Lille
Tuesday morning we woke up and started our journey to Lille. It was only a short 2.5 hour drive and we arrived at the Jardin Vauban. This bed and breakfast place was great. It was in an old apartment building that the owner bought and renovated. The manager was Thai and offered an authentic Thai meal and 1 hour Thai massages. We decided against both. We stayed in the Chocolat Room (highly recommended by our new friends, Allen and Alex). The room is very modern - a tiny taste of Vegas life. After we dropped off our bags we ventured out.
We saw a cathedral, had a snack at a cafe and bought a couple of tarts at a boulangerie. It started to sprinkle so we decided to head back to the BnB to rest and get some warmer clothes. During my nap, Ethan put his master google'ing skills to use - he found a wonderful place to eat dinner.
The Estaminet 't Rijsel, is a Flemish pub. On our 1 mile walk it started raining, so we stopped in a really neat bar/nightclub. The bar owner had a little wispy haired terrier of some sort that greeted us at the door and almost lead us to our table (he didn't climb stairs). After our cocktail and the weather let up, and we started back at it.
We walked the cobblestone streets, people watched, and checked out the buildings. Finally we made it to our destination. We sat outside at the pub and I ordered the most delicious chicken plate I've ever had. Ethan had some ham dish. Back to the chicken, I picked up the bone and it fell right off the thigh meat. It was drenched in a "local cheese", so delicious. Ethan kept dipping his frites in my cheese, fair enough since he's the one who wanted the chicken in the first place. If you're ever at Estaminet 't Rijsel in Lille, France... order the "poulet au maroilles". Oh yeah, and take your time reading the menu books - they're ALL handwritten!
Brussles/Bruxelles
Just a short drive from Lille to Belgium, about one hour. After yelling at the GPS for a few minutes we found our way to the mid-city hotel. We checked in and decided to hit the touristy part of town. In the center Ethan found lots of chocolate places we just HAD to stop in.
After buying several Euros worth of chocolate and walking around looking at more cool buildings, touristy shops and statues we decided to find a place for dinner.
We ended up at a pretty nice restaurant. Apparently there are magic shows done by the owner every other weekend - we missed it. We did however; see some pictures of some familiar faces who had performed there - Penn & Teller, Lance Burton. Interesting enough I guess. We ordered some food, nothing special, along with our beer sampler. Ah yes, delicious. Pink, yellow, dark, etc. It was all delicious. We ordered one more for each of us, it was getting quite chilly so we decided to stumble back to the hotel.
Back in Sannois now, I cooked dinner at home. We'll go and check out Versailles next week. A tout a l'heure!
4 comments:
So far Bruty's favorite pic is of Aunty Amanda with the beer.
He says he misses you, but is getting used to his new home. Tomorrow starts the weekend and he is getting excited to lay on his raft in the pool.....
Wow!
More pictures of the two of you together please!
(you'll thank me later)
Pink beer?
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