That said we were in Belgium and France last week and it was 26deg, and that is not that far away, so who knows, maybe that is the thing to do.
Kortrijk
A short road trip took us to Kortrijk in Belgium and a night on a boat, lovely place, like a lot of Belgium, quiet, very clean and very friendly.
Ghent
Ghent is a gorgeous historic city, full of interesting buildings, odd corners and fab cafes, so few cars in the city make it a real pleasure to walk round, we stayed in a rather dodgy place, a room above a beauty salon, lovely big and airy, little balcony with a view over the city, but it was ever so slightly run down, the wiring was dangerous to say the least, but there was a toaster, strangely there was no lead from it, must have been solar powered, we seemed to be the only people staying there and it was a little creepy, but you get what you pay for, and we really didn't pay much .
Lille
Lille was a complete contrast, very busy, loads of cars a bit dirty and quite a few homeless people, much more like home, but I loved it, a real contrast, lovely old town with loads of fascinating buildings and shops, a bustling square with many cafes, and the modern shopping streets which had a good busy atmosphere, also a lovely big park with some great areas to explore. Where we stayed was on the western side of the city, a small hotel right above a Metro station, and next to a large market selling lots of fab food, bit of a run down area, reminded me of the Edgeware road, but it was fun and the hotel was pretty good.
Earlier in the month I met up with my m8y Lu, who recently came back from a couple of years in New Zealand, we met in London and took a trip out to Kew gardens and have a superb day, really was lovely, first time I have been to Kew since I was about 6, we were there half the day and didn't get to see half of it.
The Palm House, Kew
Lu
