South for a Week – Normandie and Bruges/Brugge – Day 1 & 2; Lille via Bailleul

A Peugeot 5008 7 seater was booked and we were anticipating bags under feet and between us on the seats but the hire company turned up a Fiat Talento 9 seater – for those in the know we had less baggage than 5 pax in a Hyundai in South Africa.

To make excuses, this did include all of our bags for a 4 week stay in Mozambique, Swaziland and South Africa 😀

How did we get onto that – Fiat 9 seater with the dodgy rear window that kept popping out resulting in lots of wind noise and much rattling – Matt did insist on finding all of the bumps on the roads.
Weather report: In 8 days only one day of rain!! How lucky can you get in Northern France in mid/late autumn.
So, with 6 and a dog, and snack supplies for two hungry munchkins, we set off (eventually). The dog, Luna, made several stowaway attempts over the course of our excursion. She proved herself to be a very intrepid traveller – usually tucked away between Arthur and Juliette.

Matt took the first shift and we drove non-stop to Bailleul – blink and you miss Belgium. Bailleul Commonwealth War Grave Cemetery is the resting place of Sue’s great uncle, Spencer.

On to Lille – that was clever, wasn’t it; booking a hotel right in the centre of the city – I think Matt and I circled the city block 6 times trying to find parking locations – on a Saturday night!!

On our first night Chloé found Le Chat qui Fume – an estaminet (look it up!) – good food and “rough and ready” service.

Cold and wet start – with Luna so we ate “outside”

The weather improved so we explored for the rest of the day:

Look – more scaffolding – belfry of Chamber of Commerce — like many “old’ buildings it has been repurposed

La Voix du Nord – still published – was a clandestine press during the occupation of 1940 – 1944. Once a Trades Hall?

In the 19th C the good burgers of Lille decided that they needed a Cathedral fitting for the city of Lille. Construction of Notre-Dame-de-la-Treille began in 1854 and completed in 1999 – neo-Gothic and national monument.

Exploring the back streets of Lille (Peter Sarstedt kept on springing to mind! – look it up!)

That woman in the lilac jacket keeps on photobombing my photos!

Essentially a memorial to Verdun – 1916 – specifically memorialising the role of pigeons during the battle.

While the kids explored the playground, Nanna and Poppa went off to explore the Citadel de Lille – built under the supervision of M. Vaubun after the taking of Lille by the forces of Louis XIV. Now home to NATO rapid response command – NO ENTRY