I recently visited Lille, a city in northern France. It was a quick weekend trip on the Eurostar, leaving from the recently-renovated King's Cross / St. Pancras station.
The architecture in Lille is delicate and detailed, and some of the more artistic buildings were located in and off of the main square, Place de General de Gaulle. Lille also has a beautiful park (with a zoo) and shops selling designer goods; I would have loved to have taken home some furnishings for the new house. I love the style of the furniture and home furnishings that I discovered in the shops, and this sense of style does not seem to be found in England. At least, I've never seen it.
Another excellent find were the flower shops and the chocolate shops. The flower shops had beautiful arrangements and colours; I would have loved to have taken a vase of the beautiful flowers back as well. I particularly enjoyed the arrangements of one flower shop on a corner off the beaten track. More than a few chocolate shops were dotted around Lille. Since Easter was approaching, the chocolate shops were filled with giant chocolate eggs, chocolate spring chicks and bunnies, sugar-coated and coloured foil-wrapped eggs. I discovered cases of real brown egg shells, which had been hollowed out and filled with chocolate. Giant eggs were beautifully decorated with bits of gold foil and patterned with different colours of chocolate and decorated with large bows. They looked delicious, but it would be a shame to eat such a beautiful work of art.
After visiting Lille, I conclude that the French are probably the nation who appreciate art the most. Below are some of my photos around Lille.
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