Up early, picked up pastries and coffee, and breakfasted back in our room. On the bike, carefully made our way across town and out of Antwerp. There is a bike path all the way from Antwerp to Mechelen which they call the Fietsostrade (fiets being Dutch for bicycle). An easy-to-follow route alongside a rsil line. Reached Mechelen too early for lunch so we spent time in their cathedral. One more collection of priceless 17th century art. There is also a painting of St. Damian of Molokai, who was born nearby. That was especially interesting to us since we have visited Molokai and the leper colony at Kalaupapa. Lunch at a cafe on the Grote Markt, main square, and back on the road. We had never heard of mechelen and it was just a stop on our route today but it is a beautiful town and I'm glad we visited there. We learned that mechelen had been the capital of the Netherlands way back when it was united with Belgium. The photo is their stadhuis, town hall.
The route to leuven was alongside a canal the whole way so we had no opportunity to get lost. Shortly after we reached our hotel and tucked the bike safely underground in their garage, the heavens opened up and a steady rain has fallen on into the evening. We managed to get a very good dinner at a restaurant run by a family from Nepal.
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