Red Cathedral

Tongeren looks at its best when the entire city is celebrating . Carnaval is on the shortlist of highlight events. So eventhough I was still completely exhausted from the wonderful masked ball Ensor Danst in Alden Biesen the night before, had only slept 4 hours and my aching back was killing me, I hopped.. well rather: crawled .. on my electric step so I would not miss the big carnaval parade in the city center. An image gallery : This year I stayed on the sidelines instead of jumping into the parade and shoot portraits like last year . So that's different. What's also different were the antique Carnaval Giants leading the parade. They had been lost for decades and after being recovered the team from Mario's delicious ice-cream parlor restored them. Kudos to that restauration team! If I'm feeling better & more alive next year, I'll be once again in the middle of the action.. the way I like it. ▷ All photos can be found on/downloaded from my Flickr

You read that right: Have a great 2024 ! Try to make the year count. I'll be doing only a few of the same things I've done in 2023. A short christmassy timelapse video Things that will change in 2024 : ▶ First of all I'll be doing less events. After Covid there was this rush to start over and do as many as possible again, but 2023 left me completely exhausted, stressed, frustrated & anxious. My body told me several times to calm down and after a while even the most stubborn person starts to listen. ▶ Got a season's pass to Pairi Daiza so I'll try to go see the animals instead. Calm down. Relax. ▶ Trying to head into the  Pyrenees mountains again. Leave society & the abundance of their illogical rules behind me for a bit. Recourcing myself & hoping to get in touch with the self I actually liked again. The dude that smiled & dared. ▶ Been wanting to learn new things for a while now.. No: I always want to learn new things, try new things.. acc

Every 7 years over 10% of the population in the oldest city in Belgium participates in a week of reenactments, processions & after dark shows, all dedicated to the biblical Mary. ( Background story ) and they're aged between 89 years and 1 month old. In 2023, for the 19th edition since 1890 , there are over 3000 participants and they attracted 65000 spectators on the 1st day. 3 More days to go, I said after that 1st Sunday You can just feel a symbiotic connection, some strange form of unity between the citizens. Yes, it's a religious evocation of biblical stories and many participate out of pure heartfelt beliefs, but it's also more than that. It trancends simple religious zealousness both as a spectacle and as a way to create bridges & forge bonds between the citizens. The final day still lured over 50000 visitors to the town ( a day during which it was live-streamed ànd most events for that day were cancelled due to a code red storm warning ) Very impressive