Lille!

I think that our weekend in Lille was a lot more fun than I expected it to be! Granted, it was cold and wet, but it wasn't much better than Paris. The train ride was good, since it gave me time to catch up on my reading for Orphee. We were all pretty quiet, since most of us were reading, with the exception of Litos and Dan, who were listening to Margaret Cho on my iPod. After dropping off our things at the hostel, we went out to walk around for a bit as a way to kill time until the restaurant where we went to eat opened. We saw a couple of churches and the opera house! Claire, Mandi, and I also got our picture taken with a man dressed up as something crazy. Dinner was extremely delicious and probably the most expensive meal I've had since we've been in Paris! I forgot what the thing was called that most of us ate for dinner, but it's basically a flat, doughy bread (kind of like pizza dough) with different meats and vegetables on it. Mine had olive oil, mozzarella cheese, and tomatoes on it. Traditionally, they come with ham and onions, but I decided to pass on those. Some of us went out afterwards, but I opted to stay in and hang out with Ben and Mandi.

The next day was our only full day in the city. We started off with a visit to the Musee des Beaux-Arts. I liked this one much more than the one we visited in Nantes. There were really interesting video displays, including one about a town where there was only one young couple, and the traditions they kept. After a two hour lunch period, we met up at Tri Postal, which is where the used to sort mail for the city. There was a photography/video exhibit going on there. I liked most of the displays there, but some of them I didn't enjoy as much, such as the video of a cat eating a mouse.

It POURED the next morning, but that didn't stop us from going shopping! We found a flea market, where I bought myself a much-needed scarf and some cheap makeup. After lunch, we saw a movie called L'Heure Zero, which is based on an Agatha Christie novel. I enjoyed the film a lot, but it got slightly confusing at times. We walked around a little more, than went to the train station and went back to Paris.

I thought the visit was a lot of fun, and I can't wait for our next visit to Bruxelles!