So here we are in Antwerp, where it seems that the friendly face of the diamond trade is now a Russian with watermelon forearms and eyes like a three-day-dead fish. Passed on the diamond-rimed .357 pendant and hit the Koninklijk Museum for a bit of high-culture in low-land light.
An hour of perusing paintings of martyrdom and judgment and I’d had my fill of the burning, hacking, drowning, beating and skewering (the kind of stuff New York Times pieces on Iraq report generically as “signs of torture�) that were, until relatively recently, the centerpiece of public diplomacy here.
Back on the street, there was a heavily made-up lady busking in the shadow of the Gothic cathedral. She was pretending—quite credibly—to be a statue of the Virgin Mary (she even had a little Baby Jesus on her lap), except, when you tossed a coin in her plate, she came alive and blew you a kiss.
This in the heartland of a vicious, protracted, sectarian conflict that took as a centerpiece Rome’s idolatry and venality. That smashed statues and people with equal abandon.
Nice to see they’ve learned to crack a smile, toss a coin, and move on. And it only took five-hundred years, a few dozen major wars and a mountain range of corpses.
There are a few more pics of my current European tour here.
Great pics, Matthew. Do they really have no religious nutters left? Anyone protest Madonna’s crucifixion scene in her Confessions tour?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6069260.stm
Hi Matthew. I never met you when I was in Egypt but I’d be happy to meet you now if you’re still around. I’m currently living in Brugge, I don’t know if you’ve planned to come here. You’ve got my e-mail. Enjoy your trip and thanks for the pics !
Your photography is quite good. Nice to see that you’re still out there being sneaky… wreaking the usual. .. It’d be good to hear from you. Much water under the bridge.
…………RV
“This in the heartland of a vicious, protracted, sectarian conflict that took as a centerpiece Rome’s idolatry and venality”
Wasn’t it actually a political conflict? An uprising against the Spanish occupation? The religious aspect surly played a roll in it, but there was much more to it then that.
Have a nice stay in Flanders!
(I can recommend you a visit to Ghent and Bruges.)
Did you know that Walloons in Flanders are considered by Amnesty International to be an oppressed minority?
Anyway, I love Antwerp, wonderful museum and great steaks.