Lille’s Annual Braderie !! A storm envelopes the city. Every street in the city is filled with table after table, spaces filled with furniture, bric a brac, household goods, artwork, antiques, new clothing from T-shirts to furs, shoes, walking sticks, taxidermy. It’s all available. Endless tables filled to the brim with visitors eating over 500 tons of mussels and frites in two days. Restaurants have a competition on who has served the most mussels and there are huge mounds of empty shells, sectioned off in front of establishments, showcasing their running tally’s. In 2015 there were over 2,500,000 visitors and historically, it dates back to the 12th century. We spent both days walking different sections, always completely amazed at the multitude of wares and pedestrians.
On the Friday evening before the weekend, there is an unofficial start to the Braderie, on the Marina park, near the zoo. So, of course we walked stalls that were erected and open, as well as the carnival set up next door. We indulged in an “American Hot Dog”, which totally missed it’s mark. We thought it was a safe bet – what’s to miss? You have a bun, a sausage, ketchup, mustard, onion and sauerkraut. All of which are available here. What we were offered was a bun (which was relatively close), a sausage (that was also close) and then it took a total left turn. The additions were mayonnaise and a yellow, creamy nacho style cheese. Tasted interesting but I would have loved to prepare a baseball hot dog for them. All the ingredients are in stores here, so why not? Anyway, think we’ll stick to the mussels. An although we didn’t stay for the fireworks, it was a very nice evening and the beautiful weather completed the outing.
On Saturday, we studied the map online of what kind of merchandise you could find in different sections and set out to see what we had not last year. It was another day of incredible activity in the city. We saw areas which had household goods but could not find a cookware set that we liked, although we did pick up a few kitchen gadgets and I also picked up a nice, new 100% silk scarf for 5 euros, which I thought a great bargain. Came across an old movie poster in a great assortment, which was very tempting, but decided against it at the last minute. We came across an outfit that was giving away free little fun cloth bags, which we later turned into couch pillows.
With the crowded streets and restaurants all packed to capacity, we were quickly worn with the noisy activity. We chose to pick up a large baguette sandwich to split, from one of the street vendors and retreated to our apartment. With both the windows and their double stain glass doors closed, we put on a fan for air and music to complete the serenity, while we enjoyed our lunch. For us, the day was done on the outside busy scene. We closed the additional two doors leading to the bedroom, when we turned in, to further buffer the outside chaos. In a small trip past the living room at 3 am, I found the din had not decreased. It is great fun but it is like living in a carnival. You get worn with the people noise, the food smells but most of all the booming bass driven music.
On the last day, Sunday, we took the advice of a local and headed out early to an area shaded by large trees on quieter streets with the University Populaire de Lille nearby, We walked past vendors carrying incredible pieces of antique furnishings and artwork. A nice stroll that allowed us to look at wonderful treasures, which truthfully we could neither fit in our budget or apartment. But fun to do, nonetheless.
Returning back to the city center, we of course encountered the repeat of Saturday’s filled sidewalk and streets, deciding to retreat again to the calm of our home. We were done and done in with the Braderie. It is utterly incredible and we are utterly thankful it is only once a year.
On one last note, we took advantage of the Braderie rules allowing the sale of second hand furniture and used the opportunity to unload the only furniture mistakes we had made in outfitting the apartment. We had two chairs which were too large for our space and did not offer the back support we needed. Our friend, Flo, came to the rescue by sending a muscular fellow to our place, who walked each piece down the three flights of stairs and across to his shop. After the Braderie, he (quite rightly) proudly announced that he had sold them both for us at a very good price. We plied him with Le Bleu Chat chocolates as a thank you and a promise of a dinner in the future. What a friend !
The month turned cooler within a week and we noticed the days getting dark, earlier. It seemed fall had arrived overnight. The Sunday farmers’ market also showcased the return of autumn seasonal vegetables. We’ve come to love sitting at one particular corner cafe, with the best people watching which is on weekdays, about 5 pm. There is a steady stream of people heading home, some with their children in tow, and it has a great community feel to the foot traffic. People bump into others that they know, give a quick cheek kiss greeting and speak a few words before continuing their separate ways.
I tell people that the only rude person I have ever met in France, was a train conductor on the small stop in Arras, going from Lille to Paris. Now unfortunately I can add another person to that list. In trying to set an appointment at an orthotic specialist recommended by our Paris doctor, our lack of French became so irritating to the receptionist that she hung up the phone on G. It was totally understandable that it would be a lot of work to help us. Armed with the prepared necessary vocabulary, I tried my turn, only to be hung up by her a second time. Not to be dissuaded from my mission, I carefully recorded my request, translated it into French by a spoken voice app and called again, playing it over the phone. Her response was another hang up. We have always begun a conversation by stating in French that we apologize for not speaking French but are hoping to speak to someone in English or Spanish. Usually we can get assistance between our scant French and one of the other two languages. At this point we were forced to appeal for help from Flo, who has always volunteered should we encounter a language barrier. His business partner, Mehdi, called for us as we stood by, to arrange an appointment with the specialist. As she gave him the dates available, he would tell us what she was offering. At this point, she stopped him and said that she would hang up if he continued to talk to others in the background because she refused to “talk to two different people.” It was astoundingly, obnoxiously rude and very on par with that horrid train conductor. But two rude people in 19 months in France, I consider rather light. I have been insulted weekly in shop exchanges in the states. But here, I remain cognizant of representing not only my gender but my nationality so I go to great lengths to remain civil and polite. Even if I really, really want to do very, very much the opposite.
