Dad Comes to Visit

At the end of April I was lucky to have my Dad come to visit. He hemmed and hawed about visiting but finally decided to come. I think that he was extremely happy with his decision. 


He arrived early Thursday morning and I met him at the airport. It was weird to see him in "my" city. We picked up the car that he had rented for the week and with the directions I had printed on Google Maps, we headed for my huis. We didn't get very far, however. The directions were confusing to follow and we ended up circling the airport three times before deciding to head back to the airport and rent a GPS. The best decision we could have made. We would have been lost without it the entire trip.


With the GPS set up, we headed to Leuven. We parked in the Groot Begijnhof, which used to be an area where unmarried, religious women could live without having to live according to strict vows and restrictions that nuns lived by. It is a beautiful area, full of brick and cobblestone. It is a world heritage site and is also where my director, Dr. Hughes, and his wife Sue live for the two years that they are here. 

I showed my dad around the huis and he took a nap in my dorm room while I went to class. After class, I picked up snacks and T'Vorkske sandwiches and we hit the road for a 7 hour drive to St. Malo in Brittany. On the way, my dad got his first experience with Belgium weather. It was downpouring one minute, beautiful blue skies the next. It was a long drive (and thank god we decided to get the GPS or else we would have probably never have made it to St. Malo) and my dad was tired, so I offered to drive for a bit. The only problem: the car was a stick-shift. I've never driven a stick before, but I decided to give it a try. Not the best idea. I drove for maybe an hour, sputtering and jerking the whole way. The highway was easy because I didn't have to shift too much. But the problem was the tolls. There were a million in France and I had trouble stopping and starting the car up again. It got so bad that my dad had to control the stick while I focused on the pedals when we harshly jerked out of the toll booths. Not my finest moment. I was gripping the steering wheel so hard I thought I was going to have a bruise the next day and I nearly kissed the ground when we finally squealed into a rest stop and we switched drivers. But as Dr. Hughes always says, it's all part of the experience. And this experience traumatized me enough that I probably won't be attempting to drive a stick again anytime soon.


We finally made it to St. Malo around 11pm and instantly crashed. In September, I had spent a week in Paris, St. Malo, and Normandy with my school group so we were basically doing the school trip in reverse. We were starting in St. Malo, heading to the Normandy beaches, then straight to Paris and later home to Leuven. 


The next morning, we got up early, ate breakfast in our hotel, and headed to Mont St. Michel. We took the scenic route and drove by the coast, which was spectacular. The water seemed so clean and the beaches looked beautiful. On the drive, we saw some, donkeys, horses, and kangaroos. Yes, KANGAROOS! At first I thought they were giant rabbits or something, but when we got out of the car and later asked the worker there, she said that they were really kangaroos. I couldn't believe it, but they were not what I expected them to look like. They stared at me like I was from another planet and barely hopped around, but I felt like I had stepped into Australia.

Kangaroo!?!

Albino kangaroo?

Finally we made it to Mont St. Michel. It's a beautiful old abbey built on top of a giant rock in the middle of the bay. I was lucky enough to be seeing it a second time, but my dad was blown away by it. It is an incredible structure and I can't imagine being the mailman to deliver letters there. 

Mont St. Michel 

Tiny alley. 

After Mont St. Michel, we headed back to St. Malo. We walked around the walled city of St. Malo, which have old ramparts. It is beautiful walking along the ramparts, looking at the pretty cobblestoned village on one side and the ocean on the other. We ate crepes for dinner and ordered a delicious pear and chocolate desert.

The walled city of St. Malo

The ramparts.

The next morning, we jumped in the car again to head to the Normandy beaches. I must note that it's so nice to have a car to get around in. I've been used to traveling only with trains, buses, and simply walking everywhere. It is much more convenient to have a car and be able to drive where you want. Our first stop was Juno Beach, where there was a Canadian museum and cemetery further back. We almost got away with a free tour but they caught us so we weren't able to do it. But we went through the museum, which was very interesting, and later found the beautiful Canadian cemetery. Oddly though, it was not near the beach and we had to drive a couple of miles to find it. It was very pretty, with different flowers planted, though we were the only ones there. 

Juno Beach

Canadian Cemetery

Afterwards, we headed towards Omaha beach to see the American cemetery. I had seen it before but it never fails to impress. It is massive and overlooks the English Channel on top of a large hill. The crosses are all symmetrical and there are beautiful tributes to the soldiers who fought and died in the war. The Canadian cemetery was beautiful, but the American cemetery is extremely moving. We drove down to the beach, and my dad climbed up the hill to see some of the bunkers in the side of the hill while I stayed in the car because it was very windy and cold. My dad said climbing up the hill was an experience he'll never forget. He imagined climbing the hill while dodging bullets and carrying heavy equipment on his back. It's hard to imagine that this was the reality the soldiers faced as they stormed the beaches of Normandy. 

American Cemetery

After visiting the beaches, we drove 2 1/2 hours to Paris. We stayed in La Defense, a residential area outside of Paris where we were able to score free parking. It was neat to stay outside of the hustle and bustle of Paris and see the other side. We had a late dinner of pizza and hit the hay. The next morning, we woke up early for a full day of walking around Paris. I adore Paris and I was so excited to be able to visit it again. We walked through the outskirts of a nearby park, up to the Arc de Triomphe and down the Champs-Élysées. On the Champs-Élysées, we ate breakfast at Charles V cafe. I had a Nutella crepe and my dad had a croque-madame, which was delicious. We sat around small tables and faced the sidewalk, people watching as the sun came out and the drizzling rain turned into a beautiful day. Afterwards, we walked to the Place de la Concorde, where you got a great view of the trees lining the Champs-Élysées, leading up to the Ard de Triomphe. It was also funny because some Asian tourists were video taping themselves twirling around and looking amazed to be in Paris. I wish I had gotten a video of them because their enthusiasm and dancing were priceless.

