Mons and Monkeys

The night before I went to Mons, Francoise – a friend of Marie’s- rang me and asked me if I’d like to meet her there. Naturally, I said ‘oui’ straightaway. Tuesday was a day off for schools and some businesses as it was ‘French Community’ Day i.e. the Flemish speaking part of Belgium was still working. I took a bus to the train station: Liege-Guillemins. It’s a striking building designed by a Spanish architect and only recently opened (September 2009). It cost a lot of money and, having seen the bleakness of Seraing, I thought that there was probably a lot they could have done there with the money. However, after actually having been in the building, I had to change my mind. It is absolutely beautiful – a work of art. Photos cannot do it justice. It is designed to look like a wave, or to me, a wing and it gives such a sense of freedom. If I lived in the polluted depths of Seraing, I would make a trip to Guillemins as often as possible to look at the sky and to feel liberated. Just my opinion, of course. You can find out more about Guillemins here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li%C3%A8ge-Guillemins_railway_station

Francoise had advised me to buy a 10 ride ticket which takes you anywhere in Belgium for 73 euros. A veritable bargain as this works out at 14,60 euros for the return as opposed to 36.20 euros without the discount. So I was all set for my first train trip in Belgium. The nice lady at the info desk at Guillemins had kindly told me that Mons was the 6^th stop so what could go wrong. Unfortunately, I lost count of the stops and very nearly got off at the one before. Luckily, I used my head for once and mustered up some French to ask if this stop was Mons. No, it was the next one, so I carried on and arrived about two hours after having left Liege.

 In Mons, I was met by Francoise and a couple of her AFS students. She has two of them staying with her at the moment.  The AFS girls took off on their own and Francoise and I proceeded to walk around and get to know each other a bit better. Mons is a picturesque university town which is famous for ,among other things, it’s gold and black belfry or beffroi which oversees the town.

We headed off to the tourist office where Francoise collected up just about every pamphlet that was going for me – she didn’t want me to miss a thing. One of the pamphlets told about the Doudou festival  which is held in June and includes a dragon fight and some apparently rather raucous celebrations so maybe I’ll be able to squeeze in a visit before I leave Belgium.

After the Tourism Office, I was introduced to the Monkey – rather a small chap sitting outside the town hall. Apparently it is good luck to pat his head so, wanting to get my full measure, I did so. Afterwards, Francoise and I wandered around the cobblestoned streets looking at the buildings (some from the Middle Ages) and meandering through the many pretty neighbourhood gardens.  At one point, Francoise suddenly accosted a teenage boy tapping at his chest – both he and I were a bit taken aback, but it turned out that he was wearing a Canterbury NZ sweat shirt and had recently visited NZ and Francoise was so excited for me!

Eventually, we found our way to a café for lunch. Francoise had a local delicacy – a cold dish of eel in a white sauce while I played it safe (or so I thought) with steak and frites. I soon learned that ‘a point’ or medium means it is ready to walk off the plate – a little too bloody for my taste but the frites were particularly good. The Belgians tell me the secret is to cook the chips twice ( and use Belgian potatoes of course). We washed down the meal with a goblet of beer – now that was good!

 It was while I was sitting at lunch (called ‘diner’ in Belgium: dinner is called ‘souper’) glancing at the tourist pamphlets that I realised my mistake with the Monkey. Your wishes only come true if you pat his head with your left hand. I had used my right. Obviously, I needed to rectify the situation and Francoise very patiently accompanied me back to the monkey so that I could regain my good luck.

Francoise is a lovely person, with six grown up children, who just seems to love people. She is an interesting person herself (she had lots of tips for me on life in Belgium) and is  interested in life elsewhere which is probably why she hosts so many AFS students. I am very lucky to have made the connection. Thanks, Marie. I hope to return to  Mons again before I leave.