Lille: Our last european fling....for a little while

The weekend before we packed our bags and left the UK for Canada, we took one last trip to Europe, as you do. This trip had a purpose; to get our friend Jo out of the country and traveling. We were supposed to be accompanied by Sarah as well but she detoured to hospital the day before we left so we had to go without her (sad face). We chose to travel by Eurostar because Jo is uncomfortable flying. Eurostar has become a favourite travel method for us. We could hop on the train from Peterborough to London, switch to Eurostar (a 5 minute walk across the road) and be in Paris 4 hours after leaving home. THAT is impressive to an antipodean who has, for years, longed to travel Europe.

Why Lille? Well, its the first stop on the train so the least expensive AND we had never been there. Did it disappoint? No it did not! I loved Lille.  It has the old town and the new but they merge nicely. The buildings range from futuristic (the railway station) to cathedrals and museums.

 

You can easily walk around Lille. The shopping is amazing in the old town with loads of boutique shops as well as the big names. You need lots of money to buy there, so we didn't, but we did look at a lot. I thought we'd had a reasonably quiet weekend but when I look at the steps we took (32,000) and the photos, I realise we actually packed in quite a bit over 3 days. We left early Friday morning and got back home early evening Sunday.

We stayed in a great Airbnb on Rue Princesse (apart from the lack of firewood which would have been nice on a really cold weekend!). It was well placed for cafes, patisseries, shops and restaurants.  Our first night we had dinner in a loud congenial restaurant (can't remember the name) but this was a meat feast - the others had steak and I had veal scallopine which was wonderful and tender. On our way home we booked into Le Scoop for the next night's dinner.  Le Scoop did not disappoint. I love it when no planning turns into a great event.

While in Lille we also, strolled along the canal, visited an old hospital (fabulous blue & white tiling, furniture and museum pieces, went through the cathedral, came across a market square full of wonderful food and treasures, ate galettes, pastries, tarts, fresh bread and found a few good cups of coffee at the local cafes.  We looked at clothes shops, furniture stores, in underground caves, at a Marionette museum and a motorbike shop (of course we did - Legend Motors, Lille, great old bikes). There was plenty to see, lots of good memories made. And if ever you need a great couple to travel with Jo & Steve are it. All you need is a pack of cards and the party is started. It is always great traveling with friends. We had great conversations, lots of laughs and the big fella and I learnt to play euchre. I think Steve (Jo's other half) and I were just on the cusp of winning when we wound it up for the night.....



We all managed to squeeze in a snooze on Saturday but we needed that after the serious amount of walking we did. I would highly recommend Lille as a lovely weekend holiday destination.