Anyhow, SK was vacationing in Greece, and came back to London in time (barely!) for us to leave for our train to Lille, France early Sat morning. VW and LS landed in London on Sat, and then took the train to Lille to meet us Sat evening.
Sat during the day, SK and I wandered Lille. It's really quite small, we more than covered the entire city during the day, and that's including eating, and two naps!
First stop -- food. We were starving, and found this great place called Meert. Highly recommend it, the food was amazing, though be forewarned, it's not a place for those who don't enjoy sweets.
Wandering the streets of Lille, the architecture was beautiful!
This one cracked us up. We have no idea what it means, if someone can figure it out, please let me know! I'm assuming it's not a monument about people being drunk and falling over?!
There is a citadel in the city, but apparently it was closed. Oh well, we walked past the "do not enter" sign anyway!
Looking through the crack in the door, this is what was on the other side.
They had a zoo too hahah! I don't think I'll ever grow old of chasing animals, even ones like a beautiful peacock. Though the ostrich was really really close, which was kinda frightening. And SK and I couldn't figure out what those four-legged furry beasts were. Reminded me of Snuffy the snuffleupagus from Sesame Street. And the little monkey, he was so cute, he would wash his food in the water before eatting it, by leaning WAYYYY over to dip it in, without falling in. Though I did wonder (and SK wasn't sure) whether monkeys can swim?
Met up with VW and LS at the train station, brought them back to the hotel, went out to eat, and then we all crashed for the night, completely knackered.
Next morning (Sunday), after a healthy breakfast of pastries at Meert (yes, again!!), we picked up the rental car and drove out to the Canadian National Vimy Memorial. For those who don't remember grade 9 history, the Battle of Vimy Ridge was during WWI (ie the Great War), and was the first time that all the Canadian regiments fought together as one country. We were not a country yet, but serving together to overcome this German stronghold that no Allied force was able to conquer became known as the birth of the nation of Canada.
Just in case you were wondering whether WWI land mines are still buried in the fields...
We also visited the cemeteries. The youngest known soldier that I saw was a 16 year-old. I can remember what I was like at 16, and dying for my country wasn't at the top of my mind. Oh the valiant young men who fought for our country!
And for those who have fallen, whose remains could not be identified, what more fitting than the simple statement written on their tombstone -- Known unto God.
In case you can't read it, the sign says "The land on which this cemetery stands is the free gift of the French people for the perpetual resting place of those of the Allied aries who fell in the war of 1914-1918 and are honoured here".
And this is a sign showing the battle lines of the Allied and Axis armies, during the time of the Battle of Vimy Ridge.
The tunnels were unfortunately not open, but we were still able to wander around the trenches.
Insane how CLOSE the German forces were to the Canadian line!!! The red circle is the sign that says "German Front Line".
SK found this little hideout, I'm assuming it was where the sentry would stay. Almost scared the crap out of me and LS.
What's nuts is how uneven and bumpy this land has become, as a result of the war. Can you just imagine, replace all the grass with muddy lumpy soil, and remove all the trees so that there's nothing to stablize the ground but instead everything is slipping and sliding all over the place. Add the fact that you're carrying a huge pack, trying to keep your gun from stabbing someone else (or yourself) in the eye, whilst dodging bullets from the other side. I don't know how they did it.
With all the grass everywhere, you wonder how the kept the lawns nice. Meet the lawnmowers.
SK's attempt at petting the lawnmowers, but they would have none of that!
After Vimy, we had a nice road trip, wandered into various French towns, and went back home to Lille.
Monday morning, we got up and headed to Brugge, Belgium. Funny sign along the way, I've seen many variations of this one, but it cracked us all up. Apologies for the fuzziness, it was a "drive-by-shooting".
Brugge has pretty cool architecture too. Too bad it was raining, else against a blue sky, would have been amazing!
Brugge (or rather Belgium!) is known for a couple things. Chocolate, waffles, and beer. We experienced lots of all three (except for me, opted for rum or vodka instead of beer, still can't ingest that stuff). This was at the Chocolate Museum.
At one of the beer stores, as well as during our brewery tour.
This wall is of beer from around the world. Can you see the Canadian beer? Oh Canada!!!
Kinda cool, hard to figure out what it is, but it's bottom of a ton of beer bottles, all stacked up.
Brugge is also known as the Venice of the north. Lots of pretty canals, and would have been nice to go on a boat ride, if it wasn't so dreary out.
They also had windmills, which were kinda cool!
After a hearty dinner, we drove back to Lille. We were hoping to have time to drive to Ypres and through Flanders Fields, but it was already starting to get dark when we got in the car, and we weren't sure when poppies were in bloom anyway. Had an amusing time figuring out how to return the rental, and then popped into a pub for another pint.
Headed home fully knackered again, and dreading the thought of getting up early to catch our trains, SK and I back to London, VW and LS to their next destination on their Europe trip. And for me -- dreading the thought of arriving in London at 8:30am and heading straight to the office! All in all, was a great vacation, and was so much fun hanging out with the EY Toronto crew. Special thanks to VW for doing all the driving. One day it'll be me in the driver's seat of a stick-shift car, maybe in Germany?! I love road trips!
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