We took a local train from Paris to Lille, leaving from the Gare du Nord. You may be more familiar with the much more spectacular Gare de l'est. The Taxi driver made a mistake and accidentally tried to drop us off at that train station. I had to say "C'est magnifique, mais ce n'est pas la gare" and then direct him to the nearby North station.
It was a short ride to Lille, and when we arrived, we were greeted with a very pleasant town that felt more Belgian than French. Indeed, Lille is in the historic boundries of Flanders, and was made part of France in 1668.
You can see the Flemish influence in the buildings surrounding the main square.
The Bourse was open to a used book fair this Sunday, which gave us a chance to wander about inside.
This odd photo is a panoramic view from INSIDE the Bourse, looking around the courtyard.
And this is a more conventional view of what the courtyard looked like.
There was a book for sale that was about Belgians in the Congo, dated 1856. If it wasn't so big, I would have purchased it. It was pretty much as horrible as you imagine it would be.
The food in Lille was also more Belgian than it was French. It was more common to see beer than wine in the restaurants, and you saw many places selling waffles, such as the place Meert, above. It has been there for many, many years.
They are very famous for their stuffed waffles, and they looked like this:
We also got Hot Chocolate:
Viennese Hot Chocolate
These were much better.
Here is a cookbook for sale (mostly for Matt) that calls out Waterzooie on the cover.
We didn't stop in this bar, but I am sorry that we didn't:
It is a nice place to spend a couple of days.
I promise to write about the Circus we saw there. It was Spectacular!
No comments:
Post a Comment