With the boys in school all day, the 4 adults planned a road-trip one hour south of Brussels to visit 2 abbeys and to see the countryside. The guise of being pious was not well maintained as the first thing I pounced on were the choice of "beverages". First stop was Maredsous, where we didn't see much of the cathedral, but we did manage to catch the short movie about the abbey, past and present. We even got lucky with a special introduction by "Christian", a history teacher from the associated college. Our lesson taught us that the Benedictine order of monks was critical to the unification and enlightenment of Europe. This was instigated by Charlemagne who brought Europe out of the dark ages in the 8th century by imposing Benedictine Rule at most abbeys, thus securing a common spiritual and economic power across Europe. The other abbey was Floreffe, which was a little disappointing since the 12th century mill house lacked a proper restaurant, but the beer made up for it. On the way home, the sun was out and the boys played outside before retiring to some "Wii Doctor" and "Wii Cars" games. With the boys off to bed and plans made for the next days, it's time to call it a night. Oops! I missed Compline!.