In better days I was owner of two private planes, two Falcons F-900. Except for the poles, there is no country in the world that I didn't visit. I am far from a conservative but the place around this monument (Sashuis) remains one of the most beautiful in the whole world. All I can say is that I am quite happy to be born less than 100 yards right from this monument and that I lived during the 15 first years of my life less than 100 yards left from this monument. Here one of the famous canals of Bruges, during the Middle Ages the most important sea-port of Northern-Europe, with Venice as direct competitor in the South. The sylting up of the Zwyn estuary in the 14th century was the end of the commercial prime role which Bruges once played in Europe. Since, the city lives in the nostalgia of a great past, refusing to accept modern and postmodern times. Bruges is a splendid city. Unfortunately it has other inhabitants than only ghosts.  Pic: Paul OWH Kassens.