Leuven Kermis

The magnificent flower carpet decorating the big market square in front of the stunning gothic city hall of Leuven, made of Belgian begonia's




Leuven kermis started this weekend : a yearly outdoor fair that lasts 3 weeks. Every tiny village has its own yearly kermis, accompagnied with lots of festivities in the village. For some families the kermis is the moment of a traditional family gathering. Local businesses close, sometimes schools give a day off, etc...

I am not too much of a kermis girl. As a little kid we did not go very often to the kermis, although fishing for little ducks floating by has always been my weakness. Fishing for duckies is great fun, although the prices you can win are guaranteed crap. When in elementary school I stopped going to the local kermis.


In fact as a new inhabitant I had not really realised that it was Leuven kermis at this moment and I probably would have missed it as last years if it werent for the fences that the city's technical department had dropped off this week very very early in the morning. Waking up by the noisy sound of metal fences being put in place on the crosspoint here, alarmed me that something was bount to happen. Leuven kermis is also the moment that the GP Jef Scherens cycling race is organised and apparently it comes by our door. When watching the Tour arriving on the city boulevards in Ghent in July, we had joked that Leuven could perfectly organise the arrival of the Tour as well in front of our door. Well...they are already rehearsing with an international race although far less known. So much less known that I had never heard of it before :) : the GP Jef Scherens named after a local historic cycling hero. 13 rounds of 14,1 km including 3 hills of which 2 climb 14%, (who claims that Leuven is flat huh...now you must understand why I have a hard time cycling here!), 247 cyclers from 26 international cycling teams is nevertheless a nice program. Average speed 44km/h...comparable to the Tour the France. So this is not what we call a "kermiskoers", the race any little town organises during a kermis.


This morning I woke up by the whistles of some police men directing traffic on the city's boulevard in one direction only counter-clock wise while the other half across the street had been reserved to the race. No big media circus as in the Tour here, only the stereotypical "Wedstrijd" car with the annoying "RODANIAAAAA" jingle informed us that the race had started somewhere late in the morning. Indeed, a little later a whole bunch of branded cars came by and then the cyclers , followed at their turn by their team cars with spare bikes and tires and ....

Since the RODANIAAA would come by 13 times today, we did not spend much attention to the race in the morning. When cycling to church though, I pitied the police men who was stuck in front of our doors for most of the day. He had a bag out of which he sneaked a sandwich now and then and he was rubbing his arm a bit while continously directing the traffic to continue or to stop during the intervals that the let traffic cross. What if he has to go to the toilet??? There is a pub on the corner, but would he be allowed to leave his post? You can eat a sandwich while directing the traffic but peeing would be a little harder. Every time I looked out of the window, I had to wonder that and I pitied him a bit more! Poor guys. So out of tribute, here's a picture to the brave policeman.

On the other side of our house in a little park, a group of people had setup a big tent and a whole group of people with lots of children were picknicking outside. Every time the cyclers came by they sheered and ran to the side of the road.


In the beginning of the afternoon we finally went to have a closer look. We strolled a bit along the circuit, enjoying the sight of families having pulled out their tables in front of the house, having small bbq's with the neighbours and children decorating the street with chalk in between the intervals of the race. This is why cycling is so tremendously popular in the low countries: it is so approachable. The racers are relatively approchable before and after the race (unlike football "stars") , you can watch the race for free along the road (unlike games in expensive stadia) , it is a family event, it is a sport that everyone can participate in, etc...

When we arrived downtown we were just in time to see the finish and the victory of Bram Tankink (NL) from the Quick-Step team. I think we aught to get paid by Quick-Step because our presence seems to bring them luck. In Ghent it was also Quick-Step who won!




We had a drink downtown and strolled over the fair back home.