Lille

DAY FIVE (CONTINUED)

The train ride through the chunnel was so quick that Kelsey didn't realize we were underwater until we weren't anymore, and Rachel was waiting to greet us at the Lille train station.

We were hungry, so Rachel and Carson took us to a nearby restaurant after dropping our stuff off at their place.

Kels: I got so excited for wine and sunshine and France that I snapped a selfie. Rachel's face says it all.

Kels: I decided to order the beef carpacchio because I was feeling adventurous and thought I could eat raw meat. It was so beautiful that I ate half of it before feeling slightly grossed out.

Mike: This is a good case study of the conflict at the center of all of Kelsey's decisions.

After lunch we decided to take a long walk, and we ended up at Lille's zoo. There was no entrance or other useful indicator that would suggest we were at a zoo, we just walked and found ourselves inside of one. 

Rach was very excited to show us the zoo.

Kelsey: Oh my gosh this guy was the cutest scariest guy ever. I could have watched him for hours.

Kels: Mike is great at candid photos.
Mike: Thanks.

Mike: I forget what was said immediately before taking this picture, but it clearly performed as intended.

There was a train ride near/in (who can tell, really?) the zoo. Rach was too tall. So were the rest of us.

This memorial has a cool backstory:

http://laurasviequotidienne.blogspot.com/2011/12/statue-lille-ses-fusilles.html

After wandering around Lille we returned to Rachel and Carson's apartment, which was perfectly located and only accessible by an extremely dangerous staircase.

Mike: Oh, it was also my Birthday, so Rachel got me some champagne sparkling white wine that was not made in the champagne region. It was excellent.

Mike: We had dinner at La Parte des Anges and ordered many trays of meat, cheese, and fish. Possibly the best meal of the entire trip.

Mike: Of course Rachel arranged for a ridiculous birthday tray to be brought out at the end of the meal. She knows me so well.

DAY SIX

At this point we had been going hard for almost a week, so we started to take things a bit easier. 

Kelsey enjoyed the free sparkling water and cookies provided in the gym at our hotel.

We spent a lot of time just wandering into shops and staring at pastries.

We discovered that putting hamburger buns under glass makes them seem somehow better than hamburger buns.

And we sampled most of the things in Meert, including the famous Meert waffles, which are not really waffles and are really the purest representation of what vanilla oreos could be / vanilla sugar burgers indescribable.

Then Rachel announced that she had a surprise for me (Mike)...

This French guy!

But he wasn't just any French guy- he was handing out quests to find goblets of beer across the city of Lille, as one does.

So we went around tasting various beers...

...and taking pictures of local landmarks (this is where they make a dessert called a merveilleux). 

While trying out one mystery beer we noticed something called "Tactical Nuclear Penguin" so we ordered one of those as well.

It tasted sort of like a whiskey made out of soy sauce. Not pictured- Kelsey vehemently not enjoying the Tactical Nuclear Penguin.

At the end of the scavenger hunt/tasting we ended up at a bar owned by people who were really into science fiction and fantasy.

From the menu.

This was the bar's bathroom.  It's bigger on the inside.  If you watch Doctor Who, that's hilarious.  If you do not watch Doctor Who, this picture and caption do not make any sense.

After the scavenger hunt, we stopped by a grocery store for some dinner ingredients and also picked up a dessert. The French really know how to do pastries. They have tons of beautiful pastries sitting in the window every day. Then you get to choose one. Although it's so very hard to choose one, choosing two is not an option because it would destroy your appreciate of the one. Thus, you have to wait for one to speak to you. Then they wrap it in a special box for you to take home.

Once, you unwrap the box, your pastry treat is perfectly preserved inside, just as it looked in the window. How do they do that?

And when you finally taste it (an experience which is best shared), you can marvel at how incredible it is that it tastes even better than it looks.

DAY SEVEN

Obviously, at this point, I (Kels) was growing accustomed to all the coffee all the time, so Mike and I went in search of a coffee place when we woke up and found a cute place to settle.

Our first "Cronut", a miraculous combination of a croissant and donut. And my (Kels's) latte came with sprinkles! Of course.

Going on a tea tasting adventure, we started in a British-themed tea room. Kels had tomato tart, Mike had a salmon sandwich, and we shared herbal tea. Carson sat most of this day out because we all started to get sick the night before, but he got the sickest.

Later that evening, Rachel introduced us to a American/Twenties-themed bar in the area. It was absolutely fabulous. It reminded Mike and me of a more casual and less pretentious/exclusive Gibson with drinks that were just as good. If you ever end up in Lille, you have to go here. The drinks and service were impeccable.

"Wood Julep"

Something with a liquor we'd not heard of.....with Sprinkles

This was a chocolate-y drink that also had a citrus/sour flavor. It worked!

And "apple pie" drink.

The view outside "Bloempot" when Rachel was trying to negotiate us a table inside. Sadly, she was unable to, but we ended up with an amazing dinner anyway. Apparently it's easy to find amazing restaurants in France.

I have no clue, but it's pretty.

Some sort of white fish with a cream-based sauce.

Potato pancakes and asparagus, venison liver? and steak.

Mike: And then we begged them to stop bringing us more food.

Mike: And then we exploded.

Kels: Thank goodness this dish was light. Otherwise, we definitely would have exploded.

Mike: I remember it differently.

And so we ended our time in Lille. Rachel and Carson showed us an amazing time and by day eight we were both starting to get seriously travel fatigued, but we were determined to finish strong in Paris. More to follow.