Lille
Since I only had an hour on the train from Lille to Paris, I decided to write something up on Lille since it was shorter. Thus you get the Lille report before the London report. I didn’t figure you’d mind.
I arrived in Lille on Saturday evening and my first chore was to find a place to stay. As I stood at the door of the train ready to get off before it continued on to Brussels, I asked the couple in front of me if they were from Lille and if they could recommend a hotel nearby. They were from Lille and they suggested the Hotel Lille Europe, which was just to the left of the station. Indeed it was and there I stayed for three nights for about $120 Canadian including breakfast. It was nothing fancy but it had everything I required. And best of all, it was close to everything.
Lille has a subway and there was a subway station by the train station so that was only about two minutes away from the hotel. Right beside it was a bus station. However, aside from when I had to go to where ESPEME/EDHEC is located for my meeting, I walked everywhere.
The school was very nice but I’ll spare you the details on that except to say that we went for lunch at their local restaurant – what we would call a greasy spoon that probably sat about 20 people. It took quite a while to get the food but it was delicious. None of us had the tripe that was on special that day but everything we did have was fantastic. I had the beef and it was like a wonderfully tender stew with mashed potatoes.
I have to admit that when I arrived on Saturday night it was late and I didn’t go out to eat. I had actually bought some food to eat on the train but I got busy trying to sort out and identify the last of the London pictures that I never got a chance to eat anything until I was in my room. Breakfast came with my room and on Sunday I didn’t have breakfast until about 10 a.m. Then I walked around all day and came back to my hotel about 6 p.m. When I asked where I could go to eat they answered with McDonalds. Apparently not much stays open in that part of Lille, or perhaps all of Lille, on a Sunday night so the choices were definitely limited. I went to McDonalds for my Sunday dinner. Monday night I also didn’t get back until late and I wasn’t really hungry because our lunch had been late and it was huge so I just grabbed something quick at the grocery store. In other words, from Saturday night when I arrived to Tuesday afternoon when I left, I actually only had one meal out in Lille and that was lunch on Monday.
On Sunday I took the guided bus tour of the main sights in Lille. It was only an hour long and there was lots to see so it seemed like everything should be pretty close. From that point on I just walked to where I wanted to go. When I asked at the hotel where I should go to get the bus tour they told me to go down the street until I saw the elephants and turn right. Well elephants and Lille didn’t make much sense to me but off I went. The whole of one street is decorated like India and there are 12 huge elephants – 6 on each side of the street – and wonderful Indian lamps. Apparently every two years they do a big exhibition featuring one country and this year it is India. That street alone was quite impressive, especially when lit up at night, and there were dozens of venues all focused on the same theme. I didn’t take in any of the individual events but there were many of them planned over the several months that the exhibit, Lille 3000, will continue.
There is a lot of history in Lille and there are a lot of old buildings. The tourist office is in a building from 1473 by Philip the Good, the Duke of Burgundy, for his son, Charles the Bold. Personally I don’t remember either of these people from my history courses but they were obviously important figures at the time and they obviously liked gothic architecture.
Charles de Gaulle was born in Lille so his birthplace is a highlight and there are monuments to him. At Place du General de Gaulle you find the Vieille Bourse, which was built in 1652 and was at least at one point the stock exchange. It has incredible decorations of fruit and garlands castings all over the outside. The central courtyard within it was hosting a market the day I was there. They were selling mainly used books and I’m not sure if that was an ongoing routine or some special occasion.
The Grand Garde is on the same square and it has sweeping stairs rising up on either side and the sun emblem of Louis XIV on the front peak. It is now a theatre and looks like it would be a great one. Also on the square is the La Voix du Nord or the newspaper office. It is a beautiful building but the striking feature is the decoration at the top – three gold ladies who represent the three provinces of the region: Artois, Flanders and Hainaut. I didn’t actually get into any of these places because it was Sunday and everything was closed.
Going through the Vieille Bourse courtyard and out the other side you come to another square, the Place du Theatre. The Opera building is a huge classical building with decorations of Apollo surrounded by muses. The one I was most impressed with though was the Chamber of Commerce building. It is definitely different than the Kelowna Chamber of Commerce! The 200-foot clock tower dominates the square and chimes the Lille lullaby every hour, and the building itself is huge. Both the Opera and the Chamber buildings are apparently from the 1920s but the style fits in perfectly with the surrounding buildings, most of which are 17th and 18th century.
Many of the houses on downtown streets are very narrow and 4 to 5 stories high. In days when Lille had a larger inland port, many of them faced the canals. Today those are filled in and the port is located in a different part of the city. The Cathedral of Notre-Dame de la Treille was built in 1270 and is gothic in style. The unique part about this church is the front façade, which is from 1999 and obviously quite modern. The light grey flat front makes a real contrast to the darker gothic pillars and carvings.
Farther along in my tour I came to a real street market where they were selling everything: flowers, fish, fruit, vegetables, meat, nuts, etc. It was just wrapping up when I got there but they certainly seemed to be doing a bustling business. And as I finished my walking tour I even found the oldest (1761) sweetshop in Lille. The Meert Confiseric had an incredible display of sweets, especially lots of chocolate goodies. However, there were many people lined up because it was just opening after the lunch break (every business seems to take a lunch break in Lille!) so I resisted the temptation to splurge on a chocolate treat.
One of the most impressive areas of town has to be the Place de la Republique. At one end you have the Prefecture (1865) and at the other end the Palais des Beaux-Arts (1892). Both buildings are huge and very beautiful and they just seem to leap out of the residential areas around them. I spent some time in the Palais des Beaux-Arts but only saw about half the exhibits. I think the area I saw covered the paintings from the 16th century. I missed the earlier periods and didn’t have much time to look at the sculptures and ceramics. I think my favourite pictures were by Jean Raoux – Les Verges Modernes and Antiques. The brightness in the paintings just seemed to jump out at you. Another one I enjoyed, having just come from London, was Monet’s Le Parliament de Londres. In typical Monet style it perfectly portrayed the mist and fog of London as you viewed the parliament buildings from across the Thames. The only other thing I remember commenting on was A. Rodin’s sculptures, especially L’Ombre, because I thought Rodin was a painter. What do I know?
It took me a long time to realize that the Hotel de Ville (1924) was the City Hall. It was an impressive building with an incredible clock tower and for the first day I thought it was a hotel. Saint Maurice Church was nice and the old gentleman in there was very interesting. The Porte de Paris is impressive. It is a gate and was built in honour of the capture of Lille by Louise XIV in 1667. It is massive and just suddenly appears as you drive (or walk) down the street.
There was certainly a lot I did not see in Lille, like the Citadel and the old fortifications, more parks and museums. Overall I found it a charming city and think students would really enjoy attending classes there. It’s small and very friendly, and yet has a big city feel. It’s also a very young and vibrant city with 30% of the population under the age of 20, which is quite different than Kelowna! And best of all, it’s only an hour to Paris, an hour and a half to London, half an hour to Brussels and close to so many other European centres.
Okay, I think that’s all for now. I will get London to you at some point but Paris looks huge and beautiful so it may be a while before I get back to you with anything. I will be here until November 1st when I move on to Nice.
Cheers!
Jayne
Since I only had an hour on the train from Lille to Paris, I decided to write something up on Lille since it was shorter. Thus you get the Lille report before the London report. I didn’t figure you’d mind.
I arrived in Lille on Saturday evening and my first chore was to find a place to stay. As I stood at the door of the train ready to get off before it continued on to Brussels, I asked the couple in front of me if they were from Lille and if they could recommend a hotel nearby. They were from Lille and they suggested the Hotel Lille Europe, which was just to the left of the station. Indeed it was and there I stayed for three nights for about $120 Canadian including breakfast. It was nothing fancy but it had everything I required. And best of all, it was close to everything.
Lille has a subway and there was a subway station by the train station so that was only about two minutes away from the hotel. Right beside it was a bus station. However, aside from when I had to go to where ESPEME/EDHEC is located for my meeting, I walked everywhere.
The school was very nice but I’ll spare you the details on that except to say that we went for lunch at their local restaurant – what we would call a greasy spoon that probably sat about 20 people. It took quite a while to get the food but it was delicious. None of us had the tripe that was on special that day but everything we did have was fantastic. I had the beef and it was like a wonderfully tender stew with mashed potatoes.
I have to admit that when I arrived on Saturday night it was late and I didn’t go out to eat. I had actually bought some food to eat on the train but I got busy trying to sort out and identify the last of the London pictures that I never got a chance to eat anything until I was in my room. Breakfast came with my room and on Sunday I didn’t have breakfast until about 10 a.m. Then I walked around all day and came back to my hotel about 6 p.m. When I asked where I could go to eat they answered with McDonalds. Apparently not much stays open in that part of Lille, or perhaps all of Lille, on a Sunday night so the choices were definitely limited. I went to McDonalds for my Sunday dinner. Monday night I also didn’t get back until late and I wasn’t really hungry because our lunch had been late and it was huge so I just grabbed something quick at the grocery store. In other words, from Saturday night when I arrived to Tuesday afternoon when I left, I actually only had one meal out in Lille and that was lunch on Monday.
On Sunday I took the guided bus tour of the main sights in Lille. It was only an hour long and there was lots to see so it seemed like everything should be pretty close. From that point on I just walked to where I wanted to go. When I asked at the hotel where I should go to get the bus tour they told me to go down the street until I saw the elephants and turn right. Well elephants and Lille didn’t make much sense to me but off I went. The whole of one street is decorated like India and there are 12 huge elephants – 6 on each side of the street – and wonderful Indian lamps. Apparently every two years they do a big exhibition featuring one country and this year it is India. That street alone was quite impressive, especially when lit up at night, and there were dozens of venues all focused on the same theme. I didn’t take in any of the individual events but there were many of them planned over the several months that the exhibit, Lille 3000, will continue.
There is a lot of history in Lille and there are a lot of old buildings. The tourist office is in a building from 1473 by Philip the Good, the Duke of Burgundy, for his son, Charles the Bold. Personally I don’t remember either of these people from my history courses but they were obviously important figures at the time and they obviously liked gothic architecture.
Charles de Gaulle was born in Lille so his birthplace is a highlight and there are monuments to him. At Place du General de Gaulle you find the Vieille Bourse, which was built in 1652 and was at least at one point the stock exchange. It has incredible decorations of fruit and garlands castings all over the outside. The central courtyard within it was hosting a market the day I was there. They were selling mainly used books and I’m not sure if that was an ongoing routine or some special occasion.
The Grand Garde is on the same square and it has sweeping stairs rising up on either side and the sun emblem of Louis XIV on the front peak. It is now a theatre and looks like it would be a great one. Also on the square is the La Voix du Nord or the newspaper office. It is a beautiful building but the striking feature is the decoration at the top – three gold ladies who represent the three provinces of the region: Artois, Flanders and Hainaut. I didn’t actually get into any of these places because it was Sunday and everything was closed.
Going through the Vieille Bourse courtyard and out the other side you come to another square, the Place du Theatre. The Opera building is a huge classical building with decorations of Apollo surrounded by muses. The one I was most impressed with though was the Chamber of Commerce building. It is definitely different than the Kelowna Chamber of Commerce! The 200-foot clock tower dominates the square and chimes the Lille lullaby every hour, and the building itself is huge. Both the Opera and the Chamber buildings are apparently from the 1920s but the style fits in perfectly with the surrounding buildings, most of which are 17th and 18th century.
Many of the houses on downtown streets are very narrow and 4 to 5 stories high. In days when Lille had a larger inland port, many of them faced the canals. Today those are filled in and the port is located in a different part of the city. The Cathedral of Notre-Dame de la Treille was built in 1270 and is gothic in style. The unique part about this church is the front façade, which is from 1999 and obviously quite modern. The light grey flat front makes a real contrast to the darker gothic pillars and carvings.
Farther along in my tour I came to a real street market where they were selling everything: flowers, fish, fruit, vegetables, meat, nuts, etc. It was just wrapping up when I got there but they certainly seemed to be doing a bustling business. And as I finished my walking tour I even found the oldest (1761) sweetshop in Lille. The Meert Confiseric had an incredible display of sweets, especially lots of chocolate goodies. However, there were many people lined up because it was just opening after the lunch break (every business seems to take a lunch break in Lille!) so I resisted the temptation to splurge on a chocolate treat.
One of the most impressive areas of town has to be the Place de la Republique. At one end you have the Prefecture (1865) and at the other end the Palais des Beaux-Arts (1892). Both buildings are huge and very beautiful and they just seem to leap out of the residential areas around them. I spent some time in the Palais des Beaux-Arts but only saw about half the exhibits. I think the area I saw covered the paintings from the 16th century. I missed the earlier periods and didn’t have much time to look at the sculptures and ceramics. I think my favourite pictures were by Jean Raoux – Les Verges Modernes and Antiques. The brightness in the paintings just seemed to jump out at you. Another one I enjoyed, having just come from London, was Monet’s Le Parliament de Londres. In typical Monet style it perfectly portrayed the mist and fog of London as you viewed the parliament buildings from across the Thames. The only other thing I remember commenting on was A. Rodin’s sculptures, especially L’Ombre, because I thought Rodin was a painter. What do I know?
It took me a long time to realize that the Hotel de Ville (1924) was the City Hall. It was an impressive building with an incredible clock tower and for the first day I thought it was a hotel. Saint Maurice Church was nice and the old gentleman in there was very interesting. The Porte de Paris is impressive. It is a gate and was built in honour of the capture of Lille by Louise XIV in 1667. It is massive and just suddenly appears as you drive (or walk) down the street.
There was certainly a lot I did not see in Lille, like the Citadel and the old fortifications, more parks and museums. Overall I found it a charming city and think students would really enjoy attending classes there. It’s small and very friendly, and yet has a big city feel. It’s also a very young and vibrant city with 30% of the population under the age of 20, which is quite different than Kelowna! And best of all, it’s only an hour to Paris, an hour and a half to London, half an hour to Brussels and close to so many other European centres.
Okay, I think that’s all for now. I will get London to you at some point but Paris looks huge and beautiful so it may be a while before I get back to you with anything. I will be here until November 1st when I move on to Nice.
Cheers!
Jayne
posted by Jayne Brooks @ 11:36 AM
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