Leuven's Groot Begijnhof

A few weekends ago we had our first consecutive Friday, Saturday and Sunday with not a bit of travel in it. Stemming from an accidental booking* of Rome in January, we may be forced into another such weekend since the funds set aside for this weekend have now been newly assigned to the first weekend we are back in Belgium in 2013. Can I say "weekend" more? However, I might just be getting excited about a stay in Leuven for the weekend (guess I can). There are things to be discovered in our own backyard. 

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For instance, there is an amazing set of trails in some woods nearby. And when I say nearby I mean a 45 minute walk from our apartment and then the trails I'm pining for (get it, pining? Woods have Pine trees..? ...I'm sorry, it's late/early) would take us quite a bit of time...Chris, are you reading? Are you already dreading the four hour long hiking possibility?

Also, I know it's for the kids, but SANTA SINTERKLAAS came to town yesterday in a parade that we missed by seconds (cue sad face). Luckily his house is set up in the groot markt and I want a glimpse of it. Apparently this is the man that brings presents on December 5th and in the morning the children only receive them. Since Chris keeps getting the "youth" discount everywhere (under 25), I hope he's not expecting a present...

Lastly, the Belgian Art House is a pop-up gallery that was installed in the ground floor of our building and I just realized it closes up after this weekend. A trip to that is necessary as well.

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Okay, wow, really getting off topic this morning. What I want to show you today is what we did with our first no-trip Saturday. 

We visited the Groot Begijnhof which is to say, a very quiet section of Leuven that used to be residences for non-married, semi religious women back in the early 13th century. Get this, they are still used as residences today. I'm not sure how much rent is but wow, that would've been fantastic. Owned by the university now, students and other academics live within. Most of the other places we've been to that are historic landmarks and tourist sites previously housing families or royals are now only museums. It's pretty wonderful that each charming Begijnhof we've visited up to this point has proven to be the only place where it remains: once a residence, always a residence (at least for now).

It became dark very quickly while we were there and my fingers were turning red from the cold. I refused to take off my fuzzy mittens (Thanks Mom M!) any more and keep switching between all the manual settings, atempting to get the right exposure for these photographs. This new camera is a less professional one than my old D70s that I had for years. I (obviously) have yet to figure out how to even get to the manual settings quickly and efficiently. I gave up and we headed to find something hot to drink and somewhere warm to sit. Tomorrow I'll show you what we found. Visitors, the little place you'll see tomorrow almost warrants an "alert" but fret not, we will take you there for sure. 

Until tomorrow, Happy one-week-until-Thanksgiving!

In case you were still wondering... 

*Chris found a great deal on plane tickets to Rome (!) for a super quick, one-day jaunt on what he thought was this Saturday. Turns out it was for a Saturday in December. And that same date in December is the day we are supposed to be in Paris. Needless to say we had to do some very quick maneuvering of dates on the airline's website and change our reservation without losing too much money. I am actually thrilled with the outcome because now instead of whizzing around Rome in one short day for our first trip, we'll have a whole weekend. God works in mysterious ways, sometimes through the slip-up of a date read seconds before tickets are bought, without trip insurance, and for that I am thankful!

Mechelen

Mechelen was more of a surprise than usual for me. Chris planned the entire thing. I wasn't really feeling that part of my routine this week and he offered to find a town and figure it out for us. He did a pretty great job.

First stop was the former school of Anne Boleyn. It has this beautiful little nook of a courtyard garden. I can almost see her here. As most of my knowledge of her comes from Netflix reruns of The Tudors, (I really don't recommend it aside from the eye candy of Jonathan and Henry), I imagined her here as a girl and innocent, before she became the conniving and then death-sentenced wife of Henry VIII...the word you're looking for is "anyway..."

Part of our travels brought us to this church and we ducked inside to wait for the bells to start. They ring for an hour at 11, (or maybe noon, probably noon), playing songs for the whole city to hear. Up front and center was our aim. While waiting, Chris ascended the twisting staircase to the top of the bell tower to view the city and took my camera with him. The image below is looking at the organ from above it through a hole in the floor. He is so brave.

Unfortunately for him, those bells ding-dong a few times each quarter hour and he was standing rather close when they did. Scared him half to death, he said!

