Woke and ate breakfast with Riquier. Decided to spend the morning just walking around Lille. The weather wasn't great, so I went to the Natural history museum which was mainly filled with stuffed animals, but had an interesting section on geology.
Walked on to the museum of fine arts, but did not go in (no more than to use their facilities). Got the metro back to Riquier's place. Bought bread and goat's cheese from Riquier's local market (Place Caulier). Riquier and his Dad had lunch at the flat (friend spaghetti, omelette) which I partly helped to prepare.
Got a lift with Emmanuel (Riquier's dad) after lunch to Riquier's grandmother's place to pick up his bike. Rode around Lille a little, although the weather wasn't the best (drizzle/rain). Rode to the fortress area of the city (Citadel) which still seemed to be in use by the artillery. Otherwise it seemed that the nearby fairground attracted mostly kids on holiday.
Tried to find the fair-trade shop that Riquier talked about, but couldn't find it (in the Wazemmes area) so decided to bike home in the rain.
At 5pm a lady from the gas board came round and turned on Riquier's gas, but we couldn't get the boiler to light. Shortly after we sprinted round town so that Riquier could talk to his letting agency about the problems, buy a new exhaust for his car (we didn't find the place) and buy some organic washing powder.
On our return we took the washing machine out of the car, managed to set it up (with some difficulty) and Riquier did his first wash at his own home which made him very happy!
(Photo of Riquier's flat: drying the washing)
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