The Arc du Triompe

Café George V, where we ate a great breakfast.

Place de la Concorde

View of the Arc du Triompe up the Champs Élysées 

The backs of the dancing tourists.

The Louvre

We walked to the Louvre, grabbed a ham and cheese baguette, and then headed to the Musée d'Orsay, one of my favorite museums. It is an old train station where you can see masterpieces by artists such as Degas, Monet, Manet, Van Gogh, and Seurat. I loved visiting it a second time because I saw paintings and exhibits that I had completely missed the first time. On the top level, there are beautiful, giant clock windows where you can see a beautiful view of Paris and especially, the Sacré-Cœur Basillica.

Musée D'Orsay

View of the Basilica Sacré-Cœur from inside the Musee D'Orsay

Afterwards, we stopped at a cafe to refresh and have a drink. I loved sitting at the cafés and people watching. We walked through the Luxembourg gardens, past the Notre-Dame cathedral, and took a metro to the Sacré-Cœur basillica, where we were able to see a great view of Paris. It is a beautiful church that is surrounded by a cute area, where we ate dinner at the same place I ate the first time I was there. It was a small restaurant on a side street, but it was very good. We got cheese fondue and talked to two extremely nice Australia women who were on a month-long trek through Europe.

In the Luxembourg Gardens

People playing chess.

Notre Dame Cathedral.

View from Basilica Sacré-Cœur.

The Sacré-Cœur Basilica 

The Eiffel Tower from afar

We ended the night taking the metro back to the Eiffel Tower and seeing it all light up at night. We stayed until we saw the Tower sparkle, which is my favorite part. It is beautiful to see the Eiffel Tower at night. Although my dad was annoying me by taking a lot of pictures throughout the day and night, we had fun. Because the metro no longer ran after 12:30, we walked back to our hotel and fell asleep instantly.

We had an early morning again as we drove back to Belgium. I had class at 2 so my dad relaxed in his bed and breakfast (after he finally found the building and parking) while I was in class. At night, we had dinner at the Notre Dame, which is right in the Leuven main square. We ate outside and had a great meal as we people watched again. I went home after that and my dad wandered around, trying some of the great Belgian beers and discovering the nightlife in Leuven. He said that he felt old surrounded by so many college students, but it was fun to be in that atmosphere again.

The next day we drove to Brussels. Brussels is a great city and I was able to show my dad around. The main square was beautiful and we sat on the steps eating Belgium waffles. I showed him the St. Hubert Galleries where he bought some chocolate and the Delirium Cafe, which once held the Guinness Book of World Records for the bar with the most beers in a bar. We saw the Manneken Pis, the famous tiny statue of the peeing boy. We then ate in a really cool cafe right beside the statue and tried the Delirium beer, which was strong but good. The bar had cool decorations inside, with all sorts of knick-knacks and old photographs. And as luck would have it, some people who were from Connecticut, my home state, sat down right next to us.

The Manneken Pis

Delirium Beer

After resting for a bit, we walked to the Jacques Brel museum. Jacques Brel is one of my dad's favorite singers, so I embarrassed him and made him jump in front of the posters outside the building so that I could take his picture, much to the chagrin of the people sitting outside a cafe across the street. My dad was disappointed though, when we found out we couldn't take the audio tour because it was a special day that was only for people with reservations.We walked around Brussels some more, seeing some pretty churches and a cool skatepark, and then headed to Louvain-La-Neuve. 

The Jacques Brel museum

Louvain-La-Neuve is a town in Wallonia, the French part of Belgium. It split from the Catholic University in Louven, which is in  Flanders, the Dutch part of Belgium and where I live and go to school. It is said that the Dutch in the University kicked the French out over language disagreements in the 1960s, prompting the French to form their own section of the University in a completely different area. They built the town from scratch and today it is a popular college town. The town is pretty, but as it is so recently built, it does not have the same beauty and historical significance that Leuven has. We walked around for a bit and even wandered through the gift shop of the Tin Tin museum before heading back to Leuven.

Tin Tin Museum
Source

Once back, we went straight to dinner at Domus, a restaurant and small brewery. We tried the Domus beers and had a good meal of chicken vol-au-vent and Flemish stew. We picked up my suitcase, which I had packed full of winter clothes and objects I didn't need, to send home with my dad. Later that night, I took him to some of the bars in the Oud Markt, which is called the longest bar in Europe because it is a large square completely full of bars. With the nice weather, each bar puts tables and chairs outside so you can take your beer outside and sit while you enjoy the night. He had been there the previous night, but I showed him Giraf, a popular bar we go to. We sat outside for a bit and enjoyed our last night. So far he had tried Belgium waffles and beers (but unfortunately no mussels because they were out of season), so all he had left was to try Belgium fries. I took him to my favorite fritur on the corner of the Oude Markt. He loved the fries and we devoured them with our tiny forks, dipping them in the delicious Andalouse sauce. 

I met him early the next morning and drove with him to the airport. After we checked the bag, which thank god fit the weight requirement and was 50lbs, the maximum weight, exactly, we said our goodbyes. I waved to him once he went through the visa check area, and headed home. I was exhausted from our week of travel. Although it sometimes felt rushed, I was happy he was able to see so much in a short period of time. He loved France and was proud to have been to Normandy, where his ancestors originated. I know he had fun, and I enjoyed spending time with him and showing him the place where I've lived for the year.