Finding Leo...

Sometimes I feel like David Attenborough... Traveling the Earth (or Belgium, at least) and journaling my experiences of the many great and wonderful things I've seen. Aside from Him being a Sir, I guess we're pretty similar. Well. Actually. No. We're not really similar. Actually. Forget I ever brought it up. Poles apart.

Anyhow, speaking of exploration, I found Leo! King Leopold that is. Yes! Probably a well-known fact amongst most Antwerpians - but totally amazing and intriguing to us foreigners - is that in Leopoldplaats, there is a massive, empty plinth upon which once was the likeness of King Leopold and his trusty steed, Norman.

Well, since my arrival in Antwerp, I've wondered what ever happened to Leo. Just a plinth now remains, and no statue to speak of. Take a look:



And then, this past weekend, I went a-bicylcing and found Leo in a sort-of graveyard for old statues - take a look:



Wow - it was truly impressive. I wonder when they will put him back?

Also this weekend, I managed to get to the Street Festival in Gent. Oh my - fantastic! Such a beautiful city - like a labyrinth with street signs. Nice. Loads of people and such a wonderful atmosphere.

Also this weekend, I popped over to the film festival in one of the outdoor Hangars along the Schelde. They've whacked a bunch of beach sand inside a Hangar, and invited people to watch a series of films on summer nights. It was fantastic. About a thousand of us crammed into the Hangar on Saturday night to escape the rain and watch a movie. Lovely.

Last night and over the next few days is a Rhythm and Blues fest in Grote Markt - cool music with lots of biker-type people about. Everyone having a good laugh. More pics on that soon. Speaking of pics, I've uploaded more to my Flickr pages. Check it out.

Oh. I have to tell you about this programme I saw on television. Now, I don't own a television, but had dinner at my latest chum's house - Serge. He has said television. So it was quite a novelty seeing the wee sprites in the box. And then came this programme called Fata Morgana. Oh my. Again - probably common knowledge in Belgium, but I was truly bowled over by it. Even found it emotional.

The gist of it is that this TV crew go into a small-ish town and set random townspeople weird - and seemingly impossible - tasks. Things like getting 500 vespa's together as part of a town rally. Creating a human Italian flag of 4,000 people. Staging the Italian opera Nabuko with locals. Staging a fashion show with 100 Italian Models. Giving free Gelato to 12,000 people. Guinness Book of Records stuff.

The TV crew wander the streets and find random people. They issue the challenge. And seal it all with a handshake.

And you know what. They do it. The random people that the TV crew pick off the street actually arrange and do it. And the entire town (I think it was Oostkemp) get behind them and support them.

These ordinary people do something remarkable. These people turn into heroes. It took my breath away. Something so simple and seemingly so pointless (500 vespa's - qua?) turned apparently normal people into giants. I can't quite describe it. But ordinary people like you and I - they're given this seemingly impossible challenge. And they do it. They pull off something remarkable. Remarkable. It took my breath away.

Of giants, elephants, beaches and Mojita's

Hot, hot, hot (yeah, I know – fantastic observation skills)! It’s been 30 degrees and climbing. No complaints though; it’s lovely.

And what a past couple of weekends it has been. Talk of the town must have been the visit of the Little Giant and the Sultan’s Elephant to Antwerp last weekend. Oh my. I just can’t begin to describe it. One huge marionette puppet and an even humungous-er elephant, both operated by minions of nameless puppeteers, on a journey through the streets of Antwerp. What an adventure.

I spent the better part of a weekend following them, taking pics and staring (go easy, it’s better than train spotting, no?). The city was packed with people. And we were all taken to another place – in our imaginations, at least.

Check out some of my pics on Flickr. Some shaky video on YouTube is below.





Oh my. Speechless. Not really… hence the blog. But utterly amazing. Thank you clever people at Royal De Luxe. May I run away and join your circus?

This past weekend, matey Jason was over from Manchester. Jay is Canadian and works at Oxfam in the UK. His visit was an excellent opportunity to try some new local restaurants and go exploring. We discovered my new cocktail of the moment – Mojita. What a clever idea. Little bit of vodka (or lot of bit, dependant on your demeanour), soda, sugar, mint and ice. Love it.

And we found Strandwerpen – a beach built on the sides of the Schelde. All the beautiful people seem to go there – with their Louis Vuitton swimming trunks and their Channel specs. My Bermudas from H&M caused quite a stir. And not in the way you think. Anyhow, I digress. Strandwerpen seems to be sponsored by Martini. I rather like them now. Cunning little marketers.

Summer in the City

As a South African, what I really appreciate about Europe is that Summer is an event. The sun comes out so rarely, that when it does, it's like a national celebration. I love it.

And what a summer weekend it turned out to be. 30 degrees C. Absolutely lovely weather.

I went for a cycle along the River Schelde, which was cool. Really lovely. On the way back, I cycled past the Navigaytion event - it's kind of like Antwerp's answer to a gay pride party (I think). I stopped to... well... stare... and my bike (you remember her) was grabbed (in a nice way) by a drag queen.

I've never laughed so much - we must have spent no more than 5 minutes talking - in which time more swearing and one-liners came from her lips than... well, I don't know what. Really funny. His name is Selwyn. Not sure what her name is. Here she is with TLVVF:



Imagine - that head-dress in that weather. Oh my. Turns out Selwyn is from South Africa, too. Small world. And small bike, too. With place just for one - and after a nice, pleasant chat - I cleared off. And then found another lady (I'm guessing this one was real) handing out free beer. What a good idea. A promotional thing. Some new beer. Tastes like river water. But at least it's canned.

After the beer, I stumbled across some rhythm and blues festival, which was such a treat. Here's a pic - but there's more on my Flickr pages. Real cool bands & tunes.



Some time later, I found an area on the banks of the River where the council had put up a stand of sorts and thrown some beach sand down. Just so folks could watch the sunset. And what's more... they've even published the times when the sun will be setting, so you know when it's gonna happen.

Wow. Drag queens, free beer, cool tunes and a sunset stand. What a City.