More adventures in Lille

We've gone over a week now without needing or using the air conditioner. And we've finally had enough rain that things are greening up again. Fields of grass that looked like stubble in a wheat field after harvest are green and growing again. Here are a few pictures from recent events and adventures.

History walk:  We signed up for another history walk, this one given by a recording played through a earphones that directed us as we walked around town. We've been here long enough and taken enough tours that nothing was really "new" to us, but still I learned a few new things along the way so it was worth doing. It was threatening to rain and finally did as we walked home, so we ducked into a new ramen shop that Clay had been wanting to try. It was very good.

Above and below: Pelicans on rooftops. Brasserie Pelican was located here.

The Lille train station, Gare de Flandres, was moved here from Paris, piece by piece. This is the view from the front of the train station, a boulevard built in the Parisian style. You can see the rain clouds moving in. This was just the beginning of the walk, but the rain held off.

St. Maurice, above the church named for him.

These three gilt figures are on top of a building in the Grand Place representing the three royal realms of the region, left to right, Artois, Flandres, and Hainault. 

This is a wedge shaped building that was intended to be the start of another Parisian-style boulevard, but those plans fell apart.

A small sidewalk marker remembering a member of the resistance who was deported and then decapitated by the nazis. Many of these are being placed around the city at the homes of Holocaust victims. 

This sculpture honors Louis Pasteur, who lived in Lille and was the first director of sciences at the local university. This is in a small park that Bailey and I visited daily when we were living in the AirBnB for the first couple months after arrival.

This is the Port de Roubaix, which I've seen and shared before, but on this tour I learned that it was built during the time that the Spanish Hapsburgs ruled Lille and much of Flanders.

Canal floating with heron: I try to get out for a midday walk between Bailey's morning and evening outings to up my daily step count, which has been lagging badly with the summer heat. One day recently I went off to explore a small canal that empties into the Deule. I have seen it on my walks but had never gone up that way. It's rather stagnant water so it was completely covered in green duckweed. Near the point where the small canal meets the larger Deule, I spotted a grey heron standing on flat, raft-like piece of wood that was slowly drifting downstream to the larger canal. I had a good vantage point from a bridge that crossed the small canal so I just watched and waited as this heron played Tom Sawyer and drifted downstream. I wondered what, if anything, would cause the heron to take flight but nothing did for quite a while. Finally, just he was nearing the area where the smaller canal's stream was merging with the larger a large barge approached. He still didn't fly off until the barge's wake began to rock his raft. Then he took flight and headed back down the smaller canal landing on the bridge where I stood watching. Maybe it was one of those "you had to be there" things, but it was kind of fun. 

The board looking like it was part of a packing crate. It wasn't attached to anything and was floating slowly. I'm not sure how long Harry the heron had been onboard before I came along. 

I saw him cock his head and look up at me but he wasn't bothered.

Here you can see Harry's raft nearing the confluence with the Deule canal.

He had a demeanor of absolute serenity.

I was happy to see that the pair of swans (Sam and Sally) were still in the area.

Tables Houblonnées (hoppy tables): It wasn't long after arriving in Lille that I had my first Paix Dieu. It's a triple style of beer made by Brasserie Caulier, not too far from here in Belgium. Triples very quickly became my preferred style of beer and it's a common style around here so there's always at least one triple on tap everywhere you go. Paix Dieu is among the best of them that I've had. Clay follows several local news sources to find out about things happening around town. He saw this event, Tables Houblonées, and signed us up. It was a dinner in the hop fields featuring food from a local Michelen-starred chef with beer pairings from Brassier Caulier. They provided transportation by bus, although most folks drove there on their own. I've never really been much of a foodie, we tend to view food just as something necessary to keep the beer down, but I was really impressed by the quality of this food. And of course, the beer was excellent. We ate, drank, and I had a nap when we got home before taking Bailey out for her evening walk. 

The poles are probably 20-25 feet high, the hop vines grow on wires all the way to the top.

There was a tent near the road where we had a welcome beer, then followed this boardwalk into the fields.

Fortunately it didn't rain while we were there, but there was an elevated and covered platform with tables stretched out in the center. 

The bar.

The north of France and Belgium are beer areas because hops grow well here while grapes grow better in the south of France where it's warmer.

