Antwerp 2013
Small Facts: Trolleys. Narrow streets with trolley tracks abound. The trolleys round the bend, a vision from the past. They seem so dated…so distinctly European. I find them irresistible to photograph. People crowd on them, as in Brussels, from the back and the front. This is the honor system, no?
Notable Pic: The trolley looms as Doug hides in the shadows.
Personal Anecdote: Richard is not the fearless leader he once was. The relentless, map obsessed tourist is not feeling well. And so, in freezing cold temperatures we drag through cobblestone streets to The Strom Museum, The Royal Arts Academy and an underwhelming red light district (as compared to Amsterdam). The highlight however is sitting on a curb outside an apothecary, too ill to move.
Brussels 2006
Small Facts: Gray. Everything seems gray and dreary. One child compares what he sees there to the movie Eurotrip, when in the movie they arrive in East Berlin! Nothing has color, buildings are beiges and grays, the sky is gray…even in a sunlit sky, the park is dull…perhaps it is the time of year…no green grass, no colorful flowers.
Notable Pic: The square. The architecture is fascinating, but the buildings are dark and my camera at the time does not do it justice. The architecture is the same in pics of the Antwerp square.
Personal Anecdote: We are excited to find our first communal table type restaurant on our way to the train to Bruges. This, turns out, to become a New York City favorite of future me, as Le Pain Quotidien branches out.
Bruges 2006
Small Facts: Trees. Fat trees, with seemingly cut off branches, like stumps…no leaves…bare. They match the dreariness of Belgium in general. They seem more pronounced here than in Brussels or Antwerp, as they line the canals, part of a passageway, weaving through Bruges.
Notable Pic: The trees, and once again the camera of the time does it’s feeble best.
Personal Anecdote: We buy lots of chocolate, although lace is the thing to purchase while in Bruges. We go to the square and have a hamburger! What kind of tourists are we, not indulging in the diversity of where we are? One other highlight, is when the kids stole Richard’s map from his back pocket…oh the drama…and the glee…as we no longer could follow the “plan”!