Travel: November 2002 Archives

My wife Lauren and I have arrived in Bruges, Belgium, with a simple plan. We will take a leisurely walking tour, see some sights, and stop occasionally for chocolate.

Seeing the sights proves easy. Bruge had the minor good fortune of being an international trading center until the 16th century, and the major good fortune of being utterly unimportant for centuries thereafter. The ornate stone buildings thrown up at the height of its power ended up being too unimportant to tear down in the following centuries; narrow streets that had been cobblestoned for endless caravans of horses were only sporadically worth paving over, and never worth widening, for a later trickle of carriages and autos. It's as if the whole town were tossed by Renaissance artisans right into the hands of 20th century preservationists, sailing over the heads of 400 years of developers and civic improvers.

But as we consider how best to implement the all-important candy-eating phase of our plan, we gradually begin to panic. Chocolate shops can be found two doors down from other chocolate shops, which are across the street from chocolate shops that face out onto alleys crammed with chocolate shops. There are more chocolate shops here in Bruges than there are Starbucks in less civilized outposts like New York or Los Angeles. You cannot throw a rock without hitting a chocolate shop and having it returned to you as a delicious truffle with an unusually crunchy interior.