From Waffles to Wine: The Day We Crossed into France

Just a short minute’s walk from our lodging, we popped into a small convenience store to grab some pastries for breakfast. Another quick train ride later, we soon found ourselves in the small town of Kortrijk. After getting told by a local that we were walking in the bike lane, we corrected our course and quickly found ourselves in the modest city center.

Now starting to feel the effects of the previous day’s miles, we ventured into a small corner store and stocked up on some much needed pain pills. Some twenty minutes later, we came upon St Anthony’s church. Directly in the rear housed a gated grotto (a recreation of the famous Louie Grotto in France).

Slipping into the garden, we admired the almost mystical enclave/grotto and murmured a small prayer before venturing back out into the street.

Just a few minutes down the road, we were thrown out into a green rolling park housing the Groeninge Monument, a reminder of a famous battle that happened in this very spot hundreds of years ago.

As Austin and I stood admiring the large statue, we heard Matt let out a yelp and turned to see him fuming with rage, all the while covered in white bird poop from head to toe. As he had stood under a tree, a bird decided he was an easy target and had left him with a small present that ran from his hat, jacket, and backpack. We spent the next few minutes trying to contain our laughter while helping Matt clean off his gear.

After shoving his now ruined jacket down into a nearby trash can, we left the park before finding ourselves immersed in the maze of white walls and twisting corridors of another UNESCO heritage site of Beccynhof St Elizabeth.

Just a few steps outside the gate was the historic Church of Our Lady of Courtrai, famed for its golden spurs hanging from the church’s ceiling (a spoil of the aforementioned battle). As I slipped my head through the large wooden front doors, I began to get scolded by an elderly gentleman in broken English that the church was closed for a funeral (as I obviously had missed the sight of a black hearse outside).

Slightly discouraged being unable to enter the church, we spurned onwards and found ourselves on a large stone bridge, flanked by two twin turrets. As we glanced out from the bridge, we could see the river and the city beyond, once again overcome with emotion.

After finding our feet, we set back off through the narrow streets and found ourselves lounging in the shadows of the large watch tower that dominated the Grote Markt. Due to the church being closed and our speed, we were now much ahead of schedule and very off track from our itinerary.

As we sat in the shade of the looming tower, we all began to pull up our maps trying to find some unseen route or destination that we may have missed. As our next destination was Lille (which lacked much there), I proposed we stop at a small French town on our train route to Lille. After some light convincing, we agreed and just a short 40 minute ride later, we found ourselves in a small, nondescript French town of Tourcoing.

We had zero expectations or plans in Tourcoing which made it an outlier to all of our other trips and destinations. However with zero guidance, it was a brand new experience and after shaking off some of the discomfort, we embraced it and set off through the town. It didn’t take a terribly long time for us to realize that this wasn’t a tourist hotbed and we could see why. We failed to find any major attractions or sights other than a gothic church that dominated the surrounding skyline.

A short few minute walk from the church led us to a small cafe (Le Festival) where we decided to grab a quick lunch. Seated outside, we were greeted by our cheerful waiter in broken English. As he began to take orders, Austin originally ordered water before quickly changing his mind (as he realized he would have to pay for it). The waiter, noticing Austin’s hesitation, then brought out a large pitcher of water before placing it down and exclaiming it was free, giving Austin a wink in the process. I like to believe he also noticed our haggard appearance as he then brought out a bowl of bread and proclaimed it was free as well.

After our food arrived (we had all ordered appetizers, thinking we were ordering entrees), we feasted on some much needed nutrients. Once our meal had concluded, our waiter kept asking if everything was alright and was surprised when we were finished (again probably due to us just mistakenly ordering appetizers). Due to his great enthusiasm with us, Austin handed him a nice tip and he was beyond thrilled.

With our lunch now behind us, we decided we had seen just about everything in this city and it wasn’t long before we found ourselves seated at a distant bench, awaiting our next train.

It was just before 2 PM when we arrived in Lille, which would be our final destination for the day. We struggled our way through the massive crowd outside the train station and began our walk to our hotel. After checking in and dropping off our bags, we again set back off into the streets of Lille. We did not have an abundance of things planned here so mainly meandered through the streets at a leisurely pace. We first took in the large Paris gate just a few steps from our hotel before finding ourselves in the main city center (La Grand ‘Place).

We were all surprised by the amount of people out and about before realizing that this town was a large shopping district for many French people. We soon set off through a local book market (Place Du Theatre) and church (Eglise Saint-Maurice) before finding ourselves with our typical vice in a local bar (autrement dit).

An overpriced beer later, we began to wander the city once more. Earlier in our planning, we had noticed a large historic military base at the city’s outskirts and now with ample time, we decided to make our way in that direction. We eventually found ourselves trampling through a large barren parking lot, with various amusement park rides off to the side.

Soon the parking lot gave way to a large and busy children’s amusement park. As we strolled past the park, we all became startled when we realized there was a soldier hidden behind a tree wielding a large assault rifle.

Soon another soldier crept into our view and we were now in front of a large archway, guarded by two more additional soldiers with large rifles slung upon their shoulders. This archway was the entrance to the military base (citadel) and we stopped in our tracks, realizing our efforts to enter would be for naught. However, we soon began to see bikers ride out through the archway and Austin, forever curious, decided to approach the soldiers and ask if we could enter. In gestures and a few phrases, Austin was shooed away and our plan to visit the citadel was immediately dashed.

Afternoon was quickly turning to evening and we set back off to the city in an effort to find some dinner. We eventually stumbled upon a small Thai restaurant which was beginning to open. After a short wait outside, we quickly found ourselves seated at a small booth in the back. Little did we know that this meal would be some of the most fun we would have on the entire trip. Our two (attractive) female servers could not speak English and all our ordering was done by pointing at menus, all while hiding our shyness behind large grins. After finishing our pad Thai, we set back off into the streets of Lille before hearing some cries back in the restaurant, summoning us back in. Through broken English, one of the servers proclaimed that the other gorgeous blonde server thought Austin was very cute. The long twisting walk back to the hotel was filled with us teasing Austin and trying to grab his feet as his head began to touch the clouds. Once we were back in our dark loft room, we watched some Taskmaster on TV before drifting off to sleep, ending our first day within France.

To see the previous day’s adventure, click here.

To move onwards with us along our journey, click here.