Lille in north east France

Today we’re were on the move again. We had to get to Gard St Lazare train station to get the subway to Gard de Nord. We had to get the bullet train to Lille for the third and final part of our trip.

We managed to get to Gard do Nord with no problems and the train was bang on time. Lille is only 1 hour from Paris on the train vs 3 hours by car. It was one of the big double deck trains and very comfortable.

We arrived in Lille at about lunch time and made the walk to our hotel. Initial impressions are that Lille has more of a Flemish feel to it as the architecture is different and even the countryside we could see from the train was different - very flat and focused on crops over beef or sheep like in Brittany.

We had a pretty sensational lunch at a local boulangerie (pastry shop, also sells sandwiches and baguettes) were the queue of locals was out the door. We then found the local tourist information centre where we scored a map and directions to the more interesting parts of town. We had a bit of a look around the city before heading back for a rest and a drink.

Tomorrow we scope out Lille some more before we meet our fellow travellers who will be joining the next tour.Read more