Tournai, BELGIUM

6th - 7th September 2017

Emily (from Lille) recommended a number of cities and hosts, so I changed my plans for the following day. Instead of heading straight to Bruges, I crossed the border to Tournai in the afternoon. My next host Laurent met me at the station and gave me a tour of the city. I couldn't get my phone working after leaving France, so I'm glad I didn't have any problems finding him.

Tournai has several museums, impressive for such a small city!

Laurent took me to the butcher, asked about foods I had or hadn't tried, and we chatted to the staff.

The pâtés were beautiful!

I tried mutiau, a bit like a pâté or a rillette, made from veal head. Every butcher in Tournai makes it, but each with a slightly different recipe. The locals each have their favourite.

The mutiau is in the top left corner
Next, we went to the local pub, where Laurent introduced me to some new beers!

Laurent, my host, pictured with Moinette and Tournay 

Saison Cazeau

We also played a game (I've forgotten its name).

My turn!

The goal is to get the discs closest to the far spike, without them falling off the board.

The end of the board

I didn't do too badly - I finished on 18 points to Laurent's 24, beginner's luck!

Keeping score

We had dinner at his place, with his girlfriend Céline and their other couchsurfer Arthur from Poland. Again, Laurent introduced me to something new - I tried tongue! Once I got past the idea, it was mostly like soft beef. I felt very adventurous. I offered them Marmite, but only Laurent would try it, and he really wasn't a fan.

Tongue and mashed potatoes

We played board games after dinner, and then Arthur gave us tips about what to see in Warsaw.

The following day, Laurent introduced me to yet another game, le Pion des Trous. He holds the title of European champion (in the picture below you can see the small metal tags from competitions along the top of the board). It's basically chess meets connect four. I didn't get the strategy down, but he made a valiant effort to teach me!

The rubber band is to show you how he won

The train was 15 mins late, so I ended up running across two stations in Lille with my backpack trying to get on the bus, but it all worked out in the end.

Add for a dating website in the train station:
1 in 2 Belgians make love
less than 3 times a month

Long story short, I'm very glad I changed my plans last minute and went to Tournai, it was great.

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