Adventures in Antwerp
I attended a workshop this week that introduced us to a teaching strategy called "Headlines" which teaches students how to summarize or capture the essence of a period of time or anything else worth summarizing. If I were to write a Headline for this weekend, it would be:
Too much, too little, or too inappropriate to capture on one camera
There were so many times this weekend I spent in Antwerp, which is another city in Belgium (known for its diamonds and shopping), where I wanted to take a picture, but I knew it wouldn't do justice to what I saw in its context. Perhaps by giving some examples in which this took place, I can somehow "capture the essence" that was this weekend.
Too Much:
Antwerp is a beautiful city, and one that I only got a glimpse of last year when I visited the zoo there with my students. One thing my camera could not do justice capturing was the enormity of the main cathedral (the tallest in Belgium), named Our Lady, which can be seen in almost every part of the city. I love the subtlety of the architecture in Europe, how it seems to just blend in with the rest of the city and its more modern additions. That is, of course, until you're standing right in front of it and it's all you can look at. Much like how in Paris I would find my bearings by locating the Eiffel Tower, so I would in Antwerp by locating the cathedral.
Other images I could see but couldn't capture with my camera because of it's enormity were the Schelde River on the edge of the city, and the crowds and crowds of people attending the Cultural Festival that happened to be taking place today. I couldn't help but wonder what brought everyone else to Antwerp that particular day: were they from Antwerp? did they come just for the festival? why Antwerp and why this weekend? We had an especially good time people watching during the concerts and cafe breaks throughout the day.
Too Little:
Today also happened to be No Car Day in downtown Antwerp, so walking into the city was a particular treat when we could just walk right down the street without having to check for cars (the bikes, however, were particularly frightening at times, coming within inches of making little bike tire marks across our backs!). It was the most peculiar but amazing feeling, like we were somehow apart from modernity. This was, unfortunately, a bit difficult to somehow capture, as it is hard to take a picture of something that isn't there.
Too Inappropriate:
This consists of mostly of people I saw walking through the city, strolling through the market, etc, I felt would be offended/creeped out had I asked them to pose for me. I tried to keep track throughout the day, though, to just somehow remember the image.
1. The two old ladies with purple hair
2. A group of drag queens
3. Three women I saw out last night, I believed to have been a grandmother, her daughter, and her grandaughter, all out together. (I should preface this story by explaining that we found a townie bar near where we were staying that had a dance floor for the patrons to utilize whilst two men entertained the rest of the bar with some karaoke hits) During one of the songs, the middle-aged woman brought who I presumed to be her mother out and danced with her on the dance floor. Later, the grandaughter would join in. I was so impressed with how each woman seemed to care so deeply for the other. No cattiness, just joyful dancing and laughter and love.
4. Another example of a sweet family was one I saw today at the festival today. The son, who was probably 16, was walking next to his mom and put his arm around her, which she reciprocated. They then started doing a little dance while walking and were joined by the father who was on the other side of the boy. The boy clearly wasn't embarrassed to be seen walking around with his parents, and his parents clearly weren't embarrassed to be acting silly in public with their son. It was so refreshing.
So when pictures can't quite capture what I want them to, remembering what I felt when I saw a particular image will hopefully do it justice. I have seen so many beautiful things, and it's only been 11 days.
Too Much:
Antwerp is a beautiful city, and one that I only got a glimpse of last year when I visited the zoo there with my students. One thing my camera could not do justice capturing was the enormity of the main cathedral (the tallest in Belgium), named Our Lady, which can be seen in almost every part of the city. I love the subtlety of the architecture in Europe, how it seems to just blend in with the rest of the city and its more modern additions. That is, of course, until you're standing right in front of it and it's all you can look at. Much like how in Paris I would find my bearings by locating the Eiffel Tower, so I would in Antwerp by locating the cathedral.
Other images I could see but couldn't capture with my camera because of it's enormity were the Schelde River on the edge of the city, and the crowds and crowds of people attending the Cultural Festival that happened to be taking place today. I couldn't help but wonder what brought everyone else to Antwerp that particular day: were they from Antwerp? did they come just for the festival? why Antwerp and why this weekend? We had an especially good time people watching during the concerts and cafe breaks throughout the day.
Too Little:
Today also happened to be No Car Day in downtown Antwerp, so walking into the city was a particular treat when we could just walk right down the street without having to check for cars (the bikes, however, were particularly frightening at times, coming within inches of making little bike tire marks across our backs!). It was the most peculiar but amazing feeling, like we were somehow apart from modernity. This was, unfortunately, a bit difficult to somehow capture, as it is hard to take a picture of something that isn't there.
Too Inappropriate:
This consists of mostly of people I saw walking through the city, strolling through the market, etc, I felt would be offended/creeped out had I asked them to pose for me. I tried to keep track throughout the day, though, to just somehow remember the image.
1. The two old ladies with purple hair
2. A group of drag queens
3. Three women I saw out last night, I believed to have been a grandmother, her daughter, and her grandaughter, all out together. (I should preface this story by explaining that we found a townie bar near where we were staying that had a dance floor for the patrons to utilize whilst two men entertained the rest of the bar with some karaoke hits) During one of the songs, the middle-aged woman brought who I presumed to be her mother out and danced with her on the dance floor. Later, the grandaughter would join in. I was so impressed with how each woman seemed to care so deeply for the other. No cattiness, just joyful dancing and laughter and love.
4. Another example of a sweet family was one I saw today at the festival today. The son, who was probably 16, was walking next to his mom and put his arm around her, which she reciprocated. They then started doing a little dance while walking and were joined by the father who was on the other side of the boy. The boy clearly wasn't embarrassed to be seen walking around with his parents, and his parents clearly weren't embarrassed to be acting silly in public with their son. It was so refreshing.
So when pictures can't quite capture what I want them to, remembering what I felt when I saw a particular image will hopefully do it justice. I have seen so many beautiful things, and it's only been 11 days.
posted by Aspiring Vermonter @ 1:23 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
Thank you for sharing your Belgium adventures. You are very descriptive and it make a person feel they are there.
Love,
Papa
Hi honey,
I guess we will have to go out dancing with Nana when you get home next summer. Nana salsa dancing what a thought. Keep up the blog. It's great.
Love,
Mom
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