Weekend in Lille - La Piscine

We took a trip to the small town of Roubaix, linked by metro to Lille. With a history in textiles, the city experienced economic decline........however, they have worked hard to revitalise their economy (I could take lessons from it back to my own job) and have developed a number of new opportunities. One was the innovative decision to create a museum formed in the city's disused art deco swimming pool and public bath house - "a temple to hygiene". The pool was designed by Albert Baert and opened in 1932 and closed its doors in 1985. Reimagined as a museum it opened in 2001.

Using the pool as the centre piece of the museum, the stunning glass "sunrises" at either end, the tiled changing rooms converted into gallery space...housing the town's collection of art and textiles. Drawers on the upper floor open to allow you to experience the tactile nature of the fabrics and textiles on display. It is an amazing transformation, maintaining the integrity of the original building and creating a unique and breathtaking space....that outshines the art!

To make you feel at home in the swimming pool, every so often, they played a recording of children's excited squeals and splashes.....

We spent ages taking photos of the gallery - and enjoying more cake from Meert on the terrace outside in the sunshine!

Weekend in Lille

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row

John McRae 1915

One thing we had decided we wanted to do in Lille, before we left on our trip, was to do the tour of World War 1 sites in Flanders organised by the local tourist information office. We arrived to book the tour to find it had been cancelled that weekend due to lack of interest.

However, for a few more euros each we were able to book a private guide to take us on a tour. Aurore from Trottin nord turned out to be an excellent guide and we profited a great deal from her expert knowledge and her car - allowing her to vary the tour to suit our wishes. I would highly recommend her if you are ever in the area and was thoroughly moved by the experience of visiting these sites - unable to imagine what the beautiful rolling, lush, green