Brugge to Lille

This morning we did different things and meet up at the hotel at lunch time to check out and drive to Lille.

Noel and I had breakfast in the square and it was great not to have crossoints. We both had an omelette which strangely came with salad which by the way was not just lettuce. We are in the Flemish part of Brussels so they speak Dutch, in fact the whole place is what I imagine Holland to be like. There is a lot of push bike riders, they have canals and they sell clogs and windmills in the shops. You can even buy all your marijuana gadgetry in the shops.

After breakfast we went on a horse drawn buggy ride through the city which was excellent. We saw lots of old significant buildings and it was stepping back in time touring the old streets in this way. Brugge is like France so nothing gets started until after 10am so the streets where quite still. We stopped to give the horse a five minute break next to a very beautiful part of the canal which was full of ducks and white swans.

After our buggy ride we went for a closer look at some of the buildings we had seen then headed to the belfry. The belfry has 366 steps to the top. It was well worth the climb as the panoramic views of Brugge from the top where amazing. The bells tolled while we where up there which was loud but you didnt need to cover your ears.

Another sucsessful eraser day, I will need another suitcase just for the erasers at this rate. Lucky I can have 30kg worth of luggage.

We did some shopping on the way back to the hotel, I even splashed out on some Swarovski jewelry. Of course had to buy some chocolate and I managed to find some Jacobs Creek wine to take tonight at Kathys pen friends for dinner.

Kathy and Richard slept in so they headed straight for the chocolate museum and did the tour and of course some tasting. They also did a little shopping before heading back to the hotel.

We left Brugge and headed for Lille which is only about 1 1/2 hours drive away. We stopped in the city centre and took a photo for Fab next to a Lille sign then walked down to the old quarter. The city is quite big and is just another city until you get to the old quarter. There is some beautiful old buildings in the centre of town and you can see how the town used to be centuries ago.

We only had an hour which wasn't long enough really. Little did we know we could of stayed longer as we couldn't get into the B&B until 5. Our host had sent a message earlier in the week which we didnt get but never mind we went for a drive around the small villages and stoped for a drink at a small bar.

The farm we are staying The Ferme de la Pouillerie was built in the XIIIth century. It appears in the records in 1241 following a lawsuit that set the municipal magistrate of Seclin against the priest of Loos. The farm was, at that time, the property of the powerful abbey of Loos, created in the second half of the XIIth century.It turned out that the tax collector who was running part of the Seclin meadows on behalf of the abbey, was accused of letting many pigs cause a lot of damage in the meadows. The decision of the Flanders countess, Marguerite de Constantinople (1202 - 1280) limited the herd to 120 animals and compelled to keep them in a delimited zone. It was turned into a fortified farm in 1743 and is now a horse stable, Thyer also believe it was used as a hospital for a while. We are over looking the horses in the fields and it brings back memories of my horse riding days. It place was used by the german army in WW2 where they established an airfield. Our host speaks very little English so Kathy does a wonderful job of communicating for us.

Dinner was great, we arrived at 7.30 where we started out with drinks outside where we chatted away about our adventures and life in France. Dinner wasn't served until 9.30 which is normal for France. we had quiche Lorraine and a camembert tart with salad(lettuce). This was followed by a apple tart for dessert and coffees. It was a great night with lovely food which finished up around 11.15pm. It was wonderful of Kathys pen friend to have us all over to her home for dinner.