Braderie de Lille

This weekend was the Braderie. It is the biggest flea market in Europe. The whole town is mobilised to set up a flea market and then party all night long. In normal times there are about 300k people in the city's centre. There are 3 million people who come to Lille for this very market. So that's about 10x the local population. Needless to say, the streets were packed all day and all night long.

Even though the masses can be overwhelming, there is good energy in the air – music is playing on every street corner, and people are sipping a cold brew whilst eating mussels and fries. Furthermore, this year, we got lucky with the weather. For the whole week, it was 10°C and soggy but when Friday arrived there was no more rain and the temperatures went up a notch.

The Braderie is a worthy attraction even if you are not big into flea markets. It is just fun to be able to walk all the streets in town which usually are not fully pedestrian and enjoy the craze. That is why I invited a few Estonian friends from Amsterdam and Brussels over for the weekend to experience said craze. I would argue that they left satisfied this Sunday. The comparison made was with the Dutch King's Day, which is of a similar degree of over-the-top-absurd.

What I enjoy the most about this weekend is all the different pop-up DJ sets. Every bar has outside speakers for the event and some just open up their windows and mix for the crowds that gather in front of their window. It is just a very pleasant overall vibe of sharing right before getting into the school routine again. Closing off the summer properly.

This Week's Suggestions:

🎶 "Hot Air Balloon" by Don Diablo & AR/CO:

This summery song matches well with the idea of putting a full stop to the season and moving on. Give it a listen!

Have a lovely start to autumn!