Fighting the Cobbles - My trip to Belgium in 2018, Part 33 Walhain to Chastre

This blog continues the previous Part 32
https://gerdiwanninger.blogspot.com/2018/11/fighting-cobbles-my-trip-to-belgium-in_19.html

Friday, June 29, 2018

“The most beautiful in the world is, of course, the world itself.”

Wallace Stevens, American modernist poet (1879-1955)

   Walking along the relatively flat and very straight Chaussée de Namur I noticed that my shadows on my left grew very long. The sun prepared to set between the fields on my right - time to look for a place for the night.
   I've carried my sleeping bag and the small tent in my sports bag on wheels which I pulled the whole time behind me. So I’ve decided to spend this night besides the road I was walking on. I don't think there would be many hotels around this part of Belgium anyway...So I walked with one eye on the road and the other searching for a nice place.
   Right before a tiny country town, I discovered a wheat field with would be harvested soon. Between the road and this field was a small stripe of green grass, a natural cushion beneath my sleeping bag for the night. But I’ve decided against the tent; I wanted to see what's going on; the air was clean despite the nearby road and, most import of all, no insects were flying around bothering me in the night.
   As I wrote before I am an early sleeper and an early riser. Just as the sun sent its last red beams into the evening sky I pulled out my camera, put it on the tripod and took some last shots of a beautiful sunset literally right out of my sleeping bag...

Sunrise somewhere in Belgium

   It was a peaceful night only occasionally some cars driving by on this main road. After dark the street light got switched on and lit during the whole night. To protect my eyes I pulled my multi-functional neck warmer over them and slept very well...

   The next morning the sun prepared for another show - a beautiful sunset. Again I pulled my tripod and camera out of my bag and took some shots, this time out of my sleeping bag. 

Sunset somewhere in Belgium

   After the excitement of saving the sunset on my memory card through a very cheap 2nd hand lens, I ate and drank something which I would call a 'breakfast'. The main road was still very quiet but the sleeping bag had to be packed. Before I took a picture to record my night camp.

My simple Camp for the Night

   Refreshed and full of energy I continued the easy walking on the Chaussée de Namur until I came to a road sign telling me that I am in the 'Nil-St-Vincent' area which merged with Nil-Saint-Marin in 1812. 'Nil' is the name of a small river just like the more famous brother in Egypt.

   To make my walk more interesting I've decided to leave the main road and to turn right into an small country town near Chastre which is called Perbais. 
   There it became even quieter during these early morning hours. I've noticed some children walking to school through tidy small and clearly marked roads. Even in the countryside, there are clear green road signs for cyclists showing the directions and distances in kilometers. A country like this is a nice place to live and the reason why I visited Belgium in the first place.

(to be continued@https://gerdiwanninger.blogspot.com/2019/01/fighting-cobbles-my-trip-to-belgium-in.html)

Disclaimer: I traveled Belgium by myself, I am not sponsored by anyone. Interested subscribers and/or followers in traveling an in this small but beautiful country are more than welcome! If not convenient to subscribe on Blogger.com, I've started my own homepage @ https://gerhardwanninger.wixsite.com/travel

Fighting the Cobbles - My trip to Belgium in 2018, Part 30 - From Wavre to Louvain-la-Neuve

This blog continues the previous Part 29,
https://gerdiwanninger.blogspot.com/2018/10/fighting-cobbles-my-trip-to-belgium-in_29.html

Thursday, June 28, 2018

   

“Traveling – it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller.”

 Ibn Battuta, Maroccan Muslim Scholar and Traveller

   Leaving the Ferrari dealer I passed a boring Volkswagen dealer until I came to a roundabout, an obviously very popular road design in Belgium. After it the Chaussée de Namur merges with the N25 (National Road 25), a wide road built similar to a highway and both names appear on the official map. 

   Again I have to praise the Belgians for their road design. I was walking beside the right lane on the road with separated four lanes, two in every direction. On my side the walkway did not stop but lead me to a pedestrian and cyclist tunnel which lead me to the left side of the road! Here I passed some houses and walked through to a small forest which separated me and the busy car traffic. But not much later I returned to the road and walked directly beside it on a nice path. After a while I passed a young hitchhiker who tried to stop a car for the opposite direction. He was so friendly to pose for a 'bit shaken photo'.

Young Hitchhiker

    Step after step I came closer to the city of Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve, with a population of around 30.000 citizens a large city by Belgian standards. For me, as a foreigner, the French name is not only complicated but also difficult to pronounce. One reason for this might be that this municipality consists of the following sub-municipalities: Ottignies, Louvain-la-Neuve, Céroux-Mousty and Limelette.

   The city features the Louvain-la-Neuve Science Park which was the first of its kind in Belgium. It was created in 1971 and covers 231 hectares (570 acres) of land.

   When I approached another roundabout I've noticed many road signs giving directions to many different destinations. I did not come to Belgium to visit Science Parks but choose to turn right onto the Boulevard de Wallonie direction Louvain-la-Neuve (or 'LLN'). This town was developed from 1968 to provide a home for the Université Catholique de Louvain (Catholic University of Louvain). It is the largest French-speaking University in Belgium and has its roots in 1425 when the Duke of Brabant created the 'University of Louva'.

   This road seemed endless and only sometimes appeared the black letters on white ground of the road sign to my actual destination, the Hergé Museum. Georges Prosper Remi, or better known under his pen name Hergé ([ɛʁʒe]), was a Belgian cartoonist best known for creating 'The Adventures of Tintin', a series of popular European comics in the 20th century.

   
      Finally I turned left and entered almost immediately the grounds of the Université Catholique de Louvain which seems to be sized like a town by itself and the reason for this long road I just traveled. It educates more than 27,000 students (!) from 127 nationalities in all areas on its different campuses. The university has educated large part of Belgium's elite and is still considered excellent in many fields.

