A "Lille" more of France

The Saturday before last, we spent the day in Lille, France -- the birthplace of General Charles de Gaulle.

The town's center or "Grand-Place" (officially called La Place du General de Gaulle) was beautiful. Doesn't come close to the magnificence of the Grand-Place in Brussels (not sure any others will), but it still is a town worth stopping at. After strolling through the town center and its surrounding area, we stopped for lunch at a brasserie called Cafe Le Paris. Although we haven't practiced our French in quite some time (we need to bone up), we ordered what we knew: poulet for the girls and entrecôte for Ray (chicken and ribeye steak). Our meals came accompanied with green salad, frites, and of course, french rolls. We enjoyed our lunch outdoors, enjoying the warm sun and watching the many people stroll by.

After picking up a map and city guide, we took a short walk through the "old-town" of Lille, passing such sights as the Vieille Bourse, Opera House and the Chambre de Commerce -- complete with its 76-metre high belfry.

We stopped at Patisserie Meert, an 18th century tea room (said to be one of General de Gaulle's favorites). It's store front had a beautiful display of cakes and pastries that were soo pretty to look at. (It reminded me of an episode on "Sex and the City", where Miranda was admiring the beautiful cakes in the window, went in to buy one, but was shocked when she was about to be charged $80 for it). The individual pastries were not nearly as expensive as that, but I opted not to buy any. How could I, when there was a creme-glacee (ice cream) cart right outside?! Ooh-la-la, and it was so delish!!

Although I wanted to see a "lille" more of Lille (I couldn't resist), our day ended when PS told us in her charming (!!!) way that it was time to go home...