Though it was another foggy day, the clouds thick like a comforter, I found this trip a bit enchanting. Sitting in the church, waiting for Chris to return, it was so quiet, only a few other souls inside. I got lost in the history of it all. I sat there and stared at all the details of the marble construction and wondered who else had studied them while sitting through a sermon hundreds of years ago. We've stepped into so many cathedrals and churches since arriving in Europe but thus far none have struck me like this one did so I thought I would share. Thank you.

Mechelen apparently once had a wall around the city, dating back to the middle ages I believe. In 1781 it was ordered to be destroyed and only this gate remains.

I'm such a sucker for nature. And autumn. And crisp weather. And parks. I have a hunch this park was strategically placed near the end of our trip because Chris knew I would want to linger here. He knows me well.

Hats off to all of you Movember crazies. The city sidewalks were all decked out to join in with you. This was one of several that we saw throughout the day.

Belgium is proving to be an interesting place to live in. Just walking along the street can give only one glimpse into the culture of this strange, once-medieval, mostly concrete, often modern, very scenic, and occasionally nature-filled country. I cannot understand it. I will probably never gain full comprehension but I can handle that. I don't think I'm supposed to.

One thing is for sure, and I cannot seem to get over it so please excuse the tiny digression from the point. I have never met people more willing to hold their ground and play chicken as you walk towards each other on these teeny sidewalks with no shoulder buffer to speak of between yourself and the road. Whether man or woman, young, old, group or single individual. No one is moving out of the way until the last possible second, if that. And no one is making eye contact or apologizing for the shove-off either. All that is needed is both parties to turn a little bit sideways to each allow the other safe passage but time after time I realize I'm the only one who did that, everyone else is squared shouldered and unmovable and usually in the center of the sidewalk, not even side stepping a bit. I would expect this in NYC. Not in tiny Leuven (and everywhere else in Belgium). Being someone who has a rather large personal bubble and not a lot patience to speak of some (okay, most) days, I'm about ready to shoulder check the next person that thinks it's okay to ultimately cause me to step into traffic or hug a building to walk past them. What is wrong with a little courtesy!? Ugh. Okay. Rant over.


I'm heading off into the woods today for a little hike because I think the sun may show its face and I for one am not going to miss it! Until tomorrow!

Visitor Alert: Calendar

Getting hit with the travel bug like Sean was?

Those of you who had a glimpse at the wedding day timeline I made for September 2, 2011 will find the rest of this post as no surprise. It is a study in slightly neurotic behavior masquerading as extreme organization in a need to offer ourselves as hosts with complete attention. All that to say: I made a calendar so visitors will not overlap if they don't want to.

I'm adding in the trips that we are planning on taking ourselves because it costs a lot more to book last minute, even with trains, so we already have our January plans finalized and will be working on February soon enough. I'm guessing also that those who are planning to come will want to buy tickets well in advance as well. As in, you should probably think about buying them 3-6 months in advance and I'm not exaggerating. I'll do another alert on flight-tips but for right now, just the calendar stuff. We have fifteen more cities that we definitely want to go to. They're all written down in a tiny little notebook and so far we have nine (just booked an almost accidental trip to Rome for January) ten outside of that fifteen that have little checks next to them.

So I've made an extra page on this little blog, it's on the left-hand side. Those of you on mobile things, switch to the web version to check this out. Click on "Calendar" over there and you'll get to what I'm talking about. These are calendars that I'll be adding to every time something is booked: get-togethers over Christmas break back in New York, week-long adventures with this or that set of family here in Belgium, three-week stays from a friend named Leigha...?

I'll be adding the rest of 2013 months very soon. I'm working on them today in fact. UPDATE: All calendars are up, however, after January there's nothing to be filled in with regards to plans so help us fill them up. I'm doing all of this because I sincerely want everyone to be able to come that wants to and give all visitors undivided attention. Alright, enough from me, start planning and then get in touch!

Tomorrow Mechelen travels.

My Heros

Freedom is never free

Thank you Papa and Grandpa. Thank you all veterans. 

40 Fonts

Christmas is on my brain lately and that fact that it is my favorite holiday has nothing to do with it. Maybe only a little. Being in Belgium is the reason for this Thanksgiving-skipping, Christmas-music-playing (while Chris is at work), gift-giving-planning, mood that I'm in. There's no reason to hold back once Halloween is over. Christmas is the next holiday so up went the lights and down came all fall window displays. So I decided to get into the spirit and made this for you ^ along with a font list post of my new favorites that I use to create all things blog and otherwise.

