Red Cathedral

You are completely correct when you think: ▷ Sometimes a person needs to leave their comfort zone to feel comfortable. ▷ The person that comes down a mountain isn't always the same as the person who went up the mountain. ▷ Sometimes when you feel troubled, all you need is a mountain. Once you get to the top of it and watch the world from above, you quickly find a different perspective. Maybe your troubles aren't as insurmountable as they seemed before the purifying climb.  So it was time for another offroad roadtrip with the mates. The original plans were for another trip through the Pyrenees mountain range, but these plans changed last minute into a start in Burgundy ( the dreaded Morvan, to be more precise ) and headed into the volcanic mountain range of the Massif Central . Following large parts of the pilgrim's hiking paths towards St. Jacques of Compostella we quickly realized that these trails were really tailormade for hikers, goat shepherd s or slender quads...

Since I was still processing the images from the O-Parade , I really did not go to Ciao Tongeren to make photos. I did however take the tiny Sony FX3 cinema camera because I had to test a reported audio-issue.. if I had the time, because my focus would lie 100% on enjoying nice wine and tasty food. Normally all music during this event is: old Italian chanson. But what did I suddenly hear while having a limoncello at Ambishop? Music to my taste? Rock à la Willy Radio ? The concrete minds ! A bunch of promising young hounds with the rock 'n roll attitude of old wolves playing gritty hits at The Pub.. I always say: support you local artists . So I had to make a few shots. Luckily this FX3 cinema camera also shoots stills. And luckily The Pub served some rather decent wine to make me even happier. A short video of the band performing: on Clapper To the people who posed for the camera at Buonissimo & Olio Vino: the images are in the gallery.. and the fruity rosé was delicious! ...

Every May 1st, a national holiday in Belgium, Genk becomes a city of colour, of fantasy and of cheering people. 55000 cheering people in 2024 to be exact. Because that many people lined the road for the O-parade. Luckily at the same time it's kermis ( carnival fair ), jaarmarkt ( market ), fireworks, and hundreds of stalls to drink & eat.. a grand total of 130000 visitors for 1 day is a lot for a city with only 63000 inhabitants. These are some impressions from the editions in 2022 & 2023 .  Eventhough 2024 has had an extremely rainy, stormy and dreary Spring, the weather shifted for a few days and the parade enjoyed the sun and a decent 26°Fahrenheit. The day after it rained again and was 14 degrees colder. So a big thanks to all the witches who made sure Beltane would be a great day . . . Let's provide you a few links: ▷ All photos can always be found on/downloaded from my Flickr and here ! ▷ A " How to download stills from Flickr " tutoria...