As of today, I have been in Lille, France, for a week. Lille is so much better than Paris; for one thing, the buildings don’t all look the same. So what have I been doing?
My first day here, I was quite nervous about leaving my room (I got a four-bed dorm all to myself – sweet!). I went out a couple of times to explore the communal areas and then to a supermarket and bakery (un croissant pour le dejeuner).
On Wednesday I went down to the centre of Vieux Lille and the tourist information centre. I found heaven: Furet du Nord. Furet du Nord is a massive bookshop – seven floors of books! All well organised and neatly presented for browsing. It was like a book supermarket (it has checkouts). Needless to say, I bought three books and two magazines, spending just over 30€.
On Thursday I visited the Christmas Market (Noel a Lille – check it out). I looked around for ages trying to find a hot chocolate, but there were no non-alcoholic hot drinks! Vin Chaud, yes. Mulled Cider, yes. Christmas Beer, yes. Hot Chocolate, no. Anyway, I bought a delicious thick waffle for lunch (so good).
Did you know, Eglise St Andre is not on the Rue St Andre? Silly, right? Anyway, I walked past Eglise St Andre, Ste-Marie-Madeleine, and the Porte de Gand on Friday morning before heading to the Musee l’Hospice Comtesse. It was really interesting, though I’m glad I spent the extra 2€ on an audio guide (otherwise I would have had no idea what I was looking at).
Near the Musee is the Cathedrale Notre Dame de la Treille. Despite being less than 200 years old, most of it looks like it’s stepped straight out of the 13th century. They’ve really done a great job of incorporating modern elements into an old style of building. Anyway, quick travel story: it was so cold that at one point I warmed my fingers on the prayer/offering candles (possibly a bit sacrilegious – don’t tell anyone).
I went a bit further on Saturday, visiting the Musee Canonniers (small, poorly run, not worth 5€), the Jardin des Geants (not much to see as it’s winter, but I had great fun trying to take photos with me in them), and the Porte de Roubaix (looks just like the Porte de Gand). It took me a while to find Eglise St Maurice, but it was well worth it.
Sunday morning I attended the meeting at L’Armee du Salut Poste de Lille (The Salvation Army Lille Corps). There were about 40 or 50 people at the meeting. They were so welcoming; Major Ludovic brought me their songbooks himself, and had one of the boys who spoke passable English sit next to me to translate.
We sang Voici Noel (Silent Night) and Jour de Bonheur (Joy to the World). After the service they all had lunch together then a “show” followed by afternoon tea. It was 3pm before I got away.
Yesterday, I went for a walk around the Citadelle de Lille. I had thought I might go to the zoo, but it was closed (despite the official Lille Tourism website saying they should be open). Instead, I wandered under the trees and looked at the fortifications.
So far this trip hasn’t been much like what I pictured it would be like, but it’s still been amazing, and I think that I’ve enjoyed it more than I would have had it been as I imagined. There are several things that I would have liked to do but I ran out of time and energy. I still have a day here before heading on to London, but I won’t have time to do it all; I’ll just have to come back.
