Downtown Dusk

A statue in Grote Markt is backed by the provincial courthouse and belfry.

The gawking tourist crowds disappear when the temperature dips at night. Unfortunately, that's evidently when a cadre of die-hard photographers emerge from their daytime crevaces, armed with tripods and full winter jackets (present company included). Of the few people on Grote Markt square, I'd say half were camera-folk like myself and the other half appeared to be horny teenagers escaping the confines of parental snooping for a public snog and a few rounds of grab-ass.

The center statue are two leaders known for their anti-France pro-Flemish sentiment during an era when French occupation was suffocating northern Belgium's Dutch language and Flemish culture.