Hotel du Croise Lille

... 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

... in Paris. I really had so much luck with the weather and the city itself was beautiful. The last few days I visited Montmartre, the picturesque artsy part of town on a hill, where I visited the gorgeous Church of Sacree Coeur, as well as the cafe where one of my favorite movies, Amelie, was filmed. I took lots of pictures and arrived there as I listened to it's amazing soundtrack.

I also ...

After a bit of a hard night, we were all up at about 9am to check out of our hotel and go for a quick wander around Brugge, another UNESCO World Heritage Site. Often described as the 'Venice of the North', there are quite a few canals in Brugge, but as we discovered, there's even more chocolate shops - they're everywhere!
We walked down a stretch of road, only about 1km long, and saw about 7-8 chocolate shops, including ...

... else trying to find out if they're British as well (hey, that's me!), and look quite defensive when somebody else sits next to them (hey, that's me as well!). They then get out an English book and try to look very superior because they speak another language. (I do that sometimes.)
A lot of French people, particularly early in the morning, sit down and close their eyes and somehow magically wake up when it's their stop and run off the train. I don't know how they can do that ...

... Many said it was difficult to start fighting again. Others used the lull to their advantage and attacked the unsuspecting soldiers. The exhibit tried to explain the horrors of No Mans Land, where the mud was so thick and deep if you went of the trails you could sink and never be seen again. It’s amazing to think all the fields and towns that now exist here were once a battlefield. They also discussed how the first gas attacks ...

... 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 ...

... to get to know them, and vice versa. However it didn't really give me much of a sense of their level of French, but more about that later.

Last week we were sent on a training day for all of the English speaking assistants in the "academie de Lille" (basically the LEA), which Annabelle had pre-warned me would most likely be useless, however we actually found it of some benefit! We were taught about discipline and teaching methods and ...

... still yet to fully explore! And we spent the rest of the day back in Ikea and exploring our new surroundings.
That evening we explored a little bit of Lille's nightlife and enjoyed a few cocktails just me and Erin and had a night-time walk through Vieux Lille (which was fun until it started raining)!
We spent our first Sunday on a culture trip in the "Muséé des Beaux Arts" which is free on the first Sunday of every month and was a fantastic experience, after which we got a crepe ...

... I haven't mentioned it much, but I am still pretty sick with an awful cough and brutal cold. But honestly, why bother complaining when you're in Europe :-) So tomorrow I go to Paris and hopefully I will be able to get some sleep...since these 1-2 hour night sleeps after partying just aren't cutting it! :-) Talk to you from Paris.... L.

... without preparation of any kind. I ask for 4 figs and 2 plums, explaining when she begins to weigh 2kg of plums that it's for my dinner and 2 will suffice. "For your dinner?" "Yes" "How about some jam then" "I haven't any bread" Dark clouds pass overhead, thunder rolls somewhere. She gives me a look of concern like I've just told her I don't have a face. She disappears, and returns with a loaf of sliced white. The sun comes out and birds sing again. I'm not ashamed to admit ...