Hotel les 3 Luppars Arras

... 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 ...

Or at least, the Lille metro.

Lille's metro system was the first one in the world without a driver, which is pretty clever really. It does make the journeys interesting, however!
As there is no driver, sitting right at the front of the train you can look at the tracks straight ahead of you, which is quite good fun really and reminds me of being on a rollercoaster! Of course I don't sit there screaming and shouting. At least not all the time.
Getting on the metro early ...

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!).

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 ...

... of the class eventually but I can tell it's going to be an adventure working with them!

Tuesday and Wednesday were mine and Erin's days off so we chilled out, got some things done, such as trips to the bank and supermarket, went to the cinema and went out for a drink with Annabelle, and before we knew it, it felt like Monday morning all over again!

Thursday and Friday were much better days than Monday, although of course some ...

... now Canada's newest province. It has been so enriching for me to witness the devotion of my fellow camrades/pilgrims on this tour. We have 2 Newfoundlanders in our gang and as one might expect...they have a lot of heart. At Beaumont-Hamel we all felt the grief and sorrow of whole communities from "the Rock" where just about the entire able bodied male population enlisted...leaving the women and children, girls and boys and the aged behind to try to eke out an existence.

... over the next few days can see what he looked like. Row upon row of headstones of Portland brick (white coloured) make a sobering sight. Zach got to try on Steve's WW1 Webbing; his Tommy Hat, and hold his Lee Enfield with bayonet. He looked the part. I got to have a go at the Lee Enfield - I squeezed off 15 rounds in 1 minute - a fully trained rifleman would double this effort - remember Im trained on a Semi auto ...

... with a layer of chocolate, and an espresso (good for Spain), and Amaretto di Saronno (my first in several years).
Fisterra is a beautiful, remote and lightly inhabited peninsula that is one of the westernmost points of land in Spain (Cabo da Roca in Portugal, which I visited the previous week is the most western piece of land in Continental Europe).
As I walk to the lighthouse for a view I pass a sign that says 0.00 kms, ie the endpoint of the Camino ...

... still see the numbers for many of the tunnels. The April 9, 1917 surprise attack to try to distract the enemy...overwhelm,ing again: Next we decided to rent bikes from Phillip to go to Vimy...he said to ride on the sidewalk in town and then there would be a bike path...which turned out to be the autoroute with big trucks honking at us...we decided our lives were more important so returned the bikes and grabbed a cab...a friend of <Phillip's ...

... square, but here in Arras, the market seemed to sprawl out all over the center of the town, past the square and into the little streets and alleys. Everywhere we looked there was a cart, stand or table offering anywhere from fresh produce, to fish, cheeses of every smell and color imaginable, flowers pots and bouquets, poultry, meats, ready meals including Chinese and Thai, sausages and hams of every ...