Balladins Confort Hotel Arras

... 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!<br>It's fairly easy to spot the British people on the metro, they're the people that sit there staring at ...

This week I have had the chance to finally be a tourist and explore my city! I planned to travel and explore France during this holiday but as it turned out I couldn't afford to do that, and there was a lot of Lille that I had yet to see (and that is still true!).<br><br>The Musée de la Piscine in Roubaix, just north of Lille on the metro, is a fantastic museum which I took my parents to. It goes by two names: La Piscine and Musée d'Art et ...

... examples of lesson plans, which is really useful. <br><br>At the weekend Erin's boyfriend arrived in Lille for a visit, so we did a bit of exploring of parts of Lille which we had yet to visit, such as the Citadelle, a massive architected park just on the other side of Vieux Lille. The Citadelle is really popular with sports enthusiasts such as runners and cyclists, and you can also hire scooters to whizz around on!<br><br>On our way into the ...

... we then went to Lille, the fifth largest city in France, by the way it is at the top of my list of places visited so far. Our hostel was based in Lille. We all went out as a group and found some really nice bars. There was a lot of dancing going on, and come to find out the next day, our professor told us we had been in the gay district of Lille. No wonder no one was getting talked to besides the guys. It was fun all the same! The next day we walked around Lille and ...

Last Friday we moved into our studio. To put it lightly we were a bit disappointed about the size, we hadn't expected a palace but we'd expected a bit of space to move around in! However, we had to keep reminding ourselves of how cheap the rent is and therefore how much extra money we will have to spend on other, more important, things!<br>As soon as we had arrived we went off to Ikea to buy essentials such as pots, pans, duvets, pillows and sheets and other decorations to help us to ...

After getting on the train and into our first train change we went to information to ask the next train to take that would bring us to Arras. The look on her face told us things would not be good. Long story short we were headed to a town that she said was beautiful, it would just be an over night stay that would lead us to Bruge the next morning. Once we got to the next station Lynden did a quick scan of the trains and noticed that a train went ...

... of the first tanks ever went into battle. The speed of the first tanks was about 2 miles per hour - the Mark 2 was about 5 mile an hour - towards the end of the war - tanks could reach speeds of 8 mile an hour- faster than troops could march. The English would develop a tank that could sustain 20 mile an hour but the war finished before it came into production. We also visited New Foundland Park - were the New ...

... Memorial and found our way to the graveyard at Courcellette where Piper James Ric*******, VC, is buried. Rob walked across the road from the Courcellette site to the edge of a farmers field and picked up a piece of shrapnel - makes you think! The countryside here is dotted with cemetaries. Some large, some small, but you can hardly travel 10k without coming across one.

... A jolly Austrian man starts talking to me, and is mildly disappointed when I don't turn out to be a local (he said I looked like a regular - I guess that means swarthy, unshaven, olive complexion :), but is very surprised and intrigued that I am an Australian roaming the world (aimlessly). He introduces me to his colleagues, who are a group of European art gallery owners, and a Czech artist with his girlfriend. The gallery owners have come here to support the ...

... to the ice cold wind. You'd think that by mid June it'd already start getting warm in northern Europe...but no. Our first stop was Arras, a town in northern France which was just beginning to awaken. There were hardly any people in the streets let alone cars, so parking was sorted out in a jiffy. We crossed the empty town square surrounded by old buildings which all had the same structure. To me, the ...