Belgium
Arrondissement Leuven

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    • Day 191

      Leuven, Belgium

      November 15, 2022 in Belgium ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

      Apparently we love Flemish provincial capitals. Leuven is the capital of the Belgian Province of Flemish Brabant. The main attraction here is the Groot Begijnhof Leuven UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is a well preserved "beguinage" (a french term for housing complex meant to house religious women, but not nuns). The complex is owned by the University of Leuven, a prominent land owner in old town Leuven.

      The town is also home to Stella Atois brewery and has a lovely city center lined with shops and restaurants. Very appealing to escape the big city of Brussels as its only a 20 minute train ride east.

      https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groot_Begijnhof…
      https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beguinage
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    • Day 192

      Churches of Belgium

      November 16, 2022 in Belgium ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C

      If you've followed this blog you know we've seen a lot of churches. Like A LOT of churches. I actually had one friend message me and comment that it appears we're on a mission to see every church in Europe. The Belgian cities haven't had the prettiest churches (Italy wins that award still), but they have had a lot of cathedral level churches per city. In order to not have every post be all about churches, I'm making a separate post just for Belgian churches.

      One award Belgium does win is the prettiest Pulpits award. Apparently during the Catholic counter reformation (the Vatican's response to the Protestant Reformation) the Belgian archdioceses decided to put more emphasis on the teachings of the church and manifested as featuring the pulpit rather than the altar at the front of the church. The results are amazing, as you'll see in the pictures.

      Belgium needs a reality show called pimp my pulpit.
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    • Day 2

      Gevonden?

      July 16, 2023 in Belgium ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

      Gisteravond zijn wij aangekomen op een parkeerplaats, een klein stukje lopen van een van de Bivakplekken. Op deze plekken mag je overnachten maar dan moet je eigenlijk wel reserveren. 3x raden wie dat niet hebben gedaan.
      Na in het donker nog even de grote tent voor ons 4e te hebben opgezet en het avond eten klaar te hebben gemaakt en gegeten zijn we gaan slapen.
      Vanochtend wakker geworden. Met Otis wandelen en mijn "medicine" (ademhalings oefening) gedaan bij het kampvuur wat nog een klein beetje brand.

      Vanmiddag gaan wij Merel ophalen in Antwerpen.

      En daarna gaat de zoektocht door.
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    • Day 4

      Day 4. Meersel-Dreef - Mechelen

      February 8 in Belgium ⋅ 🌧 8 °C

      Today we got up and headed to Mechelen, another bad weather day so we are going the longer route and enjoying Belgium inside the van🤣, we enjoyed driving through the countryside and seeing all the lovely villages along the way. Belgium seems to have beautiful properties everywhere!
      We stopped to restock water and empty waste. This is the first aire we have stopped at, pretty cool but they never seem to be close to where you want to be so far in Belgium! We found a cool park up next to a sport complex near Mechelen and walking distance to a train station to take us into Antwerp & Brussels over the next few days.

      By the time we had done a food shop, we walked Maddy and cooked periperi chips and Chicken schnitzel whilst enjoying a nice Jupiler (Belgian lager). A chilled early night in the van ready for the city tomorrow.
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    • Day 4

      Op de Dijle……

      July 3, 2022 in Belgium ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

      Die Dijle bzw. Dyle oder Tîle ist ein belgischer Fluss, der durch die Provinzen Wallonisch-Brabant, Flämisch-Brabant und Antwerpen fließt.
      Sie entspringt bei Houtain-le-Val, einer Teilgemeinde der wallonisch-brabanter Stadt Genappe an der Südgrenze der ehemaligen Provinz Brabant und durchfließt die Städte Ottignies, Wavre, Löwen und Mechelen.
      An der Dijle schlug Arnulf von Kärnten 891 „das große Heer“ der Wikinger.

      Wir sind nur zu 5. am Boot - los geht’s……
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    • Day 2

      Mechelen

      April 23, 2023 in Belgium ⋅ 🌧 11 °C

      Uiteindelijk aangekomen in Mechelen en ingecheckt bij het pastoraat waar ik had gereserveerd in de Merodestraat vlakbij de kathedraal waar ik morgen ook nog even een stempel voor mijn credential ga halen. Een non moest het regelen, niet dus.....na vele telefoontjes was het akkoord en werd ik begeleid naar kamer 1 op de 3e verdieping...??? 😀 omdat ik uit de verbindingen lag eerst via de tablet contact gezocht, gelukt en toen eerst maar een warme maaltijd. Meteen Peguins bijgewerkt. Foto's worden nog bijgewerkt zodra de problemen met de telefoon zijn opgelost. Morgen iig om 08.00 uur de fiets pakken en via de telefoonwinkel op weg naar dag 2...
      O ja, ik voel me goed, zeker ook omdat deze dag de langste rit was, 90 km + en ik vind dat het goed is gegaan.
      Zo, goed geslapen en weer gereed voor vertrek. Zit nu op een overdekt terras op de grote markt want de telecomwinkel gaat pas om 10 uur open. Het regent dus ik zit voorlopig goed..ik moet dingen faxen want anders ga ik daar gedurende mijn tocht alleen last van krijgen EN vertraging en daar zit ik niet op te wachten..
      Mijn gsm ligt nu bij de reparateur, aansluiting was defect, over een uurtje klaar (gelukkig). Henk is onderweg voor m'n Garmin te bekijken. Nu een kopje koffie in café Salvator. De oude garde zit al aan de duvel..... er zitten nu 10 mensen aan het bier en een voor een gaan ze naar buiten om te roken, ik moet constateren dat hier de sociale onderkant binnen zit, triest eigenlijk, niet veel te makken en dan dit....
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    • Day 11

