Lille

This last weekend has been très bien passé in Lille with Georgia. Having not seen Georgia since October for my birthday, as soon as she started working in Lille (two weeks ago) I booked my tickets to go up and see her for the weekend. Considering we are total opposite ends of the country, a three hour and a half train journey is not at all bad. I arrived in Lille an hour before Georgia finished her classes at the uni, so I wandered round and snapped a few photos of the famous Flemish architecture (seen on the borders of France and Belgium). 

the flemmish architecture in the Grand Place

When we caught sight of each other, a very emotional and indiscreet hug commenced, with a few of the frenchies stopping to stare at the two 'anglaises' shrieking at each other. After lunch, tea and scones, we wandered around Lille a little, which was very different from the southern cities, much more up to date and reinforcing how backward the south of France can be! 

Breakfast on Saturday could only mean one thing...a trip to Le Pain Quotidien, for fruit salads, fresh juice and coffee. Of course, with it being Georgia, we woke up at half eight, rolled out of bed at half nine, and out of the house at half eleven, with Georgia proudly proclaiming, 'I am getting better at getting up in the mornings, have you noticed?' (No comment.) So breakfast turned into brunch, and then into lunch which was fine because though Le Pain Quotidien is delicious, it's also on the pricey side.

me looking particularly happy with my fruit, granola parfait

reunited after far too long apart

I can't tell you all that much more about Lille- as the weekend didn't involve a lot of sight-seeing but a lot of catching up. It was good to see what Georgia was doing with her family- she's looking after two children of seven and eleven, and how she is finding it, to give me a taste of how the summer may go for me. Her family were lovely, and very kind, though it was interesting to hear Georgia say, sometimes she feels like a fish in a goldfish bowl, with the family constantly dropping in to ask how she is, and the children wanting her to play with them. For me, I always thought it was a lonely place to be in my apartment in Apt, and have thought about the benefits of living with a family as much superior, however it did strike me that sometimes when I feel like an outsider, or I've had a bad day, or I'm tired and don't want to speak french, I can retire to the quiet of my room and apartment, which is entirely my own space. Still, there are pros and cons each way you go, and luckily for me, I'll have tried a bit of both after the summer is over.

Vieux Lille was very pretty- as is toujours the case, and had some of the posher shops. The rest of Lille was rather nondescript, with some dodgy goings on. Though I discovered last week apparently Avignon has the highest crime rate in France, I saw more in Lille than I've seen in this whole year, and we stuck very close to the beaten track after dark. 

We polished off Saturday with a burger (asked for well done- it was practically blue) and after a few drinks headed home to climb into bed, with tisanes which were barely sipped before we were fast asleep. Sunday the alarm went off at 7am (really 6am before the clock change) and we dragged ourselves onto the tram to Lille Europe. For both of us there was a pang as it was announced for any remaining passengers to make their way to the eurostar lounge to get the next train to London Pancras, and a while pondering the consequences if we did, but eventually, we drained our coffees, and said our goodbyes. It's been tough to spend such a long time away from Georgia but thankfully it won't ever be for as long this time- and it was quite something to reflect on how far we've both come from the last time we were saying goodbye.