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Johannes de Doper was door Herodes gevangen genomen omdat hij kritiek had geuit op diens levenswijze: hij had Herodias, de vrouw van zijn broer tot zich genomen.  Op een feest danste de dochter van Herodias zo bevallig dat Herodes zwoer haar alles te geven wat zij vroeg.  Zij vroeg het hoofd van Johannes de Doper en zo geschiedde.

Next Sunday, May 21st, at 1:00 p.m., another protest demonstration will be held against violence in our community.  Participants will meet on the Market. Violence MUST stop. Whatever aspect violence may take, it has to stop.

The Maalse Roadway, one of the most important access or exit roads of Bruges. This evening, quarter past six. Hundreds of people are holding a protest sit-in on this road where, otherwise, at this time, hundreds of cars would be speeding by. The protest is aimed at the violence in our community. Saturday night, at exactly this spot,  skinheads attacked two people who had subsequently to be hospitalized. One of the victims, a coloured person from Paris, is still in a coma. The skinheads had come out of an ill-famed café a bit farther up. The recent numerous acts of senseless violence against foreigners is just too much for all these people here. They will not stand by and remain silent. Our society does not tolerate such behaviour. All levels of government need to take strong measures to prevent such hateful acts.
Is this a coincidence? In the middle of the photo we do recognize the man with the sunglasses : our alderman for Culture, Yves Roose.

This city's second "airbag-festival" is in full swing, in an attempt to restore the accrdeon to its proper glory. I wonder whether this man is aware of the festival, and I presume he is not. Festival or no festival, he is playing here in any event, hoping to earn euro-money. Preferably as fast as possible.

 This, now, is how schools organize a trip to Bruges : they give their students a list of questions about what they will see, along the streets they will be taken through. Nowadays, when you are in the most popular tourist sections, it won't take you more than five minutes before you notice one or more of these groups. The whole pack runs from one spot to the next one, paper and pen in hands.  The questions they have to answer might be, for example, what kind of animals live in the ancient ice-cellar next to the Minne-bridge (bats - as I explained with a previous photo). Or,  what is the slogan used by the city to make its population aware of its responsibility for the dog-poop problem (No dog-poop on the stoop). Seldom does one see such a group remain more than five minutes in any one spot. No time, it all has to go very fast. Modern teaching method? Did they really "see" bruges? I often wonder. The answer is No. Did they have fun? Yes, they probably did.

The church is in the Karthuizerinnen street. At first, this order of nuns lived in a convent in Sint-Andries, barely a few kilometers from here, but outside the city walls. In 1578 the nuns had to abandon their convent and take refuge in Bruges because of the troubles caused by the religious wars. Do take a closer look at the facial expressions on these heads.

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This church, who became a military chapel more than a century ago (in 1893) has, in contrast with most churches who are quite heavily adorned,  a very sober decor.

The church, as seen from the corner of the Oude Burg. On the wall are the lists of the war victims, people of Bruges who were killed.

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For three days, the parents of Jesus had beent rying to find their son. They hadn't known he had remained behind, in the temple.

,Josef and Mary are desperately looking for their son Jesus. Finally, after three days of searching, they find him in the temple with the scribes.