Patrick

So I left Amsterdam after a night of raunchy sex shows and made my way to the quaint city of Bruges. Scott has a better story to tell but for me the highlight was wandering into an old theatre from 1905 and meeting the own Patrick.

An eccentric cinephile in his 50's, he appeared to be the sole owner and caretaker. When we wandered into his theatre at 10pm his single screen was playing The Hobbit. The lobby was littered with huge old 35mm projectors, Steinbeck flatbeds and a mess of other archaic displaced machinery. Patrick appeared out of the theatre confused as to our purpose in his lobby. We began to ask him about the theatre. He told us about the opening of the theatre in the 1905, how it was originally an open air lot with horses, how the theatre had been changing with the times, how it was used for soviet propaganda in WW2. Our conversation went on and we started talking about the theatre as it was now, how he chooses films, about the larger theatre outside of town, how the tourists have effected it.

After a while we ask if we could see inside the theatre. He brings us in. The Hobbit is playing. There is a single massive screen and an elegant theatre seating over 300. The room has incredible sweeping acres that span the room, he tells us it more beautiful with the lights on.

Just a quaint story in a quaint town. I'm trying to convince Scott to make a guest blog post, I think you might enjoy some of his stories so far.