We got an early start to pack up everything for train travel and had breakfast in the hotel. We opted to take an Uber instead of public transport, and it was the best spent £15 because we had paid significantly more than that yesterday getting to the British Museum and back. The Uber was a Prius, but it was just able to fit both of our small suit cases and the one large suitcase in its boot. We ended up with our backpacks in our laps, but it was only about a 25 minute trip to the St. Pancras train station in London. After we arrived we discovered that we had to wait until 9:30am to be able to go through customs and immigration, so we had a seat in the station and did some Duolingo French lessons.
Once we were allowed to enter the customs and immigration line, things went fairly quickly. They did x-ray our bags like TSA airport screening, but they let you keep any liquids, and Ben didn’t have to remove his laptop from his backpack. We then went through both UK and French passport controls and then entered a second waiting area near the boarding platforms. When our train arrived, they opened up the long ramp leading to the train and wheeled our luggage all the way back to car 12. We were some of the first ones to arrive so there was plenty of room in the luggage rack so we could keep them all together and secured with a cable lock. Most people didn’t bother with securing their bags.
For our trip from London to Lille, we were booked standard class, which was very much like economy class airline seats. Pretty tight for leg room but the seats are only 2 abreast instead of 3. Half the seats face one direction in the car, and the other half face the opposite. We ended up facing rearwards the whole trip. The car was pretty full, and there were a fair number of children and infants in the car. It was a quick trip which included a time zone change because France is an hour ahead of London time. Although they advertise Wifi on the trains, there was zero effective connectivity. There were no USB outlets- just 240V UK and EU standard AC outlets under the seats in a nearly impossible place to access or see.
There are several tunnels that the train goes in and out of, so it was hard to notice when we entered and exited the Chunnel. The train does travel fast- 250 kmph or 155 mph. The train is surprisingly smooth and quiet, aside from the children and infants. It is quieter than a 757. One odd thing was you still had air pressure changes that caused ear popping as the train entered and exited tunnels. The acceleration and braking was generally pretty gentle. It really is a shame the US doesn’t have similar train service up and down the West coast or between the coasts.
We popped off the train at its first stop, which was at Lille. The same train was to continue on to Amsterdam making a couple of other stops en route.
The Novotel Suites Gare Lille Europe is literally just across the street from the train station, so it was easy to get our luggage to the hotel. We arrived at 1:45PM and our room was already available for us to check directly into. The room was the largest of any on this trip but it did have an odd sort of lay out because the toilet was near the front door in it’s own little cubby with a tiny sink, while the bathtub, larger sink, and shower were around the corner. There were several small closets and a separate desk with chairs and a small sofa as well. We should be pretty comfortable space wise. The room was quite warm when we arrived. It is on the top floor of the building (11th floor) so maybe it gets more thermal load. We had to open the window and run the AC to get it down to the mid 70’s.
We went for a walk in the afternoon around central old Lille, which is a charming European city with narrow cobble stone streets lined with shops and restaurants with a central square lined by historical buildings. The one with the most character was the Old Stock Exchange, which was made up of 24 plots around a central courtyard. Interestingly enough, the courtyard is filled with book sellers, even in this age of the Internet. There is a golden statue of Mercury atop the bell tower.
There is also another historic building on the square which used to house a ferret business (they used ferrets to hunt rabbits). In 1936, it became a book store which since became the world’s largest book store from 1992 to 1999. It remains the largest in Europe. It seems like book stores are a rare thing in the US nowadays.
In the center of the square is a statue of a woman with a crown whom the locals call the Goddess. It is a memorial to the siege of 1792 when an Austrian army of 20,000 men besieged the city for 9 days and nights.
We wandered through the English Saint-Maurice which began construction in the 15th century, and wasn’t completed until the 18th century. It is a classic gothic European Catholic Church with lots of beautiful stained glass windows and religious iconography.
The next Church we visited was quite a contrast. Lille Cathedral has a bold modern facade, which is quite a unique sight. Although the Cathedral’s construction began in 1854, it wasn’t completed until 1973. There is a model inside the building showing a facade inspired by the Gothic style of the first half of the 13th century, but by the time it was completed, for various reasons it morphed into its present form. In many ways it stands out because it’s not ancient.
The round stained glass window high on the facade is of a very modern abstract pattern, while the facade itself is translucent when viewed from the inside. There are many smaller chapels around the periphery of the nave which have different themes which are explained on modern museum like display panels which point out some of the important artwork and symbolism of each chapel. One was dedicated to all the trades and each of their patron saints- over 66 of them. One paid homage to the assassination of Charles the Good, the Count of Flanders in the 12th century. There is a grisly depiction of men being hacked with broadswords in the stained glass above. He apparently took action to stop price gouging and famine by doing things like expelling the Jews from Flanders and limiting the power of an influential family in control of much of the commerce. It wasn’t until 1882 that he was elevated to sainthood. Nowadays, it seems like the ones who do the hacking that get the glorification.
At the center of Lille is a huge park surrounding a pentagonal star fortress that had been started by the Spanish, but finished by Louis XIV. It is still an active military site guarded by soldiers with very real automatic rifles, but there is a kids play park and zoo on the periphery as well as miles of walking and bicycling pathways. The arrangement of the fortress and satellite fortifications create quite a maze work around the central fortress. There is also a river that forms a moat around the entire complex.
As we headed back to the hotel, we stopped and had dinner in a tiny restaurant appropriately called La Petite Table which specialized in the local cuisine which is heavily influenced by the Flemish. Interestingly, one very popular local dish is a spin-off of Welsh rabbit, which everyone knows had no rabbit in it. In Wales, it is like a cheese sandwich drenched with a cheddar cheese sauce. In Lille, it takes the form of a casserole dish plated with bread at the bottom, a thin layer of ham, a generous covering of a thick cheesy sauce of cheddar cheese, beer and mustard, all topped with a fried egg. The other favorite regional dish is called Carbonade Flamande, which is a Flemish beef stew made with beer, gingerbread and sugar. It actually wasn’ t all that sweet. Just a hint of sweetness and a lot of savory rich beefy goodness. It could possibly be mistaken for the filling of some of the steak and ale pies they serve across the ditch to the north. Both regional favorites are served with French Fries, of course. Ben had a regional appetizer Potjevleesch, which is a terrine of cold rabbit, pork and chicken in aspic served with bread and salad, which was very tasty.
Tomorrow we will make our way to the Lille Palais de Beaux-Arts, which is said to be one of the best general interest museums in France.
