After a good night's sleep, Gabe and I went into the train station to find some breakfast. He chose the "Food Center", where he got a waffle filled with cream and chocolate, and got some sort of beautiful cream layered pastry for Toria. I got pain au chocolat, croissant, an apple pastry, and some milk from the grocery. We stopped at the Starbucks, where the workers were seriously chipper. While we were eating, a nice blonde lady tried to come in and clean the room, but we asked her to come back later.

We made a list of things we want to do, then asked the concierge to help us plan the route. He said it was walkable, but suggested the metro, and even marked everything on the map for us. The metro guy sold us a card, and we may or may not have used it correctly. We got out of the station and got a bit turned around, so we toured downtown Brussels a bit, and saw lots of European Union buildings. We finally found the Parliamentarium, after asking in a hotel. It was really cool and very high tech and interactive. You wear things around your neck, and an earpiece. You wave it in front of the displays and it changes everything to your language. We learned the history of the EU, and there was a really neat section where you get to sit on couches and hear people from different member countries talk about their daily lives in Europe. Very cool! Victoria wasn't feeling well again, so she may not have enjoyed it as much as she normally would have.

We found a little market by a park, and ate our lunch under a beautiful tree near a pond with ducks and swans. Gabe enjoyed a bacon and egg sandwich, I had chicken pesto, and Hedge had a chicken salad. Poor Toria just had grapes. Then we walked on to the Museum of Military History. Wanting to make sure we were going to right way, I asked a couple of soldiers, but they weren't from Brussels. We did find it, after finding a lady to ask. The museum is in a giant park, so we just needed to know which building it is in within the park complex. I'm doing well with the French conversations!

Sadly, the museum was not air conditioned, so those of us who are not obsessed with military history were not quite as enthralled as the boychild. It was pretty cool though, and filled with uniforms, weapons, planes, tanks, boats, etc. We also climbed about a million spiral steps to an observation deck in the arches, for a beautiful view of Brussels. Toria and I found an elevator to take down, which was fantastic. Somehow, Gabe still beat us down. The gift shop was filled with books and models, but we thought the models were either too big for the suitcase or would fall apart.

We took the metro back to the hotel to cool down a bit before venturing back out for supper. The kids went to Ekki, which is sort of an organic Pret a Manger. Toria got a sandwich, and Gabe got a slice of quiche. Then we popped into a chocolate shop, which was like the TARDIS - much bigger on the inside. Everybody got a few chocolates, and the kids went back to the hotel. Hedge and I strolled around a bit, before deciding on an Italian place. The wine was really good, and I had delicious Caprese salad, while Hedge had pizza Regina. The waiter was awful. C'est la vie!

We walked around a bit more, and of course I had another waffle. Decided that the cream melted too quickly last night, so I opted for just chocolate and strawberries… good, but too much chocolate. We also stopped in the EU souvenir shop and bought a t-shirt. The poor sales clerk was struggling with some Chinese tourists, who didn't understand anything she was saying to them, and vice versa. After that, we took the waffle back to the room to share with the cubs. Today was hot for sure, but this evening was cooler than yesterday when Hedge and I ate out. Hoping we're through the worst of the great European heat wave of 2015.

Tomorrow, we go to the Old Master's museum, then it's off to London on the Eurostar. Chunnel, here we come!