      Adieu

      July 25, 2023 in Belgium ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

      Het is tijd, de hoogste tijd.
      De 10 dagen zitten er op, en deze BOP23 editie zit er helaas alweer op.
      We moeten afscheid nemen dus nog een laatste kus van Otis en een groepsknuffel en dan Rijden we nog een klein stukje samen in de zelfde richting en dan gaan Elize en Malou weer naar het noorden en Nina en Ik naar het oosten. Wij gaan namelijk nog naar Oostenrijk voor een paar dagen, hier hebben we afgesproken met Ninas ouders en broer, mijn moeder kan zelf helaas niet komen en samen gaan wij naar een concert van... het zal toch niet.... Rammstein! Eerst nog even ~12 uur rijden.Read more

    • Day 5

      Get things done!

      September 18, 2023 in Belgium ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

      Today we had a slow start as we weren’t in a rush to go anywhere. We had a number of errands to run and things to do. We headed off to Ottiginies to purchase a large box from the Post Office so that I can send a whole lot of clothes I left here last year when the plan was to spend 4 months in Cahors.

      Then we picked up some lovely soaps from Provence that I really like and we went and bought some delicious chocolates as a thank you to a women who found a number of cards belonging to Stéphane that he had lost. I then also got my hair cut as my hairdresser went on holidays recently and so I wasn’t able to get a trim prior to heading off on holidays.

      I then took Brigitte out to lunch to a favourite restaurant of ours, Maxime, in Wavre. Brigitte had moule frit and I had steak tartare, the meals were delicious.

      After lunch we did some grocery shopping and planned dinner- deciding I would cook schnitzel, which was a hit with both Emma and Stephane.

      We also harvested some of the wonderful produce Brigitte and Stéphane grow including tomatoes, potatoes, cucumbers and pumpkins. I also finished my first holiday novel - Before the Coffee Gets Cold - which was a lovely read and I have now started reading Vanessa McCausland’s - Dreaming in French - which I am thoroughly enjoying.
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    • Day 36

      Markets of Wavre and lunch!

      October 19, 2022 in Belgium ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C

      After a nice slow start we headed into Wavre again today to check out the Wednesday Markets. The whole of the town centre is closed off to traffic and they have a huge market. I sent a box of winter clothes over to Belgium for me to have as we travel north where it is much cooler. Unfortunately the box is still with customs! I was very clear with what was in the box - my personal clothes and boots - but someone the customs office thought Brigitte had ordered these clothes from Australia and wanted to charge importation tax of 544 euros - for my old clothes!!!! Brigitte finally spoke to someone and explained they were my clothes and so the charge has been waived but we are still waiting for the box to be delivered and we leave for Copenhagen on Monday. As I don’t have many warm clothes I purchased a couple of things at the market. I have also found a store with great boots, so if I don’t get my box in time I will need to buy some jeans and boots.

      After wandering around the markets for a while we decided to get lunch at a brasserie owned by friends of Brigitte called Bar A K. It was such a fun place - great food and wine and a wonderful ambiance, a bit quirky and everyone was so friendly. This brasserie is also a bar and has lots of live music and it would be fun to attend a gig if we get the chance.

      A quiet night at home trying to catch up on my blog, with a wonderful Caprese salad with the wonderful tomatoes from Brigitte’s garden.
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    • Day 8

      Rainy Thursday

      September 21, 2023 in Belgium ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

      Woke up to the rain falling. We had planned to go to Brussels today but there is rain predicted all day. So I spent the morning doing some laundry and getting organised for our trip to France as the next few days before we leave are going to be very busy with social engagements.

      For lunch we met up with Brigitte’s friend Eva and we went to Le Bar à K a lovely little spot in Wavre that Brigitte and I frequented many times during my visit last year. They both had garlic prawns and I had prawns with Chicory. We had a lovely bottle of rosé to go with the meal. It was also an early celebration for Brigitte’s birthday which is Saturday.

      After lunch we went back to Eva’s place in Limal for coffee.

      Tonight Brigitte made the National Belgian dish Chicons au Gratin, (there is some debate about what is the National dish - some say Waterzooi (Soupish Stew) Moules Frites (Mussels & Fries) Cannibales (a type of steak tartare) and Waffles are all on the list. Chicons au Gratin consists of Chicory that is boiled and then wrapped in ham, placed in a baking dish, covered with white sauce and cheese and then placed under a grill. It is an interesting dish and quite delicious. It is a good dish on a cold day.
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    Arrondissement Leuven

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