For the last big adventure of fall break, I headed across the border for a weekend in France. My friend Lisa is living and working in Paris now, and we got to know each other as interns for the same project for WorldDenver while we were both going to grad school at DU. Lisa and I had been talking back and forth trying to decide where to go for our weekend away, and I’m so glad we settled on Lille. As soon as we started exploring, I fell in love. It’s a big city that feels like a little college town. The proximity to Belgium is evident in the food, the architecture, and the beer, but it’s still definitely France. And trust me, with that combo, everyone wins.
After dropping our luggage at the hostel Saturday morning, we headed into Vieux Lille to grab coffee, escape the rain, and strategize our weekend.
After that, we headed through the rain towards Palais des Beaux-Arts via the Grand Place.
The Palais des Beaux-Arts was awesome! I’m pretty sure that I read somewhere that it’s France’s second largest museum and the largest outside of Paris. But it was actually extremely manageable. We spent about two hours there and were able to see works from the ancient Egyptians all the way up to the well-known 20th century stuff. My favorites were probably some of the van Goghs and a few sculptures by Rodin. (Just an aside, if you’re ever in Paris, you should go to the Rodin museum. The collection is amazing and the gardens are beautiful.)
After the museum we walked up to the citadel, which is actually just a giant park with a zoo(and a mysterious government building to which we were denied access) and then wound our way back to the city center and went shopping around the Grand Place, checked out some churches, and took a little break to sip some beer in the afternoon sun. Everywhere I turned, there was some beautiful view, and the pictures just don’t do it justice.
Transformed! Look at the Grand Place without all those dreary gray clouds.
Heaven is this cheese shop a few blocks from the Grand Place. Look at the cheese. Respect the cheese. Love the cheese.
I can’t remember the name of this church, and it’s killing me. It was beautiful. This picture does not do it justice.
Inside Lille’s Cathedral. It is very weird and modern on the outside, and on the inside it looks like this.
One of my favorite pictures from the trip, which I shamelessly stole from Lisa’s Instagram
We got a recommendation from the hostel to try a place a block or two away for dinner. Despite the fact that the menu was printed in Comic Sans font, it was legit. We ordered Welsh, a traditional Lille dish, which turned out to be a slice of bread and a slice of ham in a casserole dish FILLED WITH CHEESE and served with a basket of fries. After dinner we grabbed a few drinks from a bar towards the city center. Really, we should’ve gone straight back to the hostel, because when we got back for the night their bar was more popular than most of the other places we saw that night.
Sunday morning we headed straight for the market in Wazemmes. It’s a really big deal in Lille, and Lisa and I didn’t realize how big. It is HUGE! Overwhelming. And they sell everything. I mean everything. It goes on for blocks. And it felt like the whole town was there. Everybody. To say the least, it was nuts. After we grabbed some fruit we decided to take a break from sensory overload and had some coffee accompanied by treats from Aux Merveilleux. These tiny bits of meringue heaven were so delicate and so unbelievably delectable. I will never forget them.
After that we went to the zoo and saw red pandas and capybaras (among others), and then we grabbed treats for the train and headed back to Paris.
Liz’s pro travel tip: turn your train ride into a first class experience by packing as much food as possible, and don’t forget plastic cups for your wine.
We spent Sunday night cheering on the Broncos at a bar in Bastille. After that it was back to Bochum to gear back up for school and the real world again.
Since I basically feel like a Lille evangelist now, here are some great resources that helped us decide where to go and what to see. Also important to note is that Lisa is a master of the French language, which made our lives much easier. I think part of Lille’s appeal is that it wasn’t crawling with tourists, but that also means English is spoken less frequently!
About Travel’s Top Attractions in and around Lille
Cultural City Guide from The Telegraph
WikiTravel’s Guide to Lille
UseIt Travel’s Lille Map
Laufen mit Liz 