Lille

The weather is still very cold and hail,snow and wind are regular features of every day. I moved to a different hotel this morning in a completely different part of town, towards Lille Sud on the edge of an area called Faches Thumesnil. While last night, I was right in the centre of the town, the Hotel Nord is some way out of town in what feels like a much less affluent part of town. I managed to find my way to the hotel safely and with only one mistake. Actually, I saw the hotel but passed it before I realised and turning around is not as easy when you are driving on the wrong side of the road. I'm not sure why it is that when you are travelling in a foreign country, where English is not the language of choice, you find yourself thinking that communicating effectively is not the only skill you appear to have lost.
Anyway, after getting myself set up in a new room, I decided to leave the car in the hotel carpark (parking appears to be at a premium, and the locals seem to just stop their car where they feel like but I can't quite bring myself to do that yet) and catch the Metro in to the centre of Lille. I was able to find the right place to get off so that I could transfer to another metro and so into town. I spent the afternoon visiting the Vieille Bourse (Old Stock Exchange), and rummaging through the books in the stalls inside the quad. Didn't find much in English though, a few student texts and not much more. However I did find a few English novels that I recognised, in French and spent some time practising my French translation skills. I was ready for an aperitif after this and stopped at a brasserie opposite the metro to revive myself before heading back to the hotel. I wanted to do some laundry and headed off to find the laundromat described to me by the hotel receptionist - talk about the blind leading the blind. She didn't speak English and I can't easily keep up with rapid fire French but I thought I got the general idea and headed off. I found it easily enough only to discover that it was closing shortly so I thought I'd leave it til the next day. Getting back to the hotel was a little more challenging. I took yet another wrong turn (you'll get used to this, I do it all the time) and got myself lost. I was beginning to get a bit worried when all of a sudden I found myself back at the laundromat so I started again and got it right this time. Got my exercise for at least a week with that little outing. It's just as well I have time to do these sort of things because if I was working to a timetable, I would be getting very stressed. As it is, I am very relaxed about taking wrong turns, apart from that awful feeling you get of having no idea where you are in relation to somewhere else. Needless to say, I was ready for another aperitif and a little dinner before bed.