一家咖啡馆，两个国家

有一家咖啡馆，你的咖啡在一个国家，你的蛋糕却在另一个国家。它坐落在一个叫巴勒的小镇上，比利时和荷兰之间的国界线在这里并不会礼貌地绕过房子，而是直接穿过它们。白色的十字标记和金属钉沿着街道延伸，穿过门槛，穿过商店的货架，甚至穿过咖啡馆的桌子。标记一个你愿意隔着国界坐下喝咖啡的朋友。

There is a café where your coffee is in one country and your cake is in another. It stands in a small town called Baarle, where the border between Belgium and the Netherlands does not politely go around the houses. It goes through them. White crosses and metal studs run along the streets, across doorsteps, under shop shelves and straight through café tables. Tag the friend you would sit across the border from.

这是怎么发生的呢？几百年前，当地的领主们像交换卡片一样交换和赠送土地。结果这座小镇变成了一块块拼图：比利时的小小领地嵌在荷兰境内，而在这些领地里面，有些地方又嵌着更小的荷兰领地。从来没有人把它整理清楚，于是国界就这样蜿蜒地留在了日常生活当中。

How did this happen? Centuries ago, local lords traded and gifted pieces of land the way people trade cards. The result is a town made of patches. Little islands of Belgium sit inside the Netherlands, and inside some of those islands sit even smaller islands of Dutch land. Nobody ever tidied it up, so the border stayed, zigzagging through everyday life.

小镇早已学会享受这种奇特之处。房屋的规矩很简单：你的国家取决于你家前门在哪里，而有几户人家甚至有两扇门、两个地址。在这家咖啡馆里，你可以在一个国家端起咖啡杯，再把它放到另一个国家的桌面上。这大概是地球上唯一一个，你递一下糖罐就能“出国”的地方。

The town has learned to enjoy it. The rule for houses is simple, your country is wherever your front door is, and a few houses have two doors and two addresses. At the café, you can hold your cup in one country and set it down in the other. It is probably the only place on Earth where you can leave the country by passing the sugar.