Watery Wednesday

For this week's Watery Wednesday I am posting yesterday's water fountain but without the steel ring sculpture. Keep it wet!

Steel arcs and water fountain

Just opposite yesterday's ruined temple, near the edge of the Liège Nautical Union, you can find this exceedingly arclike sculpture. It's by an artist called Bernar Venet and it was probably installed in 2004. Further out, you can see our water fountain, loosely based on a famous Geneva landmark.

I think the steel arcs can be used to frame the water fountain very effectively, on their own they're a bit bland.

My life in ruins

Hidden near the very tip of the Parc de la Boverie lie the ruins of this ancient greek temple. Well, not exactly. The edifice was built in 1905 for the Liège International Expo. Apparently, it was made out of reinforced concrete. You can only get to it if you know it's there because it lies inside the grounds of the Liège Nautical Club.

The roof balloon

I couldn't resist, I had to post some more photos of the new Guillemins train station. The domed rood is so enormous, it's impossible to fit more than a quarter of it in my lens.

I zoomed in to find out what the dark spot in the middle of the shot was. Turns out it's a helium balloon, trying in vain to reach for the sky...

Inauguration again

Here are a couple more photos from the train station's inauguration ceremony last week. This was the only part of the show that we managed to see, apart from the fireworks. Towards the end of the show, these acrobats bungee jumped off the roof of the building. The photos are a bit shaky but, given the distance from which I was shooting, that's normal. A lot of my friends who went to the ceremony complained about the bad visibility...

Fêtes de Wallonie 2

The Festival of Wallonia parade featured some other interesting participants such as giant artists

giant gardeners taking their leeks out for a walk

and a giant watering can in case the leeks get thirsty!

Fêtes de Wallonie

Another event that took place this weekend was the Festival of Wallonia, which featured yet another parade. This one was composed of Macrales (local witches)

and devils

among other things.

An éléphant dans la ville

Apart from the inauguration of the new train station, many other events took place in the city this week. For example, there was the An elephant in the city parade. The elephant in the city is a cultural project that lasted a year, one of whose byproducts was the water-spitting tank and hose I blogged back in July. The parade was the closing event and it included dancers

a fake elephant

and a bigger fake elephant.

Gare à nous

After the pomp and circumstance of the opening ceremony, we went for a first look at the finished (well, almost finished) station. Here's a few pictures taken from inside and outside. First, a view of the platforms and the dome:

Then, the dome itself with the sun peaking from between the beams:

And finally, a general view of the building from the outside:

The favourite pastime in Liège at the moment is to express an opinion on the new station. Some love it, some hate it, saying that it's too big, too white and doesn't fit in with the rest of the city. I am of the opinion that this could be Liège's Eiffel Tower, the building that defines the city for decades to come.

Gare à vous

Yesterday night the new main train station was finally inaugurated after 10 years of planning and construction. The architect, Santiago Calatrava, was there for the ceremony, along with several leading political figures and royalty. The ribbon was cut by the crown prince Philip, an act that was followed by a 1-hour dance, sound and light show which culminated in a fantastic fireworks display. Unfortunately, the show was designed for TV, not for the 30,000 or more live spectators who saw almost none of it. Here's some photos of the fireworks.

We have lift-off!

Skywatch Friday

Here's my first Skywatch Friday in a long time. The sun peaks out behind the clouds and the Monument Interallié.

Heart of steel

A complete change of subject tonight, with a throwback to the industrial past of Liège. Here's a zoom on one of the many steelworks around the city.

This is Sparta!

A couple more picture from the Monument Interallié, which was built to commemorate the dead of WWI. Many of the allied nations have built shrines there. Greece contributed this cheerful sculpture:

and this marble column with a quote from Thucydides' 'The History of the Peloponnesian War' saying that the tomb of illustrious men is the whole earth (badly translated by me).

From the top

Here are the promised pictures from the top of the Monument Interallie. First, a general view of Liege. The enormous stingray is the new train station by Santiago Calatrava. It will be finally inaugurated next week.

From the other side of the tower you get an excellent view of the Basilique de Cointe. Still no news of when or whether it will be restored. The latest suggestion of the Institute of Walloon Heritage was to transform it into a rock concert hall. What is clear though it that the Catholic Church is not interested in restoring this building which, apart from being a memorial to the dead of WWI, is also a consecrated church of the Sacré-Coeur.

I'm back!

Hi everybody, I am back and blogging again. It was a long summer and it took me a while to get back into the daily routine. Is there such a thing as post-holiday depression? In any case, here's my first post of the academic year: photos of the Mémorial Interallié, open to the public on Heritage Days. The first view is from afar but you can see the people on the tower's balcony.

This picture showcases the capabilities of my new 10x zoom camera! You can almost count the hairs in the people's nostrils. Tomorrow I'll post some picture taken from the tower.