Letter from Brussels

I knew I’d made a mistake by not taking the city map the hotel clerk had offered me. Ordinarily when I’m visiting a city new to me, I’ll scope out how to get to the opera house in the afternoon. That way I won’t get lost getting there at night. However, on a recent afternoon in early January, beautiful Brussels’ other sights beckoned.

By now it was 6:30 p.m. and in the dark of night, the streets of historic old Brussels, jam packed with tourists still celebrating the New Year, all looked pretty much the same. I had 30 minutes to get to La Monnaie, the opera house I’d heard of long ago, but had never visited. I felt as though