Brussels to Lille

Brussels, Belgium photos:

Me in Brussels at midnight - this is all I got to see of it

We're in Lille now. It's a cute city - 4th largest in France. Small, when you hear those stats. Anyhow, it's fairly cute. They have a lot of creperies here. I haven't been very inspired with the photos here. I don't know if all the cities are starting to look alike, if I'm burned out or what, but after Brussels, I just sort of stopped taking 100 photos of the same thing.

What's happened to my art! :) Anyhow, we're in Lille. Back to toilets in the closet again. We got spoiled in Brussels - it was a one-off and we had the BEST hotel. Housekeeping in France is relentless! Yesterday I got 1 phone call, one question in the hallway and a knock on the door followed by a sliding of the door key while I was blow-drying my hair and doing naked leg lifts in the bathroom. Why do they want into our rooms so bad? We never use the mini-bar! I have a do not disturb sign on the door and I asked the lady outside why they bother to have the door hangers if they are going to double check 3 times. One of our bandmates suggested that he figre out when the maid comes and then he could perform a lascivious act, naked, at her exact arrival. That'd traumatize her enough to stay away. At our last hotel in Paris, this little women knocked on your door and when you opened it, she bulldozed in like a hungry stray and marched over to the window and opened the curtains. All the while uttering something about having to open your window. So I'm thinking there's a trick lock or something, and she grabs the curtain and opens it, as if I couldn't do that myself. All this with the curt tenacity of a German war nurse. I thought it odd but forgot about it until at lunch our bandleader said that he told the front desk that he never wanted to see "that woman" for the rest of his stay here. They are deep here with the hospitality, even if you don't want it. So funny.

Here's what I could muster for Lille: