Aside from all the neat places I visited in Belgium, all the wonderful historic grounds I traipsed upon, all the yummy beer I drank, the scrumptious chocolates I ate, and the wonderful people I met, there was one event, one surprise event, that stands out as “The Coolest Thing I Saw in Belgium ™”.

Let the picture speak for itself:

That thing is exactly what it looks like, a mechanical, motorized tiger.

It was built by a local artist-metalworker named Kezanti who has a studio on the same street I was staying at. On our last day in Brugge, I went out for a little walk around the block, and ended up on the open-air dining area of this small restaurant two buildings down from our B&B. I saw the mechanical tiger standing there, but at first I thought it was just a bitchin’ sculpture (Brugge is the kind of town where you can see open air art displays). Then the guy stood up and turned it on and I could not hold my geekyness inside.

I spoke with him a little (him in much better English than me in my horrible Dutch) and he told me this was the first time he had taken it outside the studio and was having a celebratory beer. He then stood up and proceeded to ride the mechanical tiger! What’s even better, I got video:

Just a handful of people saw this walking work of art take its first steps, beaming artists riding atop. These are the kinds of magic moments that happen when you travel that you remember forever, the moments that you could never, in a million years, have foreseen and that happen, seemingly, just for you. Be sure to check out more photos of Shiva at Flickr: Mecha Creatures by Kezanti, The Steampunk Wizard.

Ever since this event I have had this idea to turn Kezanti into a great character in a game: The Steampunk Wizard of Brugge. I can imagine the Steampunk Wizard, riding atop his mecha-tiger Shiva, leading his army of mechanical troops based on his Arthades mecha-man moving sculpture, and a host of other mecha-creatures at his beck and call. How about it, anyone want to stat him up in the comments?