  In order to study the quantum geometry of random surfaces in Liouville
gravity, we propose a definition of geodesic distance associated to a Gaussian
free field on a regular lattice. This geodesic distance is used to numerically
determine the Hausdorff dimension associated to shortest cycles of 2d quantum
gravity on the torus coupled to conformal matter fields, showing agreement with
a conjectured formula by Y. Watabiki. Finally, the numerical tools are put to
test by quantitatively comparing the distribution of lengths of shortest cycles
to the corresponding distribution in large random triangulations.
