Leuven - july 23

Overnight rain mostly cleared out by 10am, heading east today on day excursion. Stopped by EU headquarters, where you can visit the parlamenterium and hemicycle (free! Lockers free here and all places so far too). Learned that concept of EU begun shortly after WW2, as solution to ending wars. Amazing considering the ensuing cold war. Really got going in 1980s and now 450m citizens, 24 varied languages and cultures, all mostly getting along and passing laws. Imagine. Some grand boulevards and parks leaving brussels, decent bike lanes and rolling hills by various embassies. Some cobblestone and dirt trail through arboretum and various parks, good tailwind has me thinking to take the train back; did tour of leuven town hall to convince myself it'd be too late to bike back (train 6.5 euro, 122mph) Cool two university town, split between french and flemish, with classic grote markt square (church, town hall with the statues, guilds now outdoor restaurants). 23 miles.