Jazz impressions of Antwerpen (and other places)

The SNCF has plastered the train windows with corny stickers saying “let yourself dream”, “#nofilter” and “seat with a view”. Everybody awake is heads-down in their phone. Everything around here used to be the deepest and most vibrant shade of forest green. Now it’s a dusty and desolate shade of husk yellow. And yet they still vote against the planet. First, there are the iron arches and glass vault of the 185-metre-long and 44-metre-high train shed, designed by engineer Clément Van Bogaert. Then, there’s the 75-metre-high glass dome soaring above the marble-clad neo-baroque station designed by Louis Delacenserie. As a bonus, there’s the damage from a V-2 rocket impact that’s left a kink in the roof. Finally, there’s the tunnel that was excavated beneath the city to convert the station from a terminus to a through station, complete with two levels of concrete concourses that seem to defy gravity. Antwerpen-Centraal has to be the most beautiful railway station i’ve ever seen. By stark…