This was not the main kitchen but they prepared the entrées (starters) here.

The view down one of the rows.

The floral decorations were local wildflowers.

This was a very colorful entrée, cheese with multi-colored tomatoes. 

This was a souvenir fan provided at each place setting. On a hotter day this would have been much appreciated and well used.

This particular field is a family owned farm that provides hops to Brasserie Caulier.

And finally: The fall fair is back in town as are all the college students and local residents now that vacation season is over. 

Bailey in the field of greening grass. That is her friend Hannah in the distance.

World Dog Day (a few days late)

We celebrated World Dog Day the way we spend most days, with a couple of walks with Bailey. But we had heard about an event at the Oasis, a restaurant/bar at the Citadel. It sounded like a good mid-day, extra walk, which I need to meet my 20K daily step goal. Clay came along, which made Bailey very happy.

It was sponsored by some dog walking business, I believe, and it mostly consisted of them taking photos. That was fine, we waited just a few minutes, had Bailey's photo taken (without us) and then we sat outside and had a beer. A fine way to celebrate. 

Bailey and I did our normal morning and evening walks as well. I would have posted this on Wednesday, but we have not yet received the photos from the event organizer. They may have misread my email address or they just haven't sent them yet. If they arrive later, I'll append them to this post. 

Bailey on top of the hill at the dog park.

Bunny spotting

The rabbits are never far from their safe zone. 

This is the bar/restaurant near the Citadel where they held the World Dog Day event.

She's always happy with me. 

Touching is very important to her.

Ok, this was a post about World Dog Day, but I saw swans on the Deule canal. I've never seen them within the city, only of portions of the canal that are more away from town. I saw them in the same area two days in a row and I hope that will continue. 

Swans swimming through duckweed, taken from a bridge over the canal.

This one was chasing away a coot that was swimming too close.

One of the flower beds at the entrance of the Citadel. These have filled in nicely this summer.

August in Lille

We haven't traveled anywhere since the early part of July, which is contrary to what most folks do around here in the summer. But it's been rather nice being here when the city is relatively quiet and slow paced. We've had a couple of visitors, which has been nice, the last of whom just left town today. We have just a couple more weeks of calm before the storm that is the Braderie happens the first weekend of September. 

Bailey and I have a small but pretty regular group of dog friends that we see most days if I keep our walks on a fairly regular schedule. Temperatures have returned to normal and we had some much needed rain, with more promised for the upcoming week. 

Playing with a stick. She doesn't really fetch but wants me to watch her play with it by herself.

This handsome boy is Jacopo, a Bracco Italiano. He adores Bailey and she deems him to be a worthy playmate.

This is Hannah, an Australian Shepherd. She's a senior and her mom knows all the dogs who come to the dog park.

The husky is Aslan and he's a good playmate for Bailey.

That dense thicket is home to a lot of rabbits who come out to the grassy area around it late in the evening. One evening she saw and chased a dozen bunnies back into the bushes, harming none of them.

She looks for them whenever we pass by, but they are only out in the evenings. The bushes are thick and full of stickers, she does not attempt to follow them inside.

My favorite house in Lille, lit up at night.

These stones were once columns that were part of the old palace of justice (courthouse). Bailey loves to jump and climb on them.

Bailey wearing her lighted collar, late one evening, looking for bunnies.

No rabbits this evening, but a friend came by to play.

The fall carnival is setting up on the Champ de Mars. It opens this weekend and will run for about a month.

A screen shot of the program from a concert at the cathedral Saturday evening featuring sacred music from the 10th to the 17th century. Several instruments were featured that I've never seen or heard. The music was actually pretty good.

We spent this past Sunday with a friend from Clay's college days and his wife. They are now living in Spain. We took them to La Piscine, which is an old, art deco era municipal bath/swimming pool that was converted into an art museum. It's a beautiful building and they have quite an interesting collection.

My favorite sculptures, above and below, "Chien danois." If they had been selling reproductions of these in the gift shop they would have come home with me on Sunday.

A greyhound.

Swan and snake.

After dinner Sunday evening, we wrapped up the visit by stopping by la vieille bourse, the old stock exchange in the Grand Place in Lille, to see the weekly tango dancing.