Lille, France

Lovely Lille

I must admit that this is the second time in a month that I have hopped on the Eurostar, which I thoroughly recommend, and ended up in Lille for the day. I was so prepared this time that I even had an old-fashioned paper map of the town acquired from the quaint tourist information office, located in a church next to the annual Christmas market, the last time that I was here. Managed to do over 20000 steps as it was cold but dry and even fitted in a bit of culture, with a visit to the Palais des Beaux Arts. Of course, we stopped for lunch and a glass or two, they were small. I went with a tasty croc, fries and salad while my more adventurous 'amie' ate her body weight in moules frites. We did pop into the shopping mall for the obligatory wine, no cheese as there is a temporary ban on bringing dairy through customs, in order to prevent foot and mouth entering the UK. How? Wine shopping was a bit fraught as someone was yelling 'dangereuse' at us due to a few broken bottles and some spillage on the floor. Honestly, he was adamant that we should not pass the end of the aisle but we kept sneaking past him to reach bottles at either end. Thus my purchases were a little hit and miss but thankfully all contained alcohol. Bonus on the way back as we got an earlier train due to delays so did not have to wait around as long. Can't imagine that ever happening on C2C without having to pay for another ticket!