Belgium 3 April: Brugge - Antwerpen
In Brugge we spent the night in the Jan Breydel stadium, home of the soccer teams of Club Brugge and Cercle Brugge. The concierge of the stadium Staf de Bel (with torch) gave us a warm welcome and showed us onto the field. As you can see we could all be great soccer stars. But then we should kick the ball the right direction.
Our first meeting was at the beautiful and historic city hall of Brugge, where we met with Jean-Marie Bogaert, city representative for tourism.
He speeched to us about the importance of harmony and proudly held the Torch.
Outside Mr. Bogaert symbolically lighted the Torch to wish us on our way.
Of course we persuaded him to take the first few steps himself, to which he kindly obliged. Thank you Brugge for a hospitable welcome to your city and to Belgium!
Brugge is one of the oldest cities in Western Europe and has a rich history...
On our way to the second city, Gent, where we were meeting 90 children from a sports camp organized by the city. They were awaiting us on an athletic track.
As always the children were very taken with the Run and had lots of questions.
We showed them our skits: is this harmony yes or no?
Singing the song together and feeling harmony and peace within.
Everybody takes a wish for peace.
The stamps were one of the highlights.
Running together is always a joy. The torch leads the way.
As it was a sports camp we challenged everybody to a race around the track.
Race!
Picture time: say 'peeeeace!'
After our presentation we went to a nearby lake to have our lunch break. To our surprise and delight the children came there as well to play some games on the beach. They invited us to join them and we didn't think twice about it.
Gent is also a beautiful city...
These ladies were all support for the Run. They spontaneously gave us a very generous donation. Can you believe that they are all over 80 years of age?
A typical Belgian horse. It doesn't have to worry about cold feet in winter.
From Gent we ran 60K to Antwerp, a big city in the North of Belgium. There we were awaited by some 30 runners from running club Beerschot. They would run with us into the centre of Antwerp.
Dré de Bruyn was the running coach. He organized the meeting and also made sure the runners were properly fed afterwards. Thank you Dré for your kindndess and support.
The famous cathedral of Antwerp can be seen from everywhere in the city.
A new concept of shaking hands or a popular local sport? We hope neither.
Our final destination of the day: de Grote Markt ('Big Market') of Antwerp. Thank you to all the runners of AC Beerschot for joining us!
Video Message from Davidson Hepburn, President (2009 - 2011) of the General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) for 25th Anniversary of the World Harmony Run and a vision for the decade: "Toward a Oneness-World".
Full Text of the 25th annversary message and link to 25 language informal Translations: http://www.worldharmonyrun.org/25
or Click on language button for separate youtube videos wth sub titles in varous languages
- Youtube video on African experience which illustrates IYY slogan "Our Year Our Voice" International Year of Youth - Zambia World Harmony. They surprisingly mention Presidents and UN Secretary-General in a unique way!
- Listen to the World-Harmony-Run song: 2 min version // 6 min
Distance: 101 km
Team Members:
Dipavajan Renner (Austria), Abhinabha Tangermann (Netherlands), Apaguha Vesely (Czech Republic), Sandro Zincarini (Italy), Andre Carvalho Ribeiro (Portugal), Sumahat Strohn (Germany), Mladen Vujaklija (Croatia), Petar Mihaylov (Bulgaria), Vladimir Ilyasov (Russian Federation)
Harmonemail:
You can send a message to the runners or read the messages.
Gallery: See more images!
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