My Time In Lille

Didn't think I'd be posting another blog so soon, but today was one of many pictures and many interesting places as well - so here it is!

Well, since I'm in a vacationing and sightseeing mood, I decided to take some more looks at the city I've been living in for the past 4 months - Lille. So after I slept in, cf course, I headed on the metro to the southern part of the city to Port de Duoai where I got off. The main reason I had opted to hit the city was to look for the places to shoot the short film I need to do for class. I needed a garden that fit the one I had in my mind so I obviously hit the couple large public gardens here in Lille. So the first stop was the Rue du Jardin des Plantes which was the 2nd city to have a botanical garden in France when it opened in 1596. It was amazing walking through it, although most of the gorgeous rose bushes and such have not grown or bloomed yet and a lot seemed cut back more than it should have been - but still it was gorgeous! But not quite what I was looking for - darn!

So after that, and after consulting my map - I had it with me this time! - I got back on the metro and went another two stops and got off again. From here, I walked up towards the Port de Paris (I think I even saw one of my professors but if it was him, he didn't recognize me at all.) The Port de Paris was part of the time when Lille was a fortified city and had walls surrounding the city - this elaborate gate was one way into the city and has been kept in good condition. It's surrounded by a circular road but was incredible to look at and by encircling it, it stands out even more! Right nearby is the Hotel de Lille, or the Town Hall. This also hosts the belfry of Lille which was impressive to look at. One interesting thing is that the two giants thought to have founded the city of Lille are carved in at the base! There are ways to go up to the top so I might look into doing that sometime! From there, I kept walking to the nearest metro stop as I didn't see anything of importance on my map. (I later looked again and there was one of the 67 remaining medieval towers right nearby - but gives me something else to do one of these days!)

I next headed to the Gare-Lille-Flanders metro stop and got off there. And since I did have a few things I needed to pick up at the store - I stopped by Carrefour for a bit. While in Euralille, I also finally got one of the waffles with chocolate. The waffle is one of the traditional food items here in this part of France and there are a ton of different varieties so I thought I should start taste testing them! It was delicious!

After that, I knew there was a park nearby the Lille-Europe station and after walking down a few side roads, I found it. It's called the Henri Matisse Parc and meant to change with the seasons. It also leads to the Roubaix gate into the city of Lille - and even had some of the city walls with it too! It was gorgeous to look at just like the other one and having the park right there made it nice too. I did notice there were a group of teenagers on top of the gate and walls and a little later I stopped up to see what was going on but it looked like some random party with a really odd mix of kids!

But before that, I walked through the park. One interesting thing about this park is that there is an island in the middle of it that is 7 feet above the main level and is also inaccessible - It is meant to be left to the whims of nature! But there was a part of the park which was just gorgeous and definitely did not feel like I was in the 4th largest city in France. The tram goes underneath part of the park, and in the area above the tracks there is some closed off vents. But around those vents are rocks arranged in patterns with heather and shrubs around it as well. It was amazing to look at, especially as the heather was in bloom in its purple color. Such a tranquil place! After walking around there, I headed back to the Roubaix gate and on into Lille again.

The next thing I came upon of significance is the Lille Opera house and the Place du Théâtre. The Opera house was impressive in itself! and the belfry on the building to it the new Chamber of Commerce) was just as gorgeous. I do hope to see a performance of the next opera coming up here just to see inside but I have to see if I can spare the money! One thing though that I was glad to finally check out was the Vieille Bourse which used to be the old stock market and exchange place. However, now it holds shops on the outside, and on the inside plaza in the afternoons is a book market along with other printed items. It was interesting to go inside there - not only because of how small it was but also to just glance at some of the books. I even found a French version of Star Wars!