As a complete aside to that medical escapade, it was fascinating to us to be prescribed vitamin D, as it is not an over the counter item here and find it was also not in pill form. Unlike a bottle of vitamins, to take daily, it was sold to us as two separate liquid capsules. One to drink in the morning and one to drink two weeks later. We expected to be taking the vitamin daily, for the rest of our lives. Amazingly different.
Other fun things this month included the delivery of a new set of chairs we purchased to replace the ones Flo sold for us. Very comfortable and sized better for our space.
We also finally found a product that works on the toilet bowl scale – Javel, dissolving tablets. That sounds like a small thing but truly, it’s a great find !! Lille’s lime heavy water leaves almost instantaneous scale on anything it touches. It’s akin to what is left after a puddle of water has dried, leaving a salt deposit, except it develops a grey film over the entire water spot. It’s a constant battle on the metal of the faucets, the shower and the worst is the toilet bowl, which by nature is completely submerged at the base of the bowl. The scale builds incessantly, developing a brown/ grey sludge look at the bottom. We’ve scrubbed it with a variety of products, even resorting to a razor blade at it’s worst state, only to have it return quickly. Finally, no more scrubbing deep into the basin – one tablet left overnight and bingo! And we only need to drop another one in every three to four days to keep it from rebuilding. OK, sure – it’s the little things that get me going – but this issue was tough to crack. Yep, doing my little happy dance here.
Toward the end of the month, we took the Chunnel to London for a couple of really cool events. The first came about from a friend who sent an article covering one which was called The Mad Hatters Gin and Tea party. It was high camp and entertaining, with a loose storyline tied to the Alice book. The group of participants, about 35 of us, met in a hat shop, next to a bar named The Cheshire Cat. On a counter, there were gin and cranberry cocktails in little bottles (similar to the story, which said, “Drink Me”). A guitar toting performer, introduced as ‘Dave, the Knave’, proceeded to tell us all that he was hiding from the Red Queen who was after him. During the sipping and listening to his woes, we were encouraged to pick out one of the many hats adoring the walls. The hat I picked was a stove top hat, adorned with a large clock on the front and two large rabbit ears on the side – which turned out to be an unfortunate choice for me, but I’ll explain that later. After we’d consumed the cocktail, the White Rabbit showed up and highly agitated, he led us down “The Rabbit Hole,” which were stairs leading down to a cavernous basement. The entire basement had been decorated to resemble a cave, with two large buffet tables with individual place settings that included an interesting variety of items. Each setting included at least three different glasses, a few teacups carrying different drink condiments and about every fourth seat, sat large metal pitchers of ice.
As the story unwound, the Mad Hatter as the narrator, came to tell us all that Dave the Knave had been imprisoned by the Red Queen, who was now looking for all of us. You could hear her yelling from the distance “OFF WITH YOUR HEADS.” We were told to hide – by mixing a cocktail with the items before us, which we were given instructions on how to assemble, designed to ‘shrink’ us. We all sipped as the Mad Hatter leads the activity while we saw the Door Mouse, the Cook, the Caterpillar players pop in and out with bits of dialogue. The Mad Hatter looked for the March Hare among us and yep – that’s the one wearing the hat with the clock and rabbit ears. My role became one of repeating her lines when she gave me the signal. The cocktail we’ve finished had apparently ‘shrunk’ us too much and we were instructed on a second cocktail to bring us back to size. The play continues with more theatrics, a bit like street performances and once we are deemed to be back to regular size, we need to make one last cocktail to make ourselves ‘invisible,” as the Red Queen’s voice is much closer. The cocktails were small enough not to render us inebriated.
The Red Queen has a change of heart, Dave the Knave is saved and we return to the surface, sans hats, to go about our lives. Campy but not cheesy, it was a very light, entertaining evening.
We had a few days before the next event which was an evening play and we had planned to walk much of London. However, my foot was giving me problems again since we had yet to see the Orthotic specialist and our plan B became one of the big bus tours. It had four different routes, which we manage to cover in those two days, despite the traffic snarls due to the pro/anti-Brexit and Climate Strike protests occurring around Westminster at the same time. We did disembark for lunches and a few things, like the British Museum.
The play, the night before our return to Lille, was a fund raising event for the theaters and arts. It was an outstanding one-man show by Sir Ian McKellen. He was witty, engaging, hilarious at times, completely open and an accessible human being. He started the show by opening a large box on stage and pulling out props, as he quoted excerpts of plays, poetry, film lines – along the way. The monologue touched on both his deep theatre roots and his film works, interlaced with stories of his upbringing. The props started with a chair and his Gandolph, ending with a huge stack of books of all of the Shakespearean plays which he’d been in. He had said at the beginning of the show, with a laugh, that the producers wanted him to open the show by popping out of the box and he had refused. At the end, lights dimmed, people applauded and the lights returned – with just the box again on stage.
Then off came the lid and he popped out. You just had to laugh. He, himself, stood in the lobby as everyone left, with a bucket in hand, taking donations for the fund raiser and greeting each person. It was a fabulous experience.
Back to Lille, we settled into the remainder of the month with our regular routines. We heard the children bustling down the street in the mornings, a signal that school had begun. Weekend protests began again, this time regarding proposed pension changes.
It was a great month to herald in the fall. See you next month! 😀
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