Monday, February 09, 2009

Time is scarce

This weekend I went into Antwerp to do a tour through the city for the first time. There was a storyteller who brought us to historical places in Antwerp and told ghost stories and legends that are linked to that certain place. In the beginning of Saturday evening I'm usually drinking beer in a pub or at some friends' place, so this was something completely different. I sure learned a lot more about my city. I learned that the small castle at the river close to my house was once a jail. And I also learned that the big square in the city centre with all the pubs and restaurants was not always a touristic place full of joy, but that a lot of executions took place there as well. These kind of tours make you realize how little you know about the places you walk around every day.

Today it's Monday and there's a lot to do. I have to prepare two presentations for Tuesday. Usually I'm spending the entire day and evening in the agency at a day like this. But today I have to leave at 6 o'clock so time is ticking. Luckily, Yigit is still a great help in these busy times. He still has a couple of weeks to go before he leaves. It's amazing how hard he keeps on working for projects that he can't even finish.

1 Comments:

Blogger Robert Luciani said...

I used to think the same about Toronto. I'd be walking downtown and see all the tourists on the double decker bus and the first thing I'd think was "why the hell are tourists coming to Toronto?". Until the day I decided to hop on and pretend to be a tourist myself, I had no idea there was a huge fire in a textile factory that almost wiped out most of the city.
I think it just has to do with something about being comfortable with your surroundings.
Your post reminds me of the ad campaign either for the History Channel. It showed a couple embracing each other with the Eiffel Tower in the background with Hitler standing next to them.
Ever since my day as a tourist in my own city I try to go everywhere with the eyes of a tourists, it's interesting what you find out and take pictures of.

7:01 am  

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