From the Hotel Ibis Gares in Lille, I wish you all a very Merry Christmas!
Although the hotel rooms are still the same as in 2004, a great improvement is that Wifi by orange is now free! Back then, you got a scratch card valid between 18:00 and 9:00; now you get a 24 hours pass valid from the moment you first use it. Each day you need a new code, but you can just get one from the reception.
At 18:30 we went to the evening Christmas mass at the big St. Maurice church, which was within walking distance. A few interesting things of that mass happened:
- During the last half hour off the mass we had to come forward to the altar.
- When it was time for the “Our Father” prayer, we had to “connect” by putting our left hand on our left neighbor’s shoulder, while holding the right hand horizontally opened.
- For communion, we did not have to line up in 2 or 3 orderly queues, but it was distributed by many people, at different points in the church.
- After the mass, most people did not return to their seats, but maybe went somewehere else. A few even left before receiving the blessing…!
After that (a bit after 
we had dinner at the hotel restaurant (Estaminet), which had awesome menus: for a mere €10, you got a main course + a dessert. I had a delicious warm smoked salmon, and for dessert a fantastic apple tart, with lots of apple on it.
