on Lille

Lille is superb. It reminded me of a larger and more functional version of Ghent (Belgium), which is already one of my favorite places in Europe.

Someone had told me that Lille was a big modern ugly city: a terrible eysore and a boring place. This warning was so absurdly incorrect that I first formed three hypotheses:

(a) he was blowing smoke and had no idea what Lille was like in the first place
(b) he had never been there himself and had received false information from someone else
(c) he had taken a very wrong turn out of the train station

But in the end, I concluded that the truth was probably:

(d) he had only passed through Lille at Europe Station and got out just long enough for a cigarette break. Unlike Flandres Station, which is so centrally located that you’re charmed as soon as you exit the front door, Europe Station is in fact in a fairly hideous-looking modern area just over the bridge from Flandres Station.

In any case, the false warning increased my pleasure all the more. What a nice surprise. It’s great to be surprised continually by places, people, books, and ideas. Nothing is worse than the “I’ve seen it all” attitude of cynical eye-rolling that sometimes passes for the height of intelligence.

Had a great dinner with Olivier as well, who turns out to have spent a year in Chicago (after I had left). His translating work is marvellous, as mentioned here before.