The second scouting trip to Lille

Back in January, after doing extensive research Clay went on a scouting trip to Porto, Portugal, and Lille, France, to evaluate both cities as possible places for us to live. Porto sounded wonderful, except it was hilly, and although I like to walk, I'm a flat land walker. Lille seemed to be an interesting city in the north of France in an area once known as Flanders. It's flat land and Clay speaks the language there whereas neither of us know any Portuguese, so we decided, at least tentatively, on Lille. We went together on this trip as a second scouting expedition to confirm the choice. We are moving on or about August 1.

I have my usual case of the post-vacation blues. I should get my butt out on the trails, that's the only thing that I know will cure it. But I'm feeling lazy so I'll try just reliving the trip through the photos I took. If you followed the Facebook posts these will be nothing new, but I'll try to add some context.

On the plane before taking off from Atlanta.

This is the belfry on the Grand Place in Lille.

The opera (nothing was on at the time we were there).

Our hotel was just behind this building.

This is the place we'll be staying in our first three months in Lille.

There are two levels, bedroom on the ground floor, living space and kitchen above.

That downspout on the left is the corner of our building.

It is located down this alleyway. 

This is the back end of the cathedral in Lille. It's older and more ornate than the front.

Apparently it languished unfinished for many years and they finally finished it up on the cheap just to get it done. The result is that the back end is more interesting and impressive than the front, which you'll see in a later picture. I never knew a Catholic church to run out of money, but I think that speaks well of the city.  

The Grand Place at night.

Statute to a local hero, a WWII resistance fighter in Lille.

I think this is, or was, a fountain. I liked it. 

The spring festival was going on when we were there. There were many different events, including a large carnival. 

The carnival was held on the grounds of the Citadel, an old, but still active military base, surrounded by a large green space and canals. These large boats were restaurants. There were also rental boats.

This was the underground space under a beer bar. 

This building was an old public swimming pool that was turned into an art museum. There was a Rodin exhibit there that we went out to see. 

One of two Great Dane sculptures in the museum.

Along the sides were changing rooms and showers that were also converted into exhibit space.

This was one of the old city gates, this one was on the road to Gent.

This is the front (new) end of the cathedral from the inside. They couldn't afford a lot of stained glass, but the large door area is made of translucent marble.

Pelicans in the city zoo, which is also located in the area around the Citadel. 

There must be some folklore about these giant figures that made an appearance at the spring festival along with a band and a group of oddly costumed dancers. The giants are carried around by one to four people who are inside them. 

A covered bridge over the canal. It may have been a river, but it has been channelized and controlled over the years to the point that it's indistinguishable from a canal, at least to me.

This was from our day to Tournai in Belgium.

Very old painted ceiling in one of the churches in Tournai. 

One of the waterway gates to Tournai.

This was a lift bridge over a canal in Tournai. They opened it as we were in the area and three barges passed under it. Apparently the canals there are still used for commerce.

We saw arrangements like this in several churches. They all featured something growing from the earth as opposed to the usual cut flowers. I'm guessing it was related to the christianized version of a pagan spring festival celebrating re-birth. 

The arched opening to the left of the pink flowers is the end of the alleyway where we'll be staying. There's an interesting bit of local history that a murder occurred down this alleyway back in 1925.

This is the interior courtyard of the chamber of commerce building. This was once where all the city's merchants lived and worked. The covered portion now holds book sellers, at least in warmer weather.

The gay bar in the center of the city. This was usually our last drink of the evening when I was too full to drink any more beer and needed vodka instead. 

These yellow fields of rapeseed are common sites in Belgium as well as France.

It's what canola oil is made from.