Impressions of the Université Catholique de Louvain

   Because of its huge grounds, I have to admit that I got lost. But a kind person gave me a minute and tried to listen to my explanation that I was looking for the museum. Of course I pronounced the French name of the cartoonist wrong but he corrected and taught me, understood and explained the way with a generous smile. 

   After leaving the campus I turned right, followed a small road, passed a kindergarten and stood in front of the museum. All the pictures I have seen of the museum showed the signature part very clearly but since then some plants grew and gave me only a partial view...

Musee Hergé or Hergé Museum

(to be continued@https://gerdiwanninger.blogspot.com/2018/11/fighting-cobbles-my-trip-to-belgium-in_19.html)

Disclaimer: I traveled Belgium by myself, I am not sponsored by anyone. Interested subscribers and/or followers in traveling an in this small but beautiful country are more than welcome! 
If not convenient to subscribe on Blogger.com, I've started my own homepage @ https://gerhardwanninger.wixsite.com/travel

Fighting the Cobbles - My trip to Belgium in 2018, Part 29 - Leaving Wavre

This blog continues the previous Part 28,
https://gerdiwanninger.blogspot.com/2018/10/fighting-cobbles-my-trip-to-belgium-in_17.html

Thursday, June 28, 2018

   

'People who wander are nicer to be with. Movement militates against hoarding possessions and against bigotry, because you are constantly moving across boundaries and having to negotiate with people.'

Robyn Davidson, Australian writer

   Most historical towns in Europe are designed in a very similar fashion; the oldest part is an island, governments protect the building, on the outside nothing can be remodeled in a different way than the previous version. Unlike the USA this let European towns stay the way they were even some several hundred years ago. In Germany some cities even rebuilt the city centers as they have been before being bombed thru the II. Word War. Wavre in Belgium is no exception to this rule. Once leaving the historical town center I was faced with the modern amenity: the car. I left the quiet and peaceful town behind me and had to cross a very busy road right in front of me.

   The road I chose was the Chaussée de Namur. The wide road was leading me uphill, between some houses I slowly passed the first companies. One interesting was Vanesse Moto Kawasaki Wavre, a dealer of motorcycles. 

   The 1970s was the pinnacle of the superbikes; when the Japanese big four manufacturers tried to topple each other with bigger & faster machines. The Honda CB 750 four started it all, later followed by the Kawasaki Z1, the original Honda Gold Wing, Suzuki GS 1000 etc. In the window of this dealer was a brand new Kawasaki Z 900 RS Cafe Racer, a homage to the original Z1 in the 1970s when this motorcycle was a dream in design and performance. 

Window of a Kawaski Candy Dealer with the Shadow of a Tourist watching...

   I continued to follow the Chaussée without motorcycle but on my trusted feet without pollution out of a pipe. The road became a much and therefore a much easier one to follow. The houses beside the road stopped and only some dried grass with wild yellow colored flowers became my companions until I crossed a bridge over the Belgian Highway A4.

Highway A4 near Wavre

   After this bridge I came to a fire station. When I stopped for a moment to take a photo from the outside of the building a window was opened and two guys invited me in to take some photos inside the building.  

   I followed their invitation and walked with my sports bag on wheel in the fire station and took some photos of the fire trucks and equipment. As I walked outside the 'chief' opened a glass window and talked to me while other firefighters had some fun in the background. 

   As a clearly identified tourist the fire chief asked where I come from. He told me that he went to Stuttgart several times for training and handover of new fire trucks. Some of their trucks are based on Mercedes Benz vehicles but made by a company called Ziegler, a German manufacturer specialized in firetrucks and equipment. He told me that they are not very busy fighting fires but worried about the dry weather and the heat - a great source of field fires. After a photo and some laughs it was time to continue. 

Wavre Fire Station - 

My Salute to those Men and Women risking their Life protecting and saving Others!

   After I left the fire station I came to a forest. Just when I arrived it at the intersection I've noticed a group of bike riders with two real police men riding on bicycles in the front of a group. They led a class of students on a bike tour.

   Passing the forest I came to the industrial area in a distance but still a part of the city of Wavre. The road was lined with different companies like plumbers and, not surprisingly, lined with some car dealers. One of them was a Ferrari Dealer, Francorchamps Motors Brussels. I crossed the road and checked it out. I was surprised to see so many Italian sports car lined under the open sky without any protection except yellow flags with the 'Prancing Horse' over large 'FERRARI' letters waving over them. I was also surprised that, while I was checking out the cars, no one came out, no one tried to hinder me or did something I would associate with an 'attack of arrogant behavior' which is very common in the the Far East.

   Once I wanted to open the door of a limited edition of a AMG C-Class in a Mercedes Benz car dealership in Taipei/Taiwan. It was locked and the sales man hurried over just to tell me that it could be opened for 'serious' buyers!

   It looks like in Belgium even Ferrari dealers are humans, a good news for tourists like me. One salesman even waved behind his office chair towards me while I took pictures of his beloved cars. I am convinced he would invite me for an Italian Espresso if I would dare to ask... 

‘Open’ Ferrari Dealership with a Tourist in a Window South-West of Wavre

(to be continued@
https://gerdiwanninger.blogspot.com/2018/11/fighting-cobbles-my-trip-to-belgium-in.html)

Disclaimer: I traveled Belgium by myself, I am not sponsored by anyone. Interested subscribers and/or followers in traveling an in this small but beautiful country are more than welcome! 
If not convenient to subscribe on Blogger.com, I've started my own homepage @ https://gerhardwanninger.wixsite.com/travel