Welsand's in London

Our Trip to Lille, France

We took the Eurostair train through the "chunnel" to Lille, France which is an experience in itself. The Eurostar speeds you through the Channel Tunnel (aka "chunnel"), one of Europe's biggest infrastructure projects to date, costing $15 billion. The tunnel is 31 miles, of which 23 miles are underwater. Its average depth is 150 feet under the seabed. The channel crossing time for Eurostar is only 20 minutes. The ride is unbelievable smooth! And it is so fast, taking only 1 hour and 40 minutes to get to Lille. Jeremy took it to Paris earlier in the week, which was about 2 1/2 hours!

Our hotel, L'Hermitage Gantois, the city's only 4 star luxury hotel, was gorgeous! There was so much art displayed it felt like it was a museum, and they had a specific area to display local artist's work on a rotating basis. As much a historic monument as a hotel, the restoration of this 15th century hospice buildings has beautiful courtyards, library and chapel. Very nice!

FRIDAY
While Jeremy worked on Friday, Sophie and I ventured out to Euralille, Lille's shopping mall. Lille is known for its shopping as the mall is designed to serve more than 10 times the population of Lille. It was opened in 1994 when the "chunnel" opened. It has 140 shops, a hypermarket (supermarket and other goods like Target on a second floor), a hotel and offices. I was not impressed, no comparison to the Mall of America and stores are closed on Sundays! Sophie and I spent the afternoon at Lille's Natural History Museum, which was interesting and kept Sophie's attention for almost two hours.

SATURDAY
Saturday was a full day of activities. We started with the Palais des Beaux-Arts (Fine Arts Museum) which is France’s second national museum after the Louvre in Paris. It was built in 1889-1892 and includes works by Claude Monet, Vincent Van Gogh, and Pierre Auguste Renoir, and many well-known French artists of course. The 19th century sculptures are worth viewing, and there were some interesting, temporary interactive art displays as well in the lowest level.

Next, we took a one hour tour of the city via bus. It was interesting and a good break from the cool weather and walking, Sophie fell asleep almost instantly...This is always a great way to see a city quickly.

Walking around Lille that afternoon spent some time in Les Places (Grand Place) a pedestrian only area surrounded by shops, a central fountain, a theatre, restaurants and more, it is the heart of Lille. The Vieille Bourse, the ornate 17th century merchant exchange building, one of the most beautiful buildings in Lille. The detail in the woodwork was amazing! Other beautiful buildings in the area included the Opera House, Theatre du Nord, and St. Maurice.

We toured the Notre Dame De La Treille next. The foundation stone for this church was laid in 1854 and work was finally completed in 1999 (yes those years are correct!). The chapel and apse were built by the end of the 19th century but the project was abandoned in 1947. For decades Lille had the distinction of being a city with a 3/4 of a neo-Gothic cathedral, until an architect designed the 21st century facade (we weren't fans of this new work, looks odd). The church inside is amazing with beautiful stained glass windows, huge pillars and high ceilings.

Near our hotel was the Porte de Paris. This is one of three remaining gates of the city and is the most striking. It takes the form of an Arc de Triomphe (in Paris). The Porte de Paris was erected in 1685-1692. A drawbridge crossed the landscaped moat garden. It is located around the center of a busy traffic roundabout. It is quite beautiful! Across the street from this is the Town Hall Belfry, a 341 foot bell tower opened in 1932 after the original was destroyed in a fire in 1916.

SUNDAY
We started this day out with a walk to the Marche' de Wazemmes market. Our tourist book says "more than a mere market, this is an occasion. The Sunday morning Marche' de Wazemmes is the stuff of legend". The market includes food, clothes, antiques, pets, bric-a-brac, etc...It felt very similar to markets we have been to in other cities such as Mexico and China, just that it was French. Interesting, but huge crowds to fight through. It was an experience.

Next we took an adventure on Lille's public transport system the VAL, opened in 1983, it was the world's first automated subway. It was quick and easy to get around on. A bus was our next connection to get to the Musee d'Art Moderne (Museum of Modern Art). This musuem is home to 20th century masterpieces including pieces by Pablo Picasso, Fernand Leger (one of our new favorites, he has pieces at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and Walker Musuem!), and Georges Braque (whom Jeremy loved!). The day we visited was the last day the museum will be open for 2 years due to some rennovations.

FOOD IN NORTHERN FRANCE
We did not have great food while in Lille. It is not a very vegetarian friendly city, so I didn't have many choices. I did venture out and ordered a cheese plate with specialty cheeses from the north region, two of three were okay, the third was unbelievable strong smelling and tasting! The vegetable of the north served to me was endive, which was quite good. We had pizza once, which was okay. Jeremy was not overly impressed with the meat he had including steak, burger, and pepperoni. But nothing beats a French boulangerie (bakery)! We did enjoy our breakfasts with fresh bakery goods (thankfully we walked it all off each day!).

FRENCH ATTITUDE
Ahh..it is alive and well. I tried to take a cab from the mall to the hotel and am not exactly sure what the cab driver said to me but my summary of the conversation was "you lazy/fat American your hotel is close, take a right, left, left and you will be at the hotel, so walk..." not sure, but it is probably close. Our first cab drive actually took his tip out of the money Jeremy gave him before he gave us change. And, when checking out of the hotel, no thank you, come again, nothing. Our French definitely needs some more work before our next trip back...

WEATHER
Yes, it was warmer in Minnesota than it was in France during our trip. Having to walk around so much we got some good chill from the wind--it was nippy!

Overall, it was an interesting trip with some beautiful sites. A great place to shop. A quick weekend trip from London on the train. Au revior!

posted by Chris @ 1:00 PM