School is out, Nicolas has gone home which means one thing, HOLIDAY!
This year, to help Tom out with his French we are in France for a couple of weeks. We have decided to do it by train to save with the arguments on who is going to drive etc. We found a company who does trips around France, so got them to do an itinerary - we are doing a lap of France, visiting lots of places we have never been to - so something new for all of us.
Our first 'proper' train was the first one out of Leeds in the morning, so we decided to stay the night in Leeds beforehand. Then of course, our Eurostar train out of London was cancelled, meaning everything was put back by half a day. We didn't need to stay in Leeds after all, but it was booked, we couldn't cancel and we like Leeds anyway, so we headed over as planned.
Stayed at The Queens Hotel as a treat for Tom as it is on top of the station, I was expecting it to be shabby as it looks shabby from the outside, but it was really nice, we had a huge, huge room. We were able to finish off our holiday shopping (sandals and goggles for me and shorts for Matt) and then headed to the station, got our train to London - forgot to say, because we booked our train trip by a certain date, we got a free upgrade to First Class for the whole journey which is ace. Enjoyed the free food and drinks, arrived in London - felt more than 10 degrees hotter! Walked across to St Pancras, had to wait an hour and then checked in for the Eurostar which all went well. Our train got delayed by 30 mins, but it did happen, and we arrived at the time they said we would.
Dragged our suitcases 1km over cobbles into the old city of Lille where we found our hotel. Our rooms are quite compact, no air conditioning, but Tom found that the main light was also a fan, which was grand. After a shower, we headed out and had a look around, we are on a Place, in the old town, all old cobbles and very old buildings. Wondered up a street full of restaurants, here a 'Welsh' is a thing - Welsh Rarebit apparently imported in 1544 by a Welsh Guard during the siege of Boulogne by Henry VIII. Hoping to get a chance to try it...
We had an ok sleep, were up at 9, headed to the Intermarche for breakfast (hot cheesy pastry for me, pain au raisin for Matt and a mega pain au chocolat for Tom. Then we headed on our way into the old town, the old town is absolutely massive - we spent ages just pounding the streets discovering good looking bakeries and independent shops. Found a great kitchen shop which sold everything except chocolate moulds (boo!), visited Gare du Flanders, Place d'Opéra, Place de la République, and finally Le Grand Place (or Place du Charles de Gaulle (he was born here!)). Lots of gorgeous old buildings, even went in a couple of churches.
We found ourselves a bakery for lunch, did a little more mooching and then headed back via Carrefour for a holiday purchase of a bottle of Calvados, and back to our square for a quick pint (I had a shandy and even that made me fuzzy - I really can't take alcohol without food these days!) and an afternoon rest. Excited for tea tonight...will it be a Welsh, a galette, or something else French!
No comments:
Post a Comment