Local time: 15 September 2014, 1 night
After seeing the World Heritage Amiens Cathedral, we headed further north to Lille, close to the Belgian border. If you’ve ever taken a train from Paris to Belgium, you’ve probably heard of it.
By the way, we arranged a hotel in Lille at Amiens from booking.com as usual.
It is less than two hours away from Amiens. Normally I’d say it’s close, but since I don’t have the unlimited mileage option, I was very concerned about that distance.
Passing through the battlefields of World War I
By the way, the area where Amiens was located is called Somme province.
When I was driving on the highway from Amiens to Lille, I noticed that this area was the site of a fierce battle in the First World War. “The Battle of the Somme”, I have a faint memory of it in a corner of my mind.
In addition, when I looked it up in the bookstore in Lille, it was properly described in Lonely Planet. If I had noticed it sooner, I could have stopped at various places on the way to Lille, and considering the mileage, it would have been more efficient, so I regret it a little…
By the way, I went back to this place the next day and visited the places related to the First World War. I will introduce them in the next diary.
The reel is no longer Belgian.
We arrived at Lille smoothly though we were caught in a little traffic jam. We parked the rental car in the underground parking lot of the central square and checked into the hotel we had arranged near the central station, although it was a little far from the station. It was a small family-run hotel.
After a quick rest, we’ll head out into the city.
それにしても、ここはもうフランスではない。ベルギー。
ちなみに街の中央広場、「グラン・プラス」ですからね。ベルギーのあの街と同じだ…。
もっともこの街の中央駅の名前は「Gare de Lille-Flandres」なんです。つまりフランドル地方ということです。
Bookstore in Grand-Place
Lille, although it is the central city of the Noord region, is only a small regional city. There is no sightseeing spot like this. It’s just a short walk around the Grand-Place.
In the square next to the Grand-Place, there was a big bookstore. It’s a big bookshop with about five floors.
I was just wandering around the store without any purpose, but the first thing that made me think that it was indeed a French store was that the cookbook section was very serious.
And next is MANGA, yes manga.
I’ve seen it many times in Paris, but I think it’s true that manga is very popular.
On the MANGA floor, there was a space with desks and chairs so that manga could be read in this store, which was like a manga cafe.
I ended up buying Lonely Planet and a cooking magazine at this bookstore, which featured a collection of 2014’s most popular recipes.
Cooking magazines, this is one of those recipes that I would love to translate and actually make.
I’ll write about Lonely Planet in my next entry, including why I bought it.
Dinner, Belgium is the place to be!
さてこのほぼベルギーな街中のカフェを見ると、やっぱりみんなビール！ワインなんで飲んでる人全くいないくらいです。
So, we went to this restaurant for dinner.
A menu like this.
I don’t need to explain anymore. It’s really a contrast to the south side Bordeaux.
The mussels, while certainly a large portion, were not too rich, which was just fine since I had a good lunch.
The white beer was good too.
It has been a long time since I had a meal other than French. Although it was in France. It was the first day just after the strike that I felt again strongly that there are various areas and cultures in France.
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