Eat Or Sleep? A Hungry Little Mr. Struggles To Stay Awake…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Following yesterdays post, we arrive in the Belgium  city of Charleroi  (pronounced “char – le – wah) late on a Friday evening.

We find our hotel close to the airport: Hotel Van Der Valk, and having not yet had dinner, ditch the bags as soon as possible and head for the restaurant.

This turns out to be a bad idea, we are about to order and Little Mr is both starving hungry and almost falling from his seat because he is so close to sleep.

Luckily the waitress serving us is sympathetic to the situation and suggests that we go up to our rooms and she will organise that our food can be sent there as soon as possible.

We transfer to one of our two rooms and manage to keep Little Mr.  awake long enough for the food to arrive and for him to eat at least three quarters of his dinner.

A quick brushing of teeth was possible as his eyes fall shut and he didn’t even wake when we put him into his pyjamas. I opted for a few fries rather than pasta and none of us were too long out of bed before that.

The next morning we are up with the larks and go down for an early bird breakfast. The kids are easy to please because there are croissants on offer, Himself and I go for a cooked breakfast and cereal. Our in-laws are there too, along with others who are likely to also be on the early flights and it’s not too long before we are heading towards the airport…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Apologies to readers for whom the photographs didn’t show up today… I have no clue what I did wrong but I reloaded everything and they seem to show ok this time.

Charleroi: Finding Our Rooms And Settling In…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

We’ve found our  Hotel, Hotel Van Der Valk  just outside Charleroi, Belgium and get ready to settle in for the night.

The rooms are spacious and clean and we are pleased to have arrived after a long day.

We have two rooms booked but non-smoking rooms were only available on separate floors so Himself slept with Little Mr. in the room with the four-poster bed, partly because it was further away from reception and saved me some extra walking, and partly because it had a shower above a large jacuzzi bath.

I’m a shower person by preference and my foot injury makes it really hard for me to get in and out of a bath so was pleased to have the room that had a nice shower instead.

Himself loves a bath every now and again (we don’t have a bathtub at home) and as an exceptionally early riser he was  the one most likely to take advantage of it anyway. Kiwi Daughter and I had no problem settling into our room, the bed was comfortable and we had everything we needed. All we need now is dinner…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Sometimes “Plain Vanilla Basic” Is Exactly What Is Needed…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Family Kiwidutch arrive in the small Belgium town of La Roche, our first stop is the small apartment we have hired for the weekend.

It’s called “Villa Clara” and isn’t terribly modern but it’s clean and tidy and basically we will be out all day and only sleeping here at night…  and it was cheap.

The landlady speaks French and is friendly, there’s a fridge and basic cooking facilities which would be handy if we were here longer but we are not intending to be cooking here this trip as we will be eating out with our friend.

I giggled when I saw the bathroom as it contains the skinniest shower I’ve ever seen in my life, but I’m still delighted to see a shower because climbing over the high edges of baths is the scariest thing I try and do with my foot injury and I avoid it at all costs.

There’s a double bed plus a single bed in the only bedroom, and a sofa bed that could be folded out in the living room. You know, not so up to date but it will do fine…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)