MB in BE: 2011 Edition

We took a post-Christmas holiday to Belgium. With the temperature around 50 degrees and the snow long since melted, it was a welcome break from the cold and snow of Stockholm. We spent two nights in the most wonderful Bed and Breakfast in Leuven, called Lodging at 8, and two nights in Brussels.

We were a little worried about finding stuff for Myrna to do, but she loved Leuven. There is a beautiful city library, complete with a large kids room full of toys, coloring and storytelling (free changing tables too - a big plus). We spent much time there.
But much more exciting was the Winter Festival boat rides.
Basically a carousel of boats, Myrna loved it! She asked for the boats regularly, and we had to concoct complicated detours to avoid glimpses of them if we didn't want to stop for another ride. In fact, if we got a little discombobulated about where we were, we could ask Myrna to take us to the boats. Curiously, she always pointed us in the right direction. Each ride was a Euro, and we wondered who was enjoying their Euro treats more? Myrna with her boats or Mom and Dad sipping on tasty Belgian beer while she napped.

She was taken with the beautiful breakfast too. Even though she didn't always eat much of it, she seemed to consider the visual presentation and wide variety of food on offer a real treat. (We don't usually light candles at our own breakfast table.) The egg cups were a particular favorite, though the chocolate penguin lollipop certainly wasn't a flop either.
There was also a cat about, and Myrna was very impressed with it. She saw it leap through its cat-door, and talked about it all day.

After two days in Leuven, we headed to Brussels. Myrna was already talking about the "airport" by then (a bit homesick), but we aimed to entertain her. It didn't hurt that everywhere we went, she was given treats - cookies at a cafe by the waiter, chocolate at Neuhaus (her parents certainly weren't given any tastes), even chocolates by the guy in front of us in a grocery checkout line.
She also got to tromp around the cobble-stone town center which, after a little drizzle, was rich with muddy puddles. I guess we wore her out, because that evening she soundly slept through a pick-up jam session at the Bier Circus.

Saturday, Chris started Myrna's dinosaur lessons at the Belgian Royal Institute for the Natural Sciences, home to a staggering number of nearly-complete iguanodons skeletons. Here's Myrna regarding a nest of fossilized dino eggs.
A few cones of pommes frites later, we were packing our bags and, early Sunday morning, enjoyed an uneventful trip back home, where Myrna was exceedingly glad to be reunited with Baby.