Letter from Lille 11 May

Although Christina’s Nyquil helped enormously, the cold I picked up in Paris worsened and I decided to hang around home in the morning. Glen had a short day at work while the girls and kids headed off to Meert, one of the city’s preeminent pastry shops and a familiar name to Susan.

When everyone returned, the MacDs laid out a superb lunch for us consisting of a wonderful cheese and sausage board with fresh veggies and hummus.

Later in the afternoon the MacDs took us the two blocks over to a small square where we sat out and had a cold beer.

Glen and Christina had arranged for a babysitter and that evening the four of us walked over to Les Ramparts for dinner. While we thought the woman maître d’ somewhat snooty, our waiter was friendly. He took pride in his English claiming no one else spoke the language or if so, did it poorly. We had a wonderful time together, the four of us, chatting about life, travel and the adventures of keeping on the move.

Another delicious meal in Lille, a city that is rarely visited by tourists from abroad but with its close connections to Paris and Amsterdam and Brussels should be on everyone’s stopover list.

Les Ramparts

steak frites

Glen had a café gourmand

chicken with noodles

fish with a small pepper stuffed with fennel, I believe

fois gras

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