Lille, France : Octobre 2012

I wish I could have taken a photo or two or maybe even a video of how I got off that train and ran onto the arms of mon amour then play it over and over again. But I cannot turn back time and do that. The closest I have recorded to that moment is our first trip together to Lille the following day.

Being our first trip together, it was also our first train ride together ! For months it was just a part of my vast imagination that now have turned for the better and had become reality. This is just first of the many to follow <3It is a must to remember to keep your tickets at all times, have them validated before getting on the train and have some identification with you because up in the north, the contrôleurs regularly check these unlike down back south.

After a 40 minute train ride from VA to Lille, my boyfriend, who spent a couple of years living in Lille, took me on a long walk around Lille and the old town and introduced me to its notable places. One of which is Maison Meert known for its typical Lillois pastries. You can just tell how popular it is. Look at the people who crowd in front of it !We also stumbled upon the intriguing "Tombée du Ciel (Fallen from the Sky)", an exhibition by French artist Jean-François Fourtou. We wanted to get in but when we fell in line, we have reached the cut off for the day so we just took a shot from the outside instead.2’C was too cold for me and I could not stand it ! So after hours of walking, we finally entered a coffee shop to stop for some hot drinks. I had, for the first time, a chocolat viennois that came with two free speculoos that has now become one of my most favorite treats !

As the sun was starting to descend, I asked Nono if we could get back home and catch the next train back to VA. But Lille was not done with us just yet. Halloween was just around the corner and a group of young adults organized this parade. THEY ALL SCARED THE HELL OUT OF ME ! It’s almost as if the world has come to an end and only the zombies remain. It almost felt like we were in an apocalypse !

We passed all that and thankfully, we’re back to the real world with people  more alive than ever and structures as beautiful as this one.

Lille is lovely both by day and by night. My boyfriend knows so much about its architecture and since everything was explained to me in flawless French, it was kind of hard to grasp everything he said ! But I appreciate it more because I understand it more. And the structures just came to life (not that they moved or anything !) because of the lights that illuminates them.

Lille is the largest city in French Flanders and holds a large place in my heart next to Nice and VA. If I were asked to choose to live between Lille or Paris, I would definitely choose Lille over Paris.