[wiredfool]

And there are a lot of middling bakeries in Europe.

Haven't spent much time in Belgium, but I was disappointed in the average quality of the bread in small bakeries in France. There was one awesome organic bakery in Paris near the catacombs tour, and one hypermarche (forget where) that somehow had an absolutely incredible rustic baguette. But the little shops in towns, eh. And most of the hypermarches. Germany is also kind of average, the Reve bakeries are reliably on the good side of middling, but nothing that I'd consider incredible.