Week Four


It is hard to believe that I am into my fourth week here in Leuven. In fact, Thursday will be the end of the fourth week. It is hard to believe that time is going so quickly. With classes, travel and all sorts of other activities it has been a full month. The coming month should be just as busy and I am sure it will seem like no time before I come to the midway point of my sabbatical.

This weekend I am taking my first long weekend trip. I will be going on the Eurostar train from Brussels to London. I will spend a night in London where I hope to see a play and then head on to Cambridge. Cathedral parishioner Ann Nichols will be my host. She has promised me a tour of the Colleges of Cambridge and we hope to take in Evensong at the Chapel of King's College. This is a vesper service at which the famed King's College Choir sings. The night we are there the service will be broadcast live on BBC. I am also hoping to see the exhibit of Chinese terra cotta soldiers at the British Museum either on Friday or Monday.

This week I also made my plans for Easter holidays. My first inclination was to go to Paris - an easy ride from here and possible to do as a series of day trips. However, some of the things I wanted to do were not possible that week so I will save that for the future.

Instead I will be going to Budapest for several days and then down to Rome. I made my train reservations this week. Even with a Eurail pass there are some trains that require a supplement and others a reservation or sleeping compartment arrangement. I will go from Cologne, Germany during the day and arriving in Budapest in the evening. Then I will take an overnight train to Rome. Finally I will take a night train from Rome to Brussels through Paris. I have never been to Budapest and am looking forward to seeing the sights. Everyone talks about how nice a city it is and relatively inexpensive.

Next week the first of the sabbaticals leaves. One other will leave a few days later and then I think the rest of us will stay until late May. We have bonded nicely and it will be difficult to say goodbye.

Last time I included a beautiful shot of a sunset taken from a room near mine. The photo on top is taken from my window. It is not exactly the same view but similar. You may be able to notice the church spire through the trees that is more prominent in the sunset shot.

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