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When you look on a map, you tend to think that boarders are straight lines that neatly divide states and countries. But, as Mental Floss will tell you, sometimes borders are more complicated maps lead us to believe. Way, way more complicated. For example:

The official border between Belgium and the Netherlands runs through living rooms, yards and cafés, so it’s possible – indeed, it happens more often than you’d think – to sit across a table having a cup of coffee with someone who is actually in a different country.

For a while, a Dutch law requiring dining establishments to close earlier than they did in Belgium laid the foundation for an absurd, nightly charade in some Baarle restaurants. At closing time in the Netherlands, patrons would have to get up and move tables, over to the Belgian side. Like in Cooch-Behar, Baarle’s complex borderline has to do with how regional lords and dukes divided up their land hundreds of years ago.

Full story at Mental Floss.

More odd tidbits.

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