Viva La Tour

July 4th - July 7th  Wattignies/Lille

We had a great stay in the little town of Wattignies just a 10 minute train ride from the center of Lille.  The Tour de France had their Grand Depart in Lille on July 5th so we took the train into town early to catch the Caravan. The sponsors of the race have colorful floats or vehicles with prizes thrown out along the route.  The caravan starts a few hours before the race and it was a madhouse! However Jay did manage to score a little swag but may have had to fight off a few frenchmen to grab it.  It was obvious we weren't going to see any of the riders with the crowds in Lille so we hopped back on the train to Wattignies where the race actually started in earnest.  It was pretty exciting seeing the lead group whiz by followed by the peloton.  Speaking of "whizzing" a whole group of riders decided it was time for a "natural break" right across the street from us.  "Naturally" we took photos!😮  

We were able to see the race go by again a few days later as it came back through.  We rode our bikes down to a little town further south of Wattignies and barely arrived before the peloton came racing by.  It is always so amazing to see how close they ride to each other and at such a fast pace!

Our dinners were mostly in local restaurants serving the local cuisine. We both tried the flemish stew,  carbonnade flamande, a delicious version of our pot roast.  The burgers one evening were fabulous and the beer as well. We had chicken tacos as an appetizer one night and enjoyed coffee at the nearby boulangerie every day.

The AirBnB we rented was in an old refurbished barn up some spiral stairs (we're pretty good at those by now) and the owners of the property were delightful and very accommodating.