This is one essay in a six part series:
Postcard from Ypres, Bruges, and Brussels
The Belgian Bugle: October 17, 2000
What makes a city great I wonder? Is it size? Economic might? Good food? Culture? Art? When I think of great cities, the three that come immediately to mind are London, Paris, and NYC. I love San Francisco, Sydney and Boston but I’m not sure they are in the same category. Los Angeles is a wasteland in my book. Hong Kong has lots to see and do, but comes up short on my list.
Anyway, this is my list and I’m thinking I might give Brussels temporary residence on it. It has history, a broad pastiche of architectural styles, the requisite cathedrals and palaces, stately gardens, train stations, grand hotels, and even McDonalds (no Starbucks that I saw). It doesn’t have all those diamonds – Antwerp does – but it does have legions of Eurocrats driving their government-paid Saabs to and from very important meetings about who knows what. And you can buy really good chocolate here.
One of the things that great cities have in common is that they don’t disappear at night. While the boring parts where people litigate, bank, wheel, deal, and schpiel shut down (thank goodness), the really interesting parts bubble to life. This is certainly true of the previously chronicled Lower Town, home to winding alleys, a rainbow of lights, shop after shop, and strolling lookers and seers.
During the day, I confess to feeling out of place not having a cell phone glued to my ear. At night, the air is filled with the obviously cheerful chatter of wandering tourists: German here, American over there, a touch of Aussie in front of me, French to either side. If you slow yourself down and listen, just listen, it’s almost like walking through a tone poem
This night has brought out the best in the city and the best in those of us passing through its streets. Unlike yesterday, today was clear and mostly sunny, ending in the perfectly glorious fading yellow light that’s peculiar to late fall days. My evening jaunt took me around and about many of the same streets I’ve walked before, but somehow they look and sound different tonight. Was it the day? The sunset? My imagination? Maybe I just need to go home and see my family before I turn into some sort of dime store Ernest Hemmingway wannabe!
My evening meal was taken mostly while walking. I’d been past what I judged to be a Turkish restaurant tucked in one of the allies just off the Grand Place on a previous night and it was there that I found myself again tonight. Actually, I think I was probably compelled by the distant voices of my family warning me that I better return home with some sweets or not at all!
Not just any sweets, though I’m to bring those as well, but Turkish Delight which for some reason is a favorite with certain members of our household. This is a powdered sugar covered confection that is made up of some sort of jelly. The last batch we bought was from Fortnum & Mason in London some years ago and I would confess to not having seen any since. In this case, the confection in question was the real deal – made in Ankara – so I can now be sure that my arrival home will be properly celebrated.
Lest you worry that I’ve not attended to business, today was also the first of two days spent seminar leading at the second annual Pan-European SAMA conference. Though I’ve seen what SAMA stands for perhaps fifty times, I can’t for the life of me remember for longer than three minutes, but I know it does have something to do with account management and I think the “S” stands for strategic. One of my colleagues wrangled the opportunity to be a speaker and then skipped for Sydney when other duties called. So I stepped in.
The keynote speaker was Jordan Lewis, who kind of looks like he should be called “Uncle Chuck,” and who is the author of the widely read Connected Corporation, and now a new book called Trusted Partners. I got some useful ideas but was terribly distracted by the fact that his comments had almost nothing to do with his slides, and his slides had almost nothing to do with his handouts. He had flown in from the US the night before and was leaving immediately to return to Atlanta for dinner and thereafter on to Seoul. His lack of engagement with the audience is perhaps understandable given his jet setting ways, but annoying just the same.
My workshop, on the other hand, was scintillating, interesting, compelling, energetic, and attended by nine people. I’m pleased to report that my remarks did track nicely with my slides, which more or less anticipated or followed the pages in my handout, so I succeeded wildly by those modest standards. And in truth, our small group had a very cheery time, as I made sure they had lots to think about and roundly encouraged them to banter with me and their newfound chums.
. . . (continued)
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