Saturday night dinner
Bonjour!
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Robert's chicken vindaloo
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My chicken curry
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We actually decided to have dinner last night, and I thought
it would be fun to take the tram into Lille. So, we headed out about 7 p.m. to look for Les Delices de l’Inde which was
described as Restaurant Indien et
Pizzeria … Pizzeria? At any rate, on
Tripadvisor.com it was ranked as #18 of 1,050 restaurants in Lille.
It actually wasn’t very far from the last tram stop, just a couple of
blocks, and we were able to find it easily.
The interesting thing was that it was a very TINY restaurant – only six
tables, and after we sat down and saw the menu, it was a very TINY menu too –
one side for pizza and the other with Indian food. There was chicken in six different forms, and
lamb in three, and one vegetarian dish. There
were no appetizers like we usually get (pakoras
or samosas) and then one or two
desserts. Also, we usually share with
Indian food, however, that was not to be last night!
Robert ordered chicken vindaloo,
and I ordered the chicken curry, both with garlic na’an. And when it came,
wow, what a surprise! We each got a
lovely plate with rice, sauce that accompanied the chicken dish, and some
cucumber, tomato and onion salad.
Everything was delicious!
Robert’s vindaloo was very
spicy, which he loved, and my curry was very tastyfull. It was quite a change from French food, and
we enjoyed it very much! Then, back to
the tram and our hotel in about 25 minutes, in time to catch most of the UEFA Champion’s League final between Barcelona and Juventus. (As Juve was my first favorite team, when I
originally discovered soccer, but Barca is now my favorite, I wasn’t sure who I
would be rooting for … but one look at Leo Messi, and my heart belongs to Barca!
And they won, 3-1! Great game! It also brought back memories of where we
have been for other Champion’s League
finals – one time at Philippa and Dan’s in Northampton, England and another in
Ankara, Turkey!)
Sunday, June 07, 2015
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Beautiful Notre Dame in Boulogne-sur-Mer
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It's a big church...
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Bonjour!
Only one
country today – France!
(Although
honestly, I think we could bag France, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands
without breaking a sweat!)
However…back
to today.
We were up at the usual time,
and breakfast arrived at 8 a.m.
We have
decided that after two very sobering and somber days on WWI, that today we
would try something different … WWII maybe?
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Stunning frescos
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by unknown artists...
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In researching a good destination for the day, we came across
Boulogne Sur Mer and its recently
re-opened (May, 2015…talk about good timing!)
Basilica Notre Dame crypt.
I’m
normally not all that good with crypts, especially if they contain anything
like bones, but this one sounded really interesting!
The site has been in use as holy ground since
the 4
th or 5
th century, and in 1308 it was the location
of the wedding of Edward II of England to Isabella of France.
After a very nice and leisurely drive from Lille to Boulogne-sur-Mer, we were able to find parking just below the
cathedral, which is very easy to find, as it stands out a mile against the sea!
It is a beautiful day – lots of puffy
white clouds and blue sky. Hard to
believe that we were SO hot in Rome and Florence; it feels so odd to be on the
coolish side – probably in the high 60’s.
The original medieval cathedral of
Notre Dame was destroyed during the French Revolution, and left in
ruins.
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Unusual wooden carved pillars
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Me amid the painted columns and walls
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In the early 1800’s, when a
Father at the minor seminary located next to the ruins was appointed as head,
he decided to rebuild the cathedral.
As
the new church was to be constructed with the materials of the old building as
much as possible, the builders were instructed to dig out the old foundation
which had been filled with the rubble from the old church.
They discovered an enormous crypt, complete
with Roman columns.
As the crypt was
being cleared, (at over 100m long, it is the longest crypt in France) they
found dozens of little rooms leading off from one another, some going back to
Roman times.
Besides the variety of
statuary and stone capitals that were excavated, what is really astonishing is
that someone – or some artists – in the mid 1800’s spent an enormous amount of
time in the crypt creating frescoes and drawings on the walls and
ceilings.
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Among the pieces discovered...
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There are images of Saints,
key figures from the Bible, Latin inscriptions – hundreds of them – absolutely stunning
life size pictures created, but by whom?
There are also painted columns and ceilings, and the restoration has
been meticulous in making the passages safe without causing damage to them
while preserving the images and colors that had been painted years ago.
(At lease I’m hoping they are safe…)
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Painted and decorated chamber
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Part of the Treasury
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The crypt also contains the present church’s
treasury, and the relics and paintings and sculptures are beautiful.
There are hearts of gold, golden crowns,
jewels and even cannon balls fired on the town and the church by Henry VIII
when he besieged Boulogne in 1544.
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Organ & columns of Cathedral
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After a good look around, we were lucky to get into the
cathedral on top for a few minutes, as they were closing for lunch, which
sounded like a good idea to us.
We
walked through
Boulogne looking at
menus, and as we are so close to the coast, surprise!
Fish!
Yum!
We decided to try
Le Swan, which has a very nice décor.
Robert ordered a bowl of mussels for
starters, and they were very tiny!
For
his main course, he ordered
rouget, a
local fish, that came with rice, green beans and a vegetable medley.
However, Robert said the fish was tough,
which I would think would be hard to do, but as I don’t cook fish, I’m probably
not one to comment.
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R's mussels
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My seafood salad...
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My boeuf bourgignon
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| R's rouget |
I had wanted the
avocado and shrimp salad to start, but they were out of avocados, so I got the
fish salad … hmmm… it came topped with six or seven shrimp – with
ALL parts attached, including head and
tail, and then a variety of other things (mostly unidentifiable!) underneath
disguised in a
Marie Rose (1,000
island dressing) sauce.
I was able to
eat a bit, but fortunately Robert (my hero!) came to the rescue and finished it
so I didn’t have to!!
For mains, I
ordered the
boeuf bourguignon.
It came with a pile of French fries, which
were fine.
I think I must be spoiled,
because nobody makes
boeuf bourguignon
like Robert; it was OK.
All in all, a
so-so meal, probably the first one we’ve had on our entire trip!
It was now after 2:30 p.m. so we decided to head back to Lille by the direct route, getting here
a bit before 4 p.m. We are now watching
the men’s final of the French Open, and not sure if we are in for the night or
not. (If we’re not, we will have to find
something VERY light!) Then, tomorrow,
we pack up and head out of town, (stopping first, of course, to do our last
load of laundry!) to Bruges, Belgium,
the home of waffles and frites with mayonnaise!
We will be in Bruges for two
nights, then head back into France to stay at one of our very favorite
long-time favorites, the Chateau d’Ermenonville
– a magic kind of place with towers, turrets and its own moat!! More later!
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| Stunningly beautiful day for a drive! |
Much love,
m
xxx
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