A little while after settling into our new
flat in London, we popped across the channel to Belgium.
The Eurostar was
fantastic – so easy and relaxing, and we were in Brussels in around 2 hours. As
well as visiting this great little country, I also wanted to visit my host
family who I stayed with for a year in 2003.
We spent a few days in Brussels,
where I tried to act as guide and show Kylie the sights, sounds, and
especially, tastes of the city.
Highlights of Brussels for us included the
Tintin museum, the royal palace, la grand place (Brussels’ central square), the great architecture around the city, and
the Cantillon Brewery.
This brewery was really interesting and
also had the advantage of being close to the gare du nord (from where you take the eurostar). They don’t offer
brewery tours as such; instead you’re given some key info, and a detailed
pamphlet, and you can wander around the brewery at your leisure. This is an old
family brewery which makes a selection of lambic beers. Lambic beer is produced
by spontaneous fermentation; it is
exposed to wild yeasts and bacteria in the air. The attic of the brewery
therefore has slats which can be opened or closed depending on the weather,
temperature, and its possible effects on the beer. Included in the price of admission (6 euros)
is a welcome glass of beer. Highly recommend visiting this brewery for an
unique insight into traditional brewing methods, and the beer is tasty too.
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| Spontaneous fermentation |
It was good to use my rusty French,
although a little frustrating at things I kept forgetting.
Next stop was Louvain-la-Neuve, and the
lovely Kreit family. Louvain-la-Neuve, or LLN to the locals, was built relatively recently – around 40
years ago. The story goes that both French-speaking Belgians (Walloons) and
Dutch-speaking Belgians (Flemish) once attended the Catholic University of
Leuven/Louvain together – in the Flemish region of the country. Disagreements
between the two groups led to the Walloons creating their own version of
Leuven/Louvain, hence ‘Louvain-la-Neuve’ (‘the new Louvain’), and their own
university as well.
During my time in LLN in 2003 it was very
noticeably a student town, and it felt quite deserted in the summer months. In
2012 however a lot had changed. There is now a brand new shopping complex. More
people, families especially, have been moving to the town, and there was a lot
of life in the town, although the middle of summer (which had previously felt
deserted as the students went home or in search of summer work elsewhere).
In LLN we stayed with my host parents Véronique and Jean-François,
and managed to see host sisters Marguerite and Evelyne, as well as recent
addition to family, Evelyne’s daughter Lily. It was great to catch up with them
all – although my host parents visited NZ a few years ago, I hadn’t seen the
others for 9 years!
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| la famille Kreit |
From LLN we headed back to Brussels, where
we met up with Monique, a friend from NZ who was living in Brussels at the
time. Monique kindly let us stay in her studio in Brussels, took us to the reputedly
best ‘friterie’ (fries shop) in the city (Antoine’s), and gave us some local
tips.
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| Royal Palace |
We took some day trips to Leuven and Ghent
in the Flemish region, enjoying the great architecture, and local tastes.
