It was now time to eat dinner. The restaurant John had gone to when he visited before was closed for an annual vacation until October, and the towns surrounding the chateau are so teeny, there was only one single restaurant open anywhere. Seeing as we had no choice, we were going to be dining at La Besace in Crupet, Belgium that night. Good thing it was Wednesday, because the restaurant is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays!
This place: http://www.restaurantlabesace.be/
We were greeted warmly by a waiter who spoke no English, and presented us a menu in what I call "colloquial French." My example would be that a person can understand English just fine, but if they pick up a menu and see "Reuben sandwich," they won't know what that is unless they speak English well enough to understand a spoken description. Here, we could understand the individual words, but not what the dish was specifically.
So, we took a shot in the dark. I ordered something I knew had marrow (expecting soup) and some type of trout, and John ordered a meat/olive/cheese plate and he and Boo both ordered "pellets of local cuisine," which was going to either be pasta or meatballs based on body language descriptions by the waiter. It ended up being chicken meatballs in a stewed tomato sauce.
We were very happy with what arrived at the table:
Everything was delicious and we left with happy tummies.
After breakfast the next morning, we drove John to work about 15 minutes away and headed back to the château to explore. John had gotten us a late checkout (3pm) so we had lots of time. It was a beautiful day, and we set out to explore the extensive grounds. I hadn't done any online research of the château previously, but I now know that we covered approximately 103 acres of walking.
We walked up both driveways leading to the château, we walked around the entire lake, we hiked up hills, we hiked down hills. It took around 3 hours, and it was so much fun. Boo loved all of the "beetle bugs" on the ground, and I loved getting some exercise in and showing her how to roll logs over to see what creepy crawlies were underneath. We even walked decently close to a deer with pretty impressive antlers before he ran off. We walked about five miles total. Boo is now in such good walking shape that this didn't phase her one bit, and she wanted to go to a playground and play some more after we checked out. Jeez, kid. I was hoping for a nap, but NOPE.
Boo had to make sure any solitary beetle was placed with their "family," which was any group of beetles nearby. They also needed leaf blankets to stay warm. There were hundred of successful reunifications. She then started putting them in her pockets and wanted to keep them as pets, which was eventually stopped.
Because five miles wasn't enough, we found a playground and exercise equipment. Quote Boo: "Mommy, I have to exercise because I don't have any energy, right?" Psh. Please, child.
After officially checking out, we explored a little bit more, bought some local honey, and then headed to a grocery store because again, nothing is open until 6pm, if at all. I grabbed a few things for lunch, and went to find some tourist attractions to tide us over (John had a long work day). It started raining, so our quest turned into a long scenic drive until John was ready.
Once we picked up John, we headed to Bastogne, Belgium for dinner. John had caprese salad, and a veal cutlet washed down with a Belgian beer (Leffe, I didn't like it). I had mussels steamed in garlic, white wine, and cream, with a side of fries. Another successful dish. We headed back home and passed out.
The next day, Boo and I walked to the pirate ship park with our new friend Adam (from Seattle) and his son Beckett (2.5). Adam's wife works for Amazon. We met up with Annora's buddy Hazel for a few hours of fun.
Today we head to Trier for dinner with one of John's American coworkers after a lazy morning of laundry and Minecraft.
We are having great local experiences that are within an hour's drive, but it is about time for us to plan a trip to Munich/Austria, as well as Paris.
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