The rest of this post is also inspired by another list that I've been hanging onto since February. I loved that this person offered up a whole bunch of new font styles but at the same time, I wanted all of them to be free. These ones are. At the bottom, I'll show you how to install new ones if you want this all laid out for you!

1. A Day in Autumn by Gabriele
2. Annabel Script by Jose Alberto Reyes Galvez
3. Cafe & Brewery by Brittney Murphy
4. Champignon by ClaudeP
5. Channel by Mans Greback
6. Chopin Script by ClaudeP
7. Christmas Card by Harold's Fonts
8. Christmas Lights by GreyWolf Webworks
9. Christmas Snow by TatooWoo
10. Commercial Script by Author Unknown







































11. Dawning of a New Day by Kimberly Geswein
12. Dynalight by Astigmatic
13. Doris Day by Mario Arturo
14. FoglightenNo06 by Gluk
15. Jane Austen by Pia Frauss
16. Kingthings Christmas by Kingthings
17. Lavanderia by James T. Edmonson
18. Little Lord Fontleroy by Nick's Fonts
19. Little School by Algomgom
20. Matilde by Typedepot

21. Mayonaise by Maria Nunes
22. Medley Script by D.L.
23. Mirella by Intellecta Design
24. One Two Trees by CloutierFontes
25. Pacifico by Vernon Adams
26. Peach Sundress by Teagan White
27. Pineapples Don't Have Sleeves by Kelvin Ma
28. Quickier by Mans Greback
29. Rocket Script by Font Diner
30. Roskrift Clean by Mans Greback

31. Saint Louis Light by Fonts101Bot
32. Signerica by Mans Greback
33. Sketch Block by Artill
34. Stitches by Cenz Gobbel
35. Suilly la Tour by JB Foundry
36. Sverige Script by Mans Greback
37. The Last Font I'm Wasting On You by GyakuSetsu
38. Waltograph by Justin Callaghan
39. Wiegel Latin by Peter Wiegel
40. Windsong by Bright Ideas


This how-to page for installing fonts is pretty self-explanatory. It doesn't specify for Windows 7 or Vista but I was still able to download and install all of these and they showed up right away. Give it a try. Make something! Or....


A tattoo is (possibly) in the works for my siblings and I (heads up, Sean). I've had my thoughts on a separate one for myself for about a year. I began looking into possible styles for it awhile ago and started downloading fonts to accommodate said styling ideas. Probably almost none of you know that I've had a tattoo for a few years now, (sorry, Grandma). They say it can be an addiction, you can't stop at just one. They might be right.

That's why I'm linking all of my favorite fonts that I've downloaded so far. These are NOT exclusively tattoo fonts. A Waltograph tattoo? Please. But it was the catalyst for searching for fonts and bringing them all to you today.



Tomorrow something new for potential traveling visitors!

Sunday Photo

walking home from the train

Happy Friday

Last weekend we had our trips and then skyped with a few friends for close to four hours (including a two-hour soccer game). We'll be watching a game again on Saturday and hoping to catch a glimpse of them in the stadium cheering their brains out for another friend on the team.

Hooooold on a second, I just heard the water for our heater start up. Must. Be. Next. To. It. I'm freezing most days of my life and these days in Belgium are certainly no exception so I need to relocate...and switch chairs at the table...hah ahhh okay, moving on.

I'm not sure what the rest of the weekend has in store for us but I'm excited to have Chris for two full days with no work again. I was a little spoiled from last weekend's four days in a row. I have a little link round up for you with an important one sprinkled in (no. 9).

 

1. Kelly in Belgium, in a nutshell. Must remember to keep an open heart.

2. DIY sparkle for any home.

3. Funfetti dip. I'll be making this at Christmastime (due to lack of funfetti here).

4. Leia is officially welcomed to Disney. Take your place, Princess.

5. Pop culture silhouettes.

6. The New York Times breaks it down for you.

7. No matter where I am, when they are there, I am home.

8. Find a new favorite word. 

9. Help Sandy victims get back on their feet. A few different ways to help.

10. I want a Jane Eyre scarf.

Have a wonderful weekend, see you Monday (and maybe once this weekend if you're lucky)!