Location

MTNS 2004 will be organized right in the historical center of the city of Leuven. Leuven is a medieval historical city in the center of Belgium, of about 50 000 inhabitants. In historical records, it was first mentioned in 884. It is home to the oldest and largest Catholic University in the world, with as of today 25 000 undergraduate/master students, some 2500 PhD students and some 1000 professors. It also hosts the largest academic hospital in Europe.

Leuven is the capital of 'Vlaams Brabant', which is one of the 10 provinces of Belgium. Belgium is a federal state, consisting of 3 communities (Flemish, French and German), and three regions (Flanders, Wallony and Brussels). The language in Leuven is Dutch. If you want to find out more about this region, please visit Flanders-online at www.flanders.be.

Reachability

The city of Leuven is located some 30 kilometers east of Brussels, and some 50 kilometers south-east of Antwerp, Belgium.

It can be reached by:

• Air:
  o Fly into Brussels National Airport (Zaventem) either directly, or over London, Amsterdam, Paris or Frankfurt;
  o Sometimes connections via Antwerp are also possible.
  o - airplanes: http://www.brussels-airport.be/
• Train:
  o Brussels is connected by TGV (Train ā Grande Vitesse) with London (UK) (Eurostar, 3.5 hours), Paris (France) (Thalys, 1.5h), Köln (Germany)(2 h), Amsterdam (Netherlands)(2 h).
  o Several trains per hour from Brussels to Leuven;
  o trains: http://www.b-rail.be/E/index.php
• Car:
  o Taxi's from Brussels to Leuven (about 30 km);
  o Car rental in Brussels Airport;
  o Leuven is located close to the E40 Highway, which connects Brussels to Liege (Belgium) and Aachen (Germany).

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