We stopped at a bar for a bit of alcoholic sustenance and considered our evening meal possibilities. The hotel had a grill bar but the thought of steak etc. was off-putting so when we spotted an Italian restaurant we thought we would give it a try. Back at the hotel we repaired to the hotel Cocktail Bar where a gin and tonic being bought by a customer looked appealing. So I had a gin (can't remember what the barman said it was but he assured me I would like it) with lightly crushed juniper berries, a bay leaf and Fever Tree Mediterranean tonic. It was really nice. I felt sorry for Jim with his boring beer. Dinner was a cheapie - meat in pancakes with a bolognese sauce and cheesy sauce and a glass for house wine for a tenner - it did the trick but not gourmet like our night in Alchemilla in Nottingham. We had an early night as we had to get up early for the Channel Tunnel crossing.
We got to the Channel Tunnel early - what's new. It turned out we were very early as there was a 30 minute delay because of some incident at the terminal in Calais. So we passed the timde in the terminal with hundreds of others in the same position. Taking Le Shuttle is very simple. You queue for ages and then drive down and in the side of the huge train. We were on the upper deck. It is recommended that passengers stay in their vehicles but there are toilets should the need arise.
Our journey to Leuven was pleasant as the weather was good and there were no hold ups on the motorways other than the ring road around Brussels. We found our exchange home in Swartsusterstraat with surprisingly little difficulty and could park just across the road at the school so tranferring luggage took only 2 short journeys. Then the fun/stress started!
Our exchange partners live in an apartment that involves a lift to the 2nd floor, 2 sets of steps down and a few paces to the door. They live upside down - living and kitchen upstairs and bedrooms and bathroom downstairs. No problem with that. However, the stairs are a problem!
Standing at the top of the stairs having to bend down to reach the handrail was a positively (negatively?) vertiginous experience. I made my way down holding on for dear life and taking each step with two feet one after the other. I could not see how we were to take our luggage down. And things were further complicated on discovering that there is a bathroom downstairs - but no toilet! And we have searched every nook and cranny. There's a lot to be said for a gozunder but none was to be found. So now these treacherous stairs will have to be braved during the night no doubt resulting in loss of sleep as negotating them requires a being to be fully awake with eyes wide open!!! Going up is less frightening but still requires care. I overcame some of the luggage problem by hurling the items of immediate necessity downstairs and finally following them gingerly making my way from step to step.
It was fortunate that we could park at the school when we arrived and the plan was to park there until Sunday night (as those parking places are reserved from 8am to 4.30 pm for school traffic) and then get a blue disc (and where were we to get blue discs?) which allows you to park in designated areas for a maximum of 10 hours. However, that is not as simple as it sounds and we felt most of time would be spent ensuring that we had the car parked appropriately and for no more than the allowed time. An added complication was that on Sunday there was a triathlon and we could not park at the school. Our exchange partners suggested the nearby underground car park for Saturday night and then the blue discs. On reflection, and for peace of mind as regards security and freedom to spend our 10 days without worry we decided on using the underground car park. We were horrified to discover that a weekly pass to come and go as we please costs 75 euro. We sussed out the car park and decided to put the car in after 4.30 on Saturday and then we could take it out after 4.30 next Friday when we could then park at the school for the weekend. That decided we took ourselves off to La Turquoise - a Turkish restaurant where we shared a mixed hot and cold starters plate. It was good and we started to relax!
Our during the night comfort needs were realised without accident of any kind and we got up on Saturday in a more positive frame of mind. After breakfast I contemplated once again the luggage problem and decided that the cases could be brought down safely if they were empty so I proceeded to hurl things downstairs finally following to gather them up and put them in a wardrobe and a drawer. Jim brought the cases down so in less than an hour we were sorted.
The next step was to find out at the car park how to purchase a 7 day come and go pass. We expected there to be an office of some kind on one of the levels so we took the lift to level -3 and wandered about. Then we did level -2 and so on to no avail. We emerged again and there was a young couple there at the paying machine and they had some English. They said that we had to go across the road to the hospital and get a pass there. Off we went but we couldn't figure out which office to go to. A woman on the hospital staff gave us directions and we were all set. Or so we thought. The person behind the counter went to get us a pass and then asked us who was in hospital that we would need to visit for the week. Of course there was no one unless Jim wanted to have me admitted but it was a heart hospital not a mental institution! So we were denied the pass which seemingly comes with a discount if we are using the hospital. So back we went to the car park where I had the bright idea of pressing the intercom button to get someone to speak to. That worked! She said to put in our parking ticket and she would explain what to do. Jim explained that we did not have the car with us. She said that we had to have the car in the car park before we could purchase a weekly pass. So we had to wait till later to complete the transaction.
We made our way into the Grote Markt - the main square. It was very busy and there was a market on in the streets off it. We had a reviving cup of coffee after our car park ordeal and then had a bit of a look around,
St. Peter's Church in Grote Markt
Fast food?
Leuven Town Hall - a very impressive Gothic building. It features 236 statues that were only added to the facade after 1850.
We were very impressed by the market - wonderful fruit and vegetables so tomatoes and cucumber were bought. Then I got a Gouda cheese and at another stall 2 quiches which we later deemed excellent.
After a quick lunch I took myself out on to the deck outside the living room where I was reading my book to a most cacophonous sound which I originally thought to be birds in a rather agitated state. It was coming from the direction of the communal garden so we decided to investigate. All was calm there but we could still hear a lot of commotion. A gate led from the garden along a short path to a public park with a pond. There we discovered that the sound was emanating from frogs in the pond. It was raucous but strangely enticing and fascinating!
I couldn't catch the movement of the frogs but I did get the sound!
There was a lot going on so I can only assume it was a bit of hanky panky!
The Groot Beginjhof is just across the street from us so we decided to have a look round. This is a well preserved beguinage and completely restored historical quarter of about a dozen streets. It stretches on both sides of the river Dijle which splits into two canals inside the beguinage thus forming an island. The complete beguinages is owned by the university, is used as a campus and houses academics and students. It is a pedestrian and cobble-stoned little village.
This is St. John the Baptist Church, a chapel in Romanesque style built in 1305.
I loved the confessionals.
One of the ancient frescoes.
When we were leaving the John the Baptist Church a volunteer working there suggested we visit Sint-Kwintenskerk which was not too far away.
This is the Jesus in the Stone Chapel which is built on the former cemetery of St. Quentin's Church. It is a small room open to the public for private prayer.
Making my way to St. Quentin's.
And back to the frogs because we are so fascinated by them.
At this stage in the day it was time to put our car into the underground car park. We drove in, took our ticket and went to discover how to purchase a 7 day come and go as you please pass. We pressed the intercom button and got a different voice to the one earlier. This female said that we had to have a pass from the hospital. We patiently explained that that was not so as the hospital pass is only for people who have relatives in the hospital. She insisted that the only pass we could get was from the hospital. I explained that the attendant earlier had said there was no problem getting the 7 day pass. She passed us on to her colleague who told us to look for the button that said week pass. There was no such button. She told us to use the macvhine to the left of the one we were using. I did but there was no button saying week pass. Meanwhile a woman had come to pay her parking ticket and suddenly the button week pass lit up. I immediately pressed it not being aware that I was interfering with that woman's transaction. I apologised profusely but the woman's PAID ticket did not come out. There followed a lot of confusion as I explained to the intercom that there were now 2 people with ticket problems. She told me to give the woman my ticket to put into the machine. I did reluctantly as I had visions of our ticket going with that woman and us being left with none and with our car in the car park unable to be taken out. In all the confusion the woman got sorted out and we got our ticket and the attendant told us that we could not buy a 7 day ticket. I wasn't satisfied with that so we wandered off for a think and came back, This time I put the ticket into the machine and week ticket came up and - success! We had our ticket, our car was safe and we could relax. At least I thought we could but Jim needed to know how to get in and out of the car park using the 7 day ticket. So onto the intercom again and fortunately it was a man this time who gave us the information we needed. We repaired to the pub downstairs for restoratory beer!
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