I missed this part of the Jaarmarkt last year, so I spent the day here this time. Well worth it.

A work trip to Treviso. Only short, but we have a weekend, and it's near Venice!



Sadly that is all we saw of Venice, a short stop on the way in. By the next day we were both incapacitated with 'flu. Spent the whole week coughing in an uninspiring hotel room.

Which means Longest Day, and Leuven has a party. We watched it all happen from a variety of cafes.

Raining again, so we wandered back to Place de Tertre, and watched the artists, and the




art watchers, over several cups of coffee.


At lunchtime we moved to a restaurant where we could continue to watch . . .




. . . and finally had the superb French cooking I'd been dreaming of.




monkfish and suckling pig

Well, you've got to, haven't you? We went on CityTour, which runs several routes and has a commentary.

The northern route, up to the edge of Montmartre, was fairly pointless for us, but we went on it by mistake.







The eastern route starts at Notre Dame. It included the Bastille and the Arsenal and lots of views of the river.








So by the time we got on the western route, which covers the main sights, it was all beginning to blur.



We missed out the southern route completely. Just had a disappointing meal and back to the hotel.

Took an evening stroll up to Sacre Coeur, which looks fabulous by night as well as by day.