August 2024

The beginning of the month we were invited to stay the weekend at the house of the mother of our friend Isabelle, whose name is Lili. At first we thought the invitation was a day trip but when clarifying it for us (after we’d accepted) we discovered it was actually for two nights (photo from Lili’s upstairs window). Trying not to panic my inner introvert (who was screaming at the top of her lungs), I switched gears and went into a pro-attack mode. What can only be described as the equivalent of strapping on a pair of pearl handled pistols and two strips of bandoliers – I marched into the kitchen and pulled out the baking pans. Then – four kinds of cookies, a pan of brownies, two red bottles and two white bottles of wine plus two (12 packs) kinds of beer – later, I was armed to the teeth. I almost threw in a bottle of gin but refrained at the last minute. That move would totally reek of desperation.

Isabelle, and her cousin Audrey (our upstairs neighbor) plus G and I went Friday afternoon to Isabelle’s place and relaxed out of the rush hour traffic with a light dinner of a charcuterie platter – oh and of course beer. The weather was perfect all weekend, hovering around the mid 70’s with light breezes. After she was sure that we’d missed a majority of the traffic, we were back on the road for the rest of the drive to Soissons, and specifically, Mervin-et-Vaux, a 10 minute drive from Soissons.

Since we no longer drive and arrive everywhere by train these days, it was a pleasure to see the towns and countryside in a way only accessible by road. We arrived at Lili’s with big hugs and bisous. Patrice, Isabelle’s husband, had already arrived there earlier, directly from work. All of us sat in the dining room, catching up on news and our trip. Isabelle and Patrice visit Lili every two weeks. In the interim Lili, who is 82, is looked in by a neighbor and a house cleaner. Lili is spry and more energetic than G and I, which is embarrassing to admit. Isabelle and Audrey were born in Soissons and Lili still lives in Isabelle’s childhood home. It is quite spacious, boasting of several floors and bedrooms, with a large wrap around garden. Although the trees and hedges are cared for by a gardener, the rest which boasted of flowers, vegetables and fruit trees, is tended by Lili.

Our first morning in “la Commune de Mercin et Vaux”, after a breakfast which mirrors our own at home of yogurt and fruit, we left Patrice at the house, to trek to the Soisson’s farmer’s market. This is the impressive Marché Couvert (covered market) built in 1908.  Half indoor and half outdoor, everything you could want was sold by a multitude of vendors. G was particularly fascinated by the fact that you could also buy a variety of live chicks, chickens, ducks and other fowl, if desired. After the shopping, we stopped for an espresso which is a tradition for Lili and Isabelle on her visits. Then back home for rest and relaxing. Lunch was fresh baguettes, salad, cheeses, salami’s and fruits, and beer and wine – all of which were just delicious.

Then back out we went to explore the town of Soissons by foot, with Isabelle as our guide. Following a walking guide she procured from the visitor’s center, we hit the largest historical sites, which she admitted that she had not done herself in the many years she had lived in the town. Soissons was first mentioned in written form by Julius Caesar in B.C. 57. Although it was the one of the original capitals of France after the fall of the Roman Empire under King Clovis and the Frankish empire, Paris has been the capital and residence of the kings of France since the 10th century. There were several provisional seats of government in many French cities from 1871 due to the 1st and 2nd World Wars, but it returned to Paris when it was liberated from the Germans in 1945. The town of Soissons suffered heavy bombardment and occupation in both world wars, many structures still show the riddling by the gunfire and some buildings are identified by plaques as those having been used by the Gestapo during the war. During WWl the town came under heavy bombardment, due to its strategic importance and its close proximity to Paris, which made it a last line of defence before reaching the capital.

In our walking route, we visited the Cathedral Saint-Gervais Saint-Protais, built between the 12^th and 14^thcenturies, known simply as Soissons Cathedral.  A Christian diocese existed here since the 4^th century, although the present cathedral sits on a site where a church has existed since the 9^thcentury. A wedding was just ending when we visited. The first thing that catches your eye is its one-tower façade—the second tower was never built. There are beautiful 13^th century stained glass windows throughout the Cathedral. In 2017, a storm swept through Soissons and the strong winds blew out the massive rose window of the cathedral.  What’s there today is a reproduction of the original, but interestingly, the stones of the damaged window were carefully removed and now are on display, laid out as a rose window, on the floor of the city museum, housed in the former 12th century Abbaye Saint-Leger, which we also visited, that includes the cloister, chapel and crypt. 

We also walked through the ruins of the Abbey of Saint-Jean-des-Vignes, the refectory and cellar. The Abbey’s spires are taller than that of the cathedral.  The abbey was founded in 1076 on a hilltop and was largely destroyed in 1805 under Napoleon I, but the façade (13^th-16^th century) was spared and the remaining ruins are still very impressive.  Its two asymmetrical towers, completed after the Hundred Years’ War dominate the city. The smaller spire-78 meters high, was completed in 1495. The larger, 86 meters, was completed in 1516. Their styles though, are very different.

Back to the house, Audrey exclaimed that we had walked 9K for the day and I have to say I really felt it. Naps were in order before dinner and when we returned to the main floor, Isabelle and Lili were bustling in the kitchen, preparing dinner. We enjoyed a steady stream of dishes pouring out of the small kitchen – more salad and bread, a platter of sauteed fresh garden tomatoes, roasted chicken, vegetables and cheeses- not to mention a large custard tart for dessert, and of course, wine and beer. We were royally stuffed to the gills while enjoying their delightful banter – most in French of course as Lili does not speak English. When they turned to me to see if I was following the conversation in French, I would make them laugh by smiling ear to ear and giving a sarcastic thumbs up. Translation: I haven’t a clue as to what you are all talking about.

Sunday was a slow relaxing day in the garden. We worked picking up the gigantic mound of apples which surrounded a huge tree and Isabelle marveled that she had completely cleared the ground not two weeks earlier of the same amount of apples. After more heartfelt hugs, thanks and bisous, we took the drive back to Lille. It was a wonderful visit, the baked goods I’d brought were thoroughly appreciated and there were serious inroads made in alcohol consumption.

On a whim, G & I hopped a train to Antwerp the next day, on Monday, just to celebrate my 70th birthday. Antwerp doesn’t have the tour buses we like to hop on and the tours they did have were too long or didn’t catch our interest. We’d never spent any time there but just going through their incredible multi-level train station upon arrival showed an impressive work of Art Nouveau.

The city itself is more diverse than Lille, boasting of culinary choices outside of ours (which we were pleased to see) and just in the afternoon, we had heard Hebrew, French, Dutch, Flemish and German spoken. We grabbed a quick dinner at a tiny Japanese restaurant run by a young family which was really tasty. Just a walk around in the evening showed us that the hotel we were staying at, across from the train station, was in the heart of the diamond jewelry stores, which Antwerp is famous for. The architecture is also quite diverse in Antwerp – a blend of Gothic, Flemish, Art Nouveau, Baroque and Renaissance.

Tuesday G had managed to procure lunch reservations at Zilte, a 3-star Michelin restaurant, known to be hard to get into. The 3-hour meal was incredible. I wish I could show more photos of this fabulous five course meal we enjoyed but it just felt too gauche to keep whipping out our phones to do so. They did however give us a copy of the menu to take home. Every dish was an art piece and each bite exploded with complex, delicious flavors. The wine pairings were wonderful and I did ask to take a photo of the French wine we were served, explaining we lived in France and would love to be able to look for them at home. That didn’t seem too tacky and they were happy to let us do so. Otherwise you will just have to take my word for it when it comes to how wonderful the meal was.

The last day G toured the incredible Cathedral (De Kathedraal) while I people-watched at a café in the Square. The Cathedral has 4 pieces by Rubens and some of them are included in the photos below. The main tower rises 123 meters (almost 404 ft) and is the tallest building in Antwerp. Afterward, we walked a couple of markets and hunted for a couple of Mexican restaurants but without success. One had closed, another was closed for the day and having reached Grote Markt Square dog-tired, we ran out of patience and had pizza at a convenient outdoor cafe. We had passed a great number of shops along the narrow streets and it was clearly a shopping destination city. Perhaps another time we might return to actually take advantage of that.

The Grote Markt was interesting in that some of the guild hall buildings which ring the plaza were in fact restored in the 19th century from historic Flemish paintings of the square. A few, like the Sint-Joris guild, are the original buildings. The tops of the guild halls are adorned with gold statues depicting the patron saint of those particular guilds. We were a bit bewildered as to why the main statue had a man holding up a severed hand and had to research into the Brabo fountain. According to the legend of Silvas Brabo, he fought a giant known for exacting a toll on the bridge into the village. Those who didn’t pay, the giant severed their hands and threw them into the river. Brabo defeated the giant and severed his hand, throwing it into the river. Made sense but just seeing it without context was rather grisly. The weather again was perfect, dinner was another outdoor restaurant that placed a small grill on our table, with the lamb chops we’d ordered – so we could grill them to our liking, which was delicious. Then it was time to train home.

Lille continued its celebration of the Paris Olympics with basketball and rock-climbing setups in the plaza. We watched the Paris Olympics on TV and especially the final Men’s Basketball game – France vs US. What perfectly matched teams, until of course, Steph Curry got his mojo and went on his 3-pointer terror. G’s loyalty was split between the 2 teams; mine was with the US. It was a great game and we also watched the Closing Ceremony a few days later.

The weather in the first half of the month remained moderate until around the 12th when we climbed up to the mid 90’s. It was the only day we used the A/C as most of the time we get a good cross breeze in the apartment and can keep the indoor temperature mild. As you can see the A/C cooled us down about 10°C (~77°F). We would still get hit by intermitten afternoon showers, which our French friends have commented are unusual, as was the long winter for this year. Since August has not been as hot as usual, we’re left wondering how September will play out.

Contrary to tradition, we did not buy diamonds in Antwerp. I’m not fond of them (G is vastly relieved on that fact) so for a birthday present I received certificates for a few bicycling lessons. I was so taken back by his thoughtfulness – it was exactly what I needed in order to refrain from running over things in my path. I do have our attorney on speed dial in case I move from hitting benches, trees and cars on to hitting clerics or the police. It doesn’t hurt to take some lessons.

We went to lunch last week with Audrey and her friend, Sondra, who’s a hoot! Bleu Canard, which is always good. And, a typical summer evening in the Grande Place with lots of folks out enjoying the weather and good company. See you next month!