Aside from all the neat places I visited in Belgium, all the wonderful historic grounds I traipsed upon, all the yummy beer I drank, the yummy chocolates I ate, and the wonderful people I met, there was one event, one surprise event, that stands out as "The Coolest Thing I Saw in Belgium (tm)".
Let me not use words, and let the pictures speak for themselves:
That thing is exactly what it looks like, a mechanical, motorized tiger.
It was built by a local metalworker who has a studio on the same street I was staying at (I don't recall his name now, but I have his business card at home, with a website, which I'll post later tonight). On our last day in Brugge, I went out for a little walk around the block, and ended up on the open-air dining area of this small restaurant two buildings down from our B&B. I saw the mechanical tiger standing there, but at first I thought it was a bitchin sculpture (Brugge is the kind of town where you can see open air art displays). Then the guy stood up and turned it on and I could not hold my geekness inside.
I spoke with him a little (him in much better English than me in my horrible Dutch) and he told me this was the first time he had taken it outside the studio and was having a celebratory beer. He then stood up and proceeded to ride the mechanical tiger! What's even better, I got video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QMaS4pB9rw
I would love to embedd it, but HTML is off on the forums. Go watch it, trust me.
Just a handful of people saw this walking work of art take its first steps, beaming artists riding atop. These are the kinds of magic moments that happen when you travel that you remember forever, the moments that you could never, in a million years, have forseen and that happen, seemingly, just for you.
And THAT was "The Coolest Thing I Saw in Belgium (tm)."
