffle or a croissant   No luck.  Waffles it is... though they had some cool filled ones (which is what Josh got).  We saw the Mannekin Pis fully clothed!  So that was a sight that we thought we weren't going to get to see.  However, my mission for a Christmas ornament with this little imp was not so lucky.  Oh well, the memories will have to suffice!

All dressed up and no where to go!

God forbid they stand still for a picture!

After breakfast we went back to the hotel to check out and then headed back out again.  It was starting to rain again.  We figured there wasn't a ton of time and hey, since Aidan is soooo into drawing and comics, let's try the comic museum.  While comics weren't invented in Belgium, they might as well have been because apparently the whole country is wild about them.  Peyo, the inventor of the Smurfs (which were originally a comic) was from Brussels as was the Adventures of TinTin, written by Hergé.  Both kids are fans so we figured that would be a good option.

On the way to the museum, it started to rain pretty hard so it was a good thing we had those handy umbrellas with us.  But then we came to an indoor shopping area that was pretty cool.  Since it was Sunday only chocolate places were open (damn!) and we put our umbrellas away since the area was covered... but...

Beautiful indoor mall area...

From the other side

Yup, you guessed it...somehow when putting Liam's umbrella down he got his finger, yes, the same finger, caught again in the umbrella and it opened up a whole new bleeding cut.  The irony.  The screaming.  The absolute freaking out.

Me holding on to a tissue on Liam's hand to stop the bleeding and trying to distract him by looking at all the chocolate displays...

In the end, it was macarons that saved the day - in lemon, orange, pistachio and what I think was a blueberry flavor.  And he ate them all within moments.  Funny how that made him feel better :)

We made it to the museum relatively unscathed after that - he was commenting to us how it was the Curse of the Umbrella that made these boo boos happen (and anything else that went bad on our trip, like his whining).  The museum, at least the free part (at least we think it was free as there were people paying at a desk and then people walking right in) was decent sized, perfect for 2 small kids and we still managed to lose Liam several times.  

They got to see comics by both Peyo and Hergé and were very excited.  I think Josh would have liked more time to wander around and actually read what the descriptions were in relation to the comics, but alas, we were traveling with kids and you just don't get to do that kind of stuff.  Wait for Budapest Josh, then you'll have all the time in the world to peruse at your leisure... 

Aidan and a Smurf

Liam and I think this was TinTin's car... I think

TinTin

TinTin goes to the Moon

Aidan looking at some comics

And more comics

Smurf drawings

More Smurf comics

Liam watching a video

A replica Smurf house

Somehow, and I have no idea how, Liam knew this helmet was for brainwashing.  He told me if he wore it, he would learn to be a good listener.  Too bad it wasn't a functioning helmet :(

That was it for Belgium... all in all a good trip.  We normally try to avoid cities with the kids as they don't hold a lot of interest for them but they did great.  A meltdown here and there, an umbrella cursed, but overall, great.  Next up, Rome for me (tomorrow!), then Budapest and Madrid... still need to work on our December plans but we've got visitors coming too.  Oh and I owe a car update... you'll have to wait til after Rome for that!!

Besos,

Julie