Next stop: Lille-hales

How does the saying go, a holiday a month keeps the doctor away? Or something like that. That's certainly how I try to live my life anyway, and October was the turn for another family trip. I love that we still all go away together even now that we're grown up, and we always have the very best time. I also love that the general well-travelled-ness of the family means that like me, they like to go to slightly more weird and wonderful places. This time, it was Lille. Although France is far from an undiscovered gem, I feel like Lille just might be, and I had never really heard of it before we went. Practically on the border, it has a lovely mix of French and Belgian influences, and obviously SO much great food. The reason for choosing it though was actually because we didn't fly for this holiday. We got the train!

I've always wanted to get the Eurostar but have just never found the right occasion. But it turns out that you can get to Lille (en route to Brussels) in like an hour and a half! We travelled premium and we decided to do a little train picnic on the journey. Naturally it was all French themed with champagne, baguettes, and Brie de Meaux (fun fact, Brie is only real Brie if it has the name of the place it's from after it). The checked table cloth was Dad's cute idea - you can see where I get my extra-ness from!

We checked into the Mercure Centre Grand-Place and then headed straight out to explore. The hotel was ideally located in the middle of the old town area of Lille, so we were straight out onto beautiful buildings and cobbled streets. There were a couple of main square areas and they really reminded me of Brussels - you can definitely see the Belgian influence!

I always love to go in the cathedrals when I'm in a new city and this one was particularly cool because it was very classic on the inside but it had this cool new age kind of facade on the front. For a non religious family we do love to go to church! The true church for us though is undoubtedly the pub. So we found a cute little spot to have a drink afterwards. We had clearly not got the memo with each other as we were all on very different vibes; red wine, beer, aperol spritz, and Irish coffee!

It was starting to get dark by this point (not helped by the drizzly weather) so we ticked off a few more landmarks on our way back to the hotel; the opera house and La Vieille Bourse, which was a beautiful arched building that had cute little stalls and book stands inside.

The rain had picked up by the evening so it was a mad dash out in the rain to find somewhere for dinner. Unfortunately, we hadn't factored in that it was a Saturday night, and lots of places were fully booked! But we managed to get in at a lovely restaurant called L'Orange Bleue and the food was absolutely divine. Lille really comes alive at night with all the lighting too so it was super pretty (from what I could see from under my umbrella).

We all know the real reason that anyone goes to France. It's for the pastries. So naturally we started our day with some fabulous ones. The weather had cleared so we were able to sit outside on the prettiest street ever, and I had fun practicing my French when ordering. I've been learning a couple of years now and with Lille being much less touristy than other places in France it really came in handy and I was quite impressed with myself and how much I managed!

I felt like a typical Hinge lad as we then spent our Sunday morning on a big walk! We headed up towards the citadel and the surrounding park, and basically just had a very pretty, very autumnal walk around. The ambience was very When Harry met Sally with all the pretty colours.

Then we stopped for a quick drink before finding somewhere for lunch and I had only one thing on the mind: fondue. Le Broc not only offered loads of great fondues, but was also super cute on the interior front too. They did test my French skills more than usual in there but I managed it!

We ticked off a couple more landmarks that afternoon as we went and saw the Porte de Paris, and then the Beffroi d'Hôtel de Ville de Lille, which is basically a giant bell tower. You can go up it by lift or by stairs and we took the glory route and climbed the 400 steps to the top. The views were well worth it!

See what I mean about being big church fans? After having a little nosey in the Église Saint-Maurice, we were headed back to the area surrounding the main cathedral as we'd since read about some cool bits we'd missed the day before. Like these pretty coloured houses, a cute ancient square called the Place aux Oignons, and a famous dessert shop selling merveilleux, which are a traditional Belgian/French cake. We naturally had to try a few and it was like eating delicious little clouds!

It wasn't exactly scorching hot in Lille, but it was still mild enough to a) wear a dress with bare legs and b) sit outside for dinner. Both of which I took them up on. The restaurant that evening was Flemish so it was slightly less refined and more hearty than the night before (a polite way of saying I enjoyed it less). But the ambience was perfect and it gained extra points for the stylish menu design.

The rain had caught up with us then. It still wasn't crazy, just showers, but we had planned a mostly indoor day accordingly. We started with incredible pastries again (naturally) and then went to the Maison natale Charles de Gaulle (basically the house he was born in). It was his grandmother's house and thanks to some rare photos from back in the day, they'd managed to recreate it almost exactly when they turned into a museum. It was very cool, they'd even laid out fake food as props. Or should I say faux food. When in France.

We were really doing well on the lunch front! It was time for another French classic, as we all went for the croque monsieur. Bonneville only had 3 or 4 things on the menu which I always take as an extremely good sign, and it paid off as the food was delicious. The truly great thing about Lille and its Belgian influence? The beer! I definitely didn't have a bad one.

We had a very arty afternoon lined up as we were headed to the Palais des Beaux Arts. Which, as the name suggests, was full of the most beautiful artwork! It was mostly paintings but there was a floor for sculpture too, and the building itself was a work of art as well. It was even home to a few Monets!

Lille was home to few beautiful chocolate shops, and of course it would've been rude not to have a look around. And to buy a few things. French patisserie is just the best thing ever and so we each got a cake and then got a few chocolates to take home.

It was raining that evening so if you were to plot where we went on a map, you'll see it was a triangle from our hotel to the bar, to the restaurant, and each one was approximately 10 paces. But if you have great places right on the doorstep then why venture any further? The bar of choice was cafe lovster (no that isn't a typo) and it was very fitting with the colours I'd chosen for my outfit of the evening. Whenever I go abroad I always like stay on brand with the food and drink choices (as you may have noticed so far), so I was on the Lillet spritz' which were amazing.

Cafe de Paris had a very simple concept; the same starter and main for everyone who comes through the doors. It was the same concept as a famous restaurant in Paris that you've probably seen or heard baout. Basically, you get a dressed green salad to start, and then you get steak and frites for the main, with frites refills if you want them. The only difference here is that the one in Paris serves it with green sauce, and this place served it on a bed of herbed butter that they rested on a burner so that it all melted into the steak juices and created the most amazing sauce in front of your eyes. I love a bit of theatre too so it went down a treat! As did the dessert (cafe gourmand) because it's the ultimate Jenni option. A little bit of everything.

The red tablecloth was back in its starring role for the morning! Something Dad has always loved to do on holiday is to go out exploring and foraging for treats. Sort of like a classic hunter gatherer mentality, but if cavemen had supermarkets and bakeries. So we decided to task Dad with getting a breakfast feast that morning and he definitely delivered! It set us up for a morning walk, as we were headed to the Jardin les Geants which was basically a very pretty botanical garden with some random giant sculptures thrown in for good measure. 

We decided that since our hotel had literally themed their entire decor on the giant tulips that they must be worth seeing, so we had a little wander towards those and then headed from one train station area to another and saw another giant bright sculpture. The best part of the morning though was sitting in the sunshine (no jacket) and having a super strong Belgian beer. What a treat! We ended our trip with one last indulgent meal before hopping back on the Eurostar home. Which was definitely a lot more convenient than flying, so maybe I'll look out for some more train travel opportunities in the future. But if not, we'll always have Lille. Which was more than just a lil of a surprising, beautiful, and delicious treat of a city (sorry, one last pun to round off).