We depart Waterloo on the Eurostar (pas deuxième classe) to Lille to explore the town and celebrate Debra's birthday. If we're lucky we'll find a French restaurant willing to tolerate our complete inability to express a word of French. I am completely intimidated by the language barrier. I simply cannot say a word of it. Its taken me 10 years to pronounce Poirot, suffice to say that the t, is silent. However, if one was to ask for Moet, then you retain the t, because the blighter's surname originated from the Dutch. So I'm too confused and intimidated to ask for Champagne, and will ask for a beer instead.... which is much easier to pronounce....in fact, the more beer I drink, the easier it becomes to pronounce, everything, really. I pondered the pronunciation of Leffe, and confirmed that it is pronounced "Leff", well at least by the French speaking Belgium guys.... can't speak for the Flanders folk though. Managing to avoid the Lille Commissariat de police local we bunked down at the Hermitage Gantois, which used to be a 15th Century Hospital and full of character, including a beautiful Chapel and a peaceful inner court-yard.
