One day in Lille

Lille is a lovely city to spend 1 or 2 days in: having been the European Capital of Culture in 2004, the city has departed from its industrial roots and had major uplifts made. The centre is now welcoming and warm (even if the weather is not always very nice in this northern part of France...)

As it is France's 4th largest city, it's very well served by public transportation: the airport (http://www.lille.aeroport.fr/) is 15 mins away from the city centre by taxi, the train station is a major stop for all the high-speed railways in this part of Europe (so you are less than 1 hour away from Brussels, Paris or London using either http://www.eurostar.com/dynamic/index.jsp or http://www.tgv.com/), 5 major highways pass around the city and you can get around the city using the driverless metro system (http://www.urbanrail.net/eu/lil/lille.htm).

The best is, as always, walking around the city as you can then discover some of the lovely sights:

• you have to start with Grand Place (The Main Square), right at the centre of the "old town"
• then you can make your way to the "Vieille Bourse" (The Old Stock Exchange) with its magnificent facade (http://picasaweb.google.com/citytripblog/LilleJan09#5292688160291612962), where now you can find old antiques markets in the week-ends
• just in front of it, you can find the Opera House and next to that the superb Clock Tower of the former Chambre de Commerce
• after you stop by for some rhubarb pie at the Paul bakery nearby (http://www.paul.fr/uk/produits-tartes-entremets.php#) you can also visit the Notre Dame de Lille, a huge cathedral which welcomes you with ancient smells of wood, a children's playground (!) and a message that maybe should belong to all churches : "We have built this church to be an intermediary in your relationship with Jesus Christ and not to become a purpose in itself".
• if you have the time, don't miss also the 17th century Vauban Citadel

When in France, you should always indulge yourself in the wonderful French cuisine and have a typical, bourgeois, 3 hour lunch or dinner :)

And Lille provides one great restaurant to indulge yourself : Le Compostelle (http://lecompostelle.fr/), just 2 minutes away from Grand Place, will welcome you in one of its 5 salons with great service, value menus, superb wine cellar and fantastic dishes: a big recommendation goes for the "Menu Decouverte" (43 Euro) with which you can choose between "land" and "sea" for your meal (the waffle foie gras and "trilogy of the field" will make your taste buds feel in heaven) and finish with a spectacular dessert (the creme brulee trilogy seems to be the crowd favourite).

You can have a look at some photos of the city here: http://picasaweb.google.com/citytripblog/LilleJan09##

Feel free to comment, sharing your experiences or asking questions or recommendations.