Trains, Trains and ...well, Trains

Well, our trip to Leuven was smooth as sandpaper. Really, really rough sandpaper. With nails in it.

We took the metro to the station, where we tried to figure out exactly which train we would be taking. The announcement over the loudspeaker told us we would be taking the train to nowheresville because the Belgium station had been closed due to severe weather (flooding it turns out).

Great.

Beth went to try to get our money back while Ben and I walked around and looked at the trains.

Just as she was about to transfer the tickets to next week (making us lose 1 night of hotel costs), the guy got an update and said our train would be leaving shortly. We hurried to the platform where they proceeded to jam three trains worth of people onto one train. Luckily, we found a seat (facing backwards, but at least we got to sit next to each other).

The train left about an hour after we had been scheduled to depart, but it is a relatively fast train (90-100 mph would be my guess), so Ben had fun looking out the window.

It was relatively fast until we neared Brussels, at which point we stopped, and they told us we were again delayed due to weather.

Great.

We proceeded at a 15 mph pace for the next 20 or 30 min and passed miles of flooded area. There were lots of locals out gazing at the flooded river (which was near to overflowing, which would have gone over onto the train tracks...though there was nothing on the tracks I could see that warranted all the caution) and some flooded farm land, but I don't know what it looked like before, so I can't really say how flooded it really was.

We made it to Brussels, found our next train and waited. Until it was delayed.

Great.

Luckily it wasn't delayed too long, and we were able to get on. After like nine stops, we made it to Leuven and took a taxi to the hotel. We went out and found dinner about a block away at a great restaurant. Best food since the states! I had lamb chops, Beth had lasagna and Ben had mac and cheese with ham (of course). The people here are very nice so far as well. And the streets are clean. And you can take a stand up shower.

We took dessert home (Ben had had it. He slept like 4 hours last night, meaning we had even less) and Beth and Ben ate chocolate mousse and I ate a Brussels waffle (Belgium waffle, I guess that must be the correct name) with ice cream and Norway cherries. It was delightful.

Beth will be gaining some new knowledge tomorrow and Ben and I will be exploring and eating. And maybe sleeping, depending on how tonight goes.