27 Aug 2012 – in Blankenberge & Brugge

Sun: Sand Sculpture Festival in Blankenberge is a journey thru’ fairy-tales of the Disney World. The lights and the closeness of the indoor sculptures made it difficult to photograph. Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and many of the other Disney characters were featured but could not get decent shots.

This festival is built by 40 professional sand artists from all around the globe. No less than 10,000 tons of sands was sculpted on an area of 4,000m² The Sand Sculpture Festival is officially the largest festival of its kind in the world (Guinness Book of Records 2010).

Sand castles in the air on this beautiful day are a delight to see.

Brugge is a historic city centre with most of its medieval architecture intact is a prominent World Heritage Site of UNESCO since 2000.

Pageant of the Golden Tree (started in Brussels 1958 World Expo) happens only every 5yrs in Brugge  for commemoration of the festivities in 1468 on the occasion of the wedding of Charles The Bold, Count of Flanders and Duke of Burgundy with the English Princess Margareta of York. Was most fortunate to be an audience on a glorious afternoon. 

Fun to walk around admiring the town and meeting up with the pageant at different cross-roads. Ended the day with a Belgium stew for dinner by the concert hall with a public car park under the building. Appreciations to A&K for this exciting day.

http://www.brugesinfo.com/bruges-pageant-golden-tree.php

We can appreciate but not really understand the medieval town. We cannot comprehend its compactness, the contiguity of all its buildings as a single uninterrupted whole – Arthur Erickson