The loveliest day in Lille

It's been a few days since a post, but that's because Wednesday and Thursday were kind of "regular days in the office" by which I mean Michael went to Orsay for meetings, and I tested out a number of cafes and focused on getting some work done.

Friday was a bit more eventful - Michael gave his seminar talk at the Paris Observatory, and that went very well. He was a bit more nervous about that one, because "I'm not an astronomer", but it turns out that he actually is and it all went smoothly. ;)

I accompanied Uncle Kevin on a day trip up to Lille, which is a town about an hour and half north of Paris, and is where my cousin Clement is going to college. Clement currently has an internship with a basketball gym there, and his youngest brother Noe (along with a friend) was attending basketball camp with his organization this week. So we went to visit Clement and pick up Noe. Lille was really nice - the weather was gorgeous, and Uncle Kevin and I just walked around the town for a while in the afternoon before the boys were done. Then we cleaned up Clement's apartment, had dinner at a very tasty Italian place, and then drove back to Paris. It was great to have time to visit and see another city in France!

Uncle Kevin picked me up by the Arc de Triumph, which is also the craziest round-about in existence.

Pretty architecture in Lille.

Buildings around the Grand Place.

We wandered past a church undergoing some restoration and ducked inside - it was really pretty.

The sunlight all afternoon was pretty. And the stained glass windows in the church filtered it nicely.

Clement was managing a promotional event for the Basketball gym, which had set up a mini court in the middle to the big Mall in Lille, and let kids play mini games.

Clement's apartment is right next to a gorgeous park with pretty canals. There was also a fair running, along with a big flea market, so Uncle Kevin and I went exploring a bit.