The sound of piano in the distance · Brussels
2016-10-14? Brussels
The first time I was on the train to Brussels, I didn’t know how to change to another train because I didn’t understand Dutch, so I had to check the ticket. At that time, I realized that I had missed the transfer station in Ghent and headed all the way to Antwerp. So I had to give up my trip to Brussels that day. I walked around the diamond city of Antwerp and made many unexpected discoveries. This is another story.
Later I heard that there was a suspected bomb on the train to Brussels that day, and all trains to Brussels were temporarily suspended.
Sure enough, the next day, some friends asked me, why is there another terrorist attack in Belgium? Did you say a bomb was found? When I looked at the news, it turned out to be what happened that morning. I breathed a sigh of relief in my heart, what is blessing and misfortune. But I heard that the people in Brussels were quite calm at that time and seemed to have gotten used to it.
After that, of course, we set off again to Brussels, the capital of Belgium.
The first time I came to Brussels, I felt confused. I heard a lot of bad rumors before coming, so I was a little afraid of this city. Whether it’s a train station or an old subway, they all give me a sense of tension that I need to beware of something at all times.
Walking slowly on the street, the road is uneven, with many uphills and downhills. As usual, there are many open-air bars along the way. It is so cold during the day that it is hard to imagine how noisy it will be at night. Garbage can be seen everywhere. There are always scars left by chewing gum on the ground, and there are fat pigeons walking around in tandem with their necks stretched out.
I accidentally saw a dark brown Gothic building standing on the roadside, and I really liked it. It looks very special next to other ordinary buildings. It is completely different from the buildings I have seen in Belgium before.
Gothic architecture looks more ancient than the Baroque style of the Grand Palace in Brussels. The buildings before the Renaissance did not have so much bright and gorgeous feeling, and there were not so many jumping new ideas. Gothic architecture is the symbol of Rome. The evolution of style, but more refined and luxurious than the Roman style, it is more like a nobleman sighing at the end of the Middle Ages, elegant and mysterious.
Looking at the majestic grandeur of the Grand Palace, it seems that it lacks a bit of charm. The only feeling it gave me was solemnity and nothing else.
On the day I came to Brussels, the weather was overcast and it seemed to be very cold.
The wind was very strong on the way to the main square, and suddenly there was a faint sound of piano in the wind.
Sometimes lively, sometimes tactful, just like this, it floats farther and farther in the air with the wind.
I suddenly remembered a passage written by Haruki Murakami.
"One morning I woke up and suddenly listened, and heard the sound of drums in the distance. The sound of drums came from a far, far away place, from far, far away in time. It was very faint. Listen. Listen, I have to embark on a long journey no matter what.”
This vague drumbeat finally made Murakami and his wife decide to live in Europe.
I always don’t understand why thousands of people have left their homes and have no one to rely on, so why do they choose to live far away?
Even if you are familiar with another environment, you will still have a feeling of being unable to control it. The sense of belonging is a very magical thing. You clearly know where you should belong and where you belong.
Some people are tired of their hometown and make up their minds never to go back.
I know what kind of person I am, and I can never let go of my hometown no matter what. But some things will walk into your heart unconsciously across thousands of rivers and mountains. They have already existed in your memory before you arrived, just like the sound of distant drums, and countless sounds from far away, such as distant bells and distant piano sounds. , every imagination you have is closer to reality until the day you actually experience it.
Just as I followed the distant sound of the piano, I stepped on a land that did not belong to me.
This distant place has a name now, and it will have many names in the future.
On the Louise platform, I finally found the source of the sound. An old man with gray hair was playing the accordion against the wind. The sound was cheerful, and the bellows opened and closed.
The sound of this piano made me quietly take off my guard.
Sometimes a city really needs a different sound. The city you see with your eyes is part of what it really is, and the sound is another part. The sound of the accordion is very unique, it can be thick and melodious. The old man has a smile on his face and a head full of white hair.
Watching him, I suddenly thought of the projectionist Alfredo in the movie "Cinema Paradiso". What he said to Duoduo once left a deep impression on me.
At that time, the male protagonist Duoduo had just experienced a lovelorn relationship. Ifedo hoped that Duoduo would leave the town and go out for a look. Duoduo thought this was a line from some movie, but in fact, what Efedo said was My own words:
"Stay here every day
You will regard this place as the whole world
You will believe that nothing will change
Then You left for perhaps five or ten years
When you come back, what you are looking for is no longer there, and what was once yours has disappeared
Life is not a movie, life is much more difficult than a movie ”
The movie is always accompanied by the melodious background music of the accordion. One of my favorites is called love theme.
Writing this, I want to rewatch this movie, because I can’t remember Duoduo’s expression when he went back thirty years after leaving the town. He looked back at the building that once brought the whole town What expression will be on the faces of the residents of Cinema Paradiso who are happy and moved?
If he had not left the small town, his job as a film projectionist, which he once loved, might have been his destiny. Thinking of this, what expression would he make?
The sound of the organ in the distance makes me feel that the more exotic something is, the more it reminds me of my hometown.
Fortunately, I heard this piece of piano music. It made me feel that apart from the terrorist attacks and the chaos, Brussels is still an old city with an atmosphere.