The Theme is Zebra

With three travel days left on our Railpass, Ross & I decided to make the most of the weekend and jaunt off to France and Belgium. We definitely wanted to go to France, but didn't want to spend too much time traveling, so on the recommendation of three different French people, we decided to venture to Lille, the capital of Northern France.

We couldn't find much information about it, and weren't really sure what to expect, but once we arrived we realised it was exactly what we were looking for. It is, after all, France.

There were plenty of cafés, boulangeries, and delicious wine aplenty. C'est magnifique!


Here's an action shot of Ross distributing a delicious house red.


There was also art. Unfortunatly one of the drawbacks of traveling to a city where tourism isn't one of it's major industries (especially out of season) is that a lot of things weren't available. Many galleries seemed to have incredible shows opening in the coming weeks, and were currently closed. We went to the Palais du Beaux-Arts which had many of it's biggest works on loan or being restored. Regardless, the building was incredible, and we had the place to ourselves.


Lille is known for having one of the best nightlifes in Northern France, and it was obvious that the city came to life at night. In lieu of street lamps, all the building had dramatic lighting that was frequently changing colour and intensity. It was so beautiful that we took a million photos.




We found the stereotype that the French are rude to tourists to be completely incorrect in Lille. In fact, we received the warmest reception to date. So many people were curious about us and where we came from and why we came to the city. It was obvious that Lille does not see an abundance of North American tourists. The petit Français I can parle was warmly and patiently received, and people spoke very slowly to us with a smile of their face.

Although there wasn't a lot of "touristy" things to do and see in Lille, there was lots of the lifestyle we adore. That lifestyle includes:

baguettes!

coffee! (Alongé s.v.p.)


and public markets, and zebras! Yes, zebras. We crossed a pedestrian bridge over a river and saw five or six zebras on the other side. We didn't know Lille had a zoo, so it was kind of a surprise.

From Lille we went to the much larger and much more tourist capital of the EU, Brussels. The weather while we were here was like summer.


The official languages of Brussels are both French and Flemish. Flemish is the same language as Dutch (or a close relative of), spoken in Belgium. Everything was printed in French and Flemish, and sometimes with English and German. Ross always forgot this and referred to places on the map in both their French and Flemish names, such as "Parc Park" and "Bourse Beurs". ie: "Let's take the Metro to Bourse Beurs and walk to Parc Park."

Aside from chocolate and mussels, Brussels (and the rest of Belggium) is known for these things:

Waffles! (These ones were sold out of a Westfalia)


Comic strip art!


Fries!


Beer!


Art Nouveau! We went on a walking tour of many Victor Horta houses. It was a really long tour, which we were thankful for after indulging in many of Belgium's other treats.


We saw this little fella. There was a huge crowd around him, and everyone was laughing. Afterwards we went to a pub that was decorated with costumes for him, all with a perfectly placed hole.


Brussels is thought to be one of Europe's food capitals. Instead of indulging in one of Belgium's specialties, Ross & I opted for Pho, our favourite Vietnamese dish that we haven't seen since we left Vancouver. It was so comforting!


Other highlights include Magritte and Ensor paintings, and sitting on a patio at a place that despite being named Zebra, featured furniture every colour of the rainbow.

Great weekend.