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.