After leaving there, I was back in the Place Générale-du-Gaulle with the fountain in the middle of the place of the Goddess which was built to commemorate Lille's resistance to the Austrian siege in September 1792. Also on the place is the Grande Garde which is the traingular architecture that now holds the Théâtre du Nord. Also noteworthy here is the Furet du Nord which is Europe's largest bookstore with 8 floors. After having been inside it though, it seems like a normal bookstore compared to back home! haha!

From there, I headed north into Vieux Lille which is the older part of Lille. I followed the one road which has many noteworthy and trendy shops till I came to a side road which I took to get to the Nouveau Siècle which is a huge round building that i believe is used as a concert hall. From there, I headed back to the smaller main streets of Vieux Lille and sought out again the Notre Dame de la Treille Cathedral which is unique for its very modern facade. I was lucky enough to get there while it was still open so I got to go inside. The facade is mostly out of glass which looks amazing from the inside! However, they closed not long after I went in so I didn't get to look around much.

After checking the back and side views of the cathedral, I took a side street and ended up on Rue de la Monnaie which is where money used to be made. There were also many smaller places around there which I stopped at - those being Place du Lion d'Or, Place de Patiniers (which has signs in Flemmish too!) and the well known rue de chats bossus on which is the most beautiful fish restaurant in France: l'Huitriere. After checking these places out, I headed back towards Rue de la Monnaie and headed towards an open area there. I followed the rue de Gand all the way (which was only a few blocks!) to the Port du Gand, the third other portal into the old city of Lille. On my way back, I noticed a church steeple, so after talking with an older lady who asked me if I needed help, mainly because I had the map out trying to figure out what the church was! I explained that I was trying to find out which church that was and she was able to tell me - so I headed that way. It's Sainte Marie Madeleine - an interesting deconsecrated church building with a circular choir in Flemmish style but it is closed for renovations.

From there I headed a few streets over and walked back, which took me past the Palais du Justice building. I ended up about where I started near Rue de la Monnaie, and since I spotted a bar that's common for students and just a good time, I stopped in there for Happy Hour. It's called Cafe Oz, and is an Australian bar. I had what they called a Bondi Iceburg which seemed like the common cocktail to have as everyone had one it seemed! It was alright and I did like it. The place was really cool though, and even had a stuffed alligator above the bar!

From there, I headed back towards the part of Vieux Lille I have already been in with the bars, but via a small place called Place Aux Oignons, which was tiny but quaint too! I then was only one street over from rue Doudin which took me to the part of Vieux Lille I knew. And also on that street was the Kremlin Bar I was at the one night last week - so I took a picture of that too. Of course I was taking lots of pictures of the streets as they are typical French streets of older towns in Vieux Lille which are very quaint and gorgeous in themselves! Before I left Vieux Lille, I also walked by another church - Sainte Catherine but it was not that big.

When I left Vieux Lille, I was on Boulevard Vauban near the Citadel and there was still the fair there - so I checked it out! It was lined up as if it were a long street and it had typical fair rides and some actually looked cool! But as with most fairs - they cost money and aren't cheap to do... so I just walked through it.

And now is the reason I even ventured out - aside from it being a completely beautiful day out! - but I checked out the Jardin Vauban. I had already been here before and loved the place and knew there was a flower garden here. So I had hoped it would work for the one scene in the short film I have to make... only I was a bit disappointed. The flower garden would work - only there is almost no flowers in it! None of the bushes are grown, and it is nothing like I was looking for as most of it is not in bloom. So I now have to rethink that part of my short film which means more work of course. From there, I just walked back to my building and just relaxed for the night.

One note here, I should have all my London pics uploaded to my Picassa ablums by today although in order to get them all up, I had to go through and get rid of some pictures of other albums up and in a few cases the whole album! I've still have the major pictures up in case people haven't looked at them, but knowing that I still have 5 days in Paris plus some other random pictures coming up... I might have to get rid of more pictures online. Once I'm back home, I can see about either creating my own webpage or doing something in case people want all my pictures but I'll just have to figure that out then!

So here's a few links, and don't forget to check out the other albums if you haven't yet!