I'm baaack

[evaelisabeth]

I had a blast in Belgium, I was in the city of Leuven which is about 15 minutes drive from Brussel's. The food is amazing, if you are into chocolate I cannot recommend this place enough. The bakeries are a carboholics heaven and there is restaurant every 20 yards or so. I had to get up obscenely early on Wedensday (3am) to make my flight out of Dublin and arrived at the Irish College around 10:15am. The Irish College now also known as the Louvain Institute was built in 1607 to educate the children of the Irish nobility as they were no longer allowed to be educated in their own country. My room had an oak beam that was more than 1 foot by 1 foot running accross the ceiling and I had a view of a beautiful Tudor garden from my window. The town of Leuven itself is Flemmish but everyone pretty much speaks English so I had no problem getting around. It's been a College town for centuries and there are over 60,000 students there at any one time. The bars open all night and I have no idea how the students manage not to do permanent damage to their livers. My own class was out most nights until the wee hours and not inconsiderable hang overs were the order of the day.

I got to meet three of the Irish Members of the European Parliament and now have a much more detailed idea of that institution which was fascinating. The town has a wonderful history and beautiful architecture. I got some great detailed pictures of a madona with child that I will post to flickr for those of you interested in costuming. The only two drawbacks to all this were the cobbelstones that are everywhere and the smoking that is not prohibited in bars or restaurants (there are no Non-smoking sections) but I heard that was going to change in a month or so.

I got back around 9:30pm last night in one piece and with all my luggage intact. All in all a very nice little trip.