Bed & Breakfast "Hof Ter Klijte" Heuvelland

... démontés et empaquetés dans des cartons, une remorque, un réchaud et une popotte, des vêtements pour tous les temps, des éléments de rechange pour le vélo, une trousse à pharmacie et une brosse à dent :)

Attention top chrono : J-23h

On vous embrasse tous très très fort.
Vous allez nous manquer quoique....!
N'hésitez pas à nous écrire et à commenter nos images.

Hasta luego amigos.

Joséphine

I just arrived in Lille just over an hour ago by TGV (in right around an hour from Paris, super fast). I got a bit lost arriving to my new host's house, but here I am, safe and warm. I'll stay here till Friday, when we carpool (two groups in two cars) to a big CS weekend meeting in Rotterdam. There I should be able to meet up with my host in Hague (about 20 or 30 minutes away).

The last few days were ...

... soldier'. Again, it was pretty sobering, seeing all these graves.

We managed to all get completely soaked today, and it was freezing cold and windy as well, so it wasn't particularly comfortable. After that, it was back to Calais, stopping at one more of the massive French hypermarkets for a few souvenir pieces of food, then back onto the ferry back to Dover.

So, that was the Crumball Rally over! We did ...

... the morning and finding a seat is a tough job, but I think I've learnt how to push my way through the crowd! I often end up sitting next to the really smelly person though or the drunk guy or in the same carriage as a beggar and his son. To get to work I have to go 24 stations, which takes half an hour or so, and gives me a good chance to do a fair bit of people watching!
It's fairly easy to spot the British people on the metro, they're the people that sit there staring at ...

We went to Ypres on the suggestion of my dad. Ypres is located in Flanders and was a central battle ground during WWI. The town of Ypres seemed to be right in the midst of the fight and was almost completely destroyed in bombings and fires. It is also in this area that the battles of Pashchendale took place. It was one of the most deadly and greusomome places to fight in WWI and many young Canadians lost their lives there.

We got a ...

... that I have been dying to do in Lille is to climb to the top of the Belfry in the Hotel de Ville and see the view of the city. I have made two attempts to do this now, both at times when it was closed!

I took my parents to a market on the first day they were here, which was a lovely little French Sunday market in the old part of town, it was much nicer than the big "famous" market in Wazemmes, which is slightly out of the centre. I went ...

... Toussaint holiday began at 5.30 on Friday, and Erin went home for the break. I hadn't planned to go home until Christmas and so I'm determined to stick to it, so I will have to apartment to myself for a week or so. I'm looking forward to visits from mum and dad and from Bridget and in between visitors I am planning to fill my schedule with cultural visits or as one of the teachers put it at school today: "On peut voir et apprecier notre belle région."

... had a sketching guest teacher for the weekend who was an amazing sketcher/artist/architect. The first place we went was an old fortified palace up on a hilltop. It was mostly remains, but very beautiful in its own way. The next place we went was the village of Laon, a little bit more hoppin' then the last because there ere more than 2000 citizens. There was a very elaborate Notre Dame Cathedral here which we toured and sketched.
After we visited these two places ...

... the missing British and Commonwealth soldiers who fought in the three Battles of Ypres. As we were approaching we could already hear the first notes of the Last Post, a military tune traditionally played by a bugle in funerals. We could hardly see what was going on in the center of the monument, but after the tune was finished playing, we heard a short speech expressing the gratitude to those who had given their lives for Belgium's ...

... come served in an enormous bowl that seemed to have no bottom. The Belgians love their mussels and you often see them eating from these huge bowls at restaurants. It took me half an hour to get through half a serve which is more mussels that I have eaten in my life. When Men At Work sings that famous line, "I met a man in Brussels. He was six foot four and full of muscles- I think they must be referring to the mollusc rather than his body. Everyone in Belgium is full of mussels.