How Kimmy recognized a place she’s never been to

I was looking through our Antwerp/Ghent pictures today for purposes of using one or two in the Travelog, with Kimmy looking over my shoulder.

Suddenly, she says: “Daddy, remember when we were in Mini-Europe, there was this square with a fountain that did not have a pool around it?”

At that particular moment, we were looking at the picture of Antwerp’s magnificent Grote Markt.

The remarkable Brabo fountain on this square indeed does not sit in a basin; water is allowed to seep through the cobblestones into the underground reservoir.

A light bulb goes off in my head, I look through our Tulips album (we stopped on the way back in Brussels for a quick tour of Mini-Europe, if you recall) and find this picture.

When I took it, I did not register the fact that the fountain was blocked from the view, but it is certainly the same Grote Markt, in its downsized form.

I was speechless for a while. Considering that a) Kimmy has never been to Antwerp and b) our visit to Mini-Europe lasted all of 45 minutes, during which time we saw over 50 models of towns and sights, I find it pretty amazing that an 8-year-old child recalled seeing a model of something upon encountering the photo of the real thing.

Let’s put it this way: I had no recollection of the little fountain whatsoever, even though I knew that Antwerp was represented at Mini-Europe and that we even took a picture of it there.

Wow!

There is also some deep thought in here on the value of travel photography, but it escapes me at the moment in my awe-stricken state.