Visit to Lille

One of the main goals of my friend Jacob on his stay here in Brussels was to visit Lille. I had been there many times over the last couple of years. Besides being a very nice city to visit, it is by many Belgian considered as a very good shopping place, especially if you are looking for clothing. I always liked to visit the old part of the city with all its beautiful and wonderful houses and small shops. I also love the small and narrow streets where many of the small flower shops and bakeries are situated.

We left Brussels around 10am and the traffic was limited and the 100km went fast and without any problems.

My friend was surprised by the size of the city but Lille is one of the largest cities in France, Lille means small in Danish and I think that it had something to do about that. Due to the fact that we left early I was for once able to park in the parking under the Grand Place in the city centre; this place is usually full. Parking in France is always a little bit different from parking in other countries; their parking boxes are very small and when you are driving a large Volvo the space is always tight, sometimes it has been almost impossible to get in to the car again when you come back because the neighbouring cars have been parked so close to you.

We managed to get the Volvo parked and we entered the surface in the middle of Grand Place. First goal was visiting the old stock exchange, the opera and the central post office and then heading for the old part of town.

After walking around for an hour we entered a small lunch place; L'Imaginaire for a good lunch. The place was popular and quite nice. Many of the people were regulars and they greeted each others with two kisses on the cheeks which is the normal in this part of the country.

We had a very good meal; I had an omelette and Jacob had an chicken salad and we both enjoyed a cold blanche. We left after 45 minutes eager to walk some more narrow streets. We enjoyed the good weather too and after one more hour we decided to sit down at the Grand Place and enjoy a cup of coffee and watch the world go by. The coffee became a couple of beers and after that we had to leave for Mechelen where my friend Marc hosted an art exhibition in his house. We had promised to be there at 4pm and there were at least one hours of driving.