A busy day. Although Leuven was already on our itinerary from the cycle touring guidebook we're using, the real reason we are here now is for a scheduled injection in my eye. Anticipating this I made appointment 2 months ago with one of the few retina Ophthalmology specialists in Belgium. The appointment was not until early afternoon so we had the morning to kill. We visited the cathedral here which had a rich treasury of Art and silver and gold religious items. Many of the items were plundered by the Nazis but later recovered. The rest of the morning was spent strolling through the Old Town and the Central Square dominated by the town hall. See picture.
In the afternoon we went to the nearby hospital for my eye appointment. The retina Clinic was very professional and efficient. The doctor was a woman who looked younger than some of our grandchildren. Evidently Belgium has a national health program because they were not sure how to handle a paying customer. In the end we gave them a deposit versus an estimated bill and a final bill will follow us to the US.
After some down time we walked back to the Central Square where there is a Long Street lined with restaurants of all types. We had a good and imaginatively different Mexican dinner, after which we waited in a long line for gelato. See picture.
Misc.observations: a noticeable difference between the Netherlands and Belgium is that some bicyclists wear helmets in Belgium. In the Netherlands only racers do. Also: small-wheel folding bikes are popular here. People take them on buses and trains.
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