There's an article over at McSweeney's (one of my very favorite websites) about visiting Brussels, with some useful information, like:

Incidentally, plan on spending a good twelve minutes at the statue of Manneken Pis, a minuscule bronze of a small boy peeing into a fountain, which is the universally acclaimed mascot of the city of Brussels. It seems the little tyke once tried to help put out a fire in this way a couple of centuries ago and thereby saved the city. It's worth a laugh, and it's only five minutes by foot from Le Roi d'Espagne, and if you're lucky he'll be dressed up as anything from a medieval pikeman to Elvis Presley. The residents of Brussels get their kicks as best they can.

Read the whole article: The Spanish King of Brussels

Breaking news - Leuven has restaurant week!  For some reason this fact makes me very happy, and also makes me wonder about the origins of the wonderfulness that is restaurant week.

I've also learned some bike news - first, it's possible to get a really cool KUL bike (pictured above) if you're an employee of the university (does a PhD student count as an employee?).  

I've also learned that it's possible for students on bikes to receive tickets from the police in Leuven - the students are starting petitions on facebook to protest the superboetes ("super fines" - like 100 or 150 euro!) that are being leveed upon them.  So if I do get a snazzy KUL bike, I'll have to be careful not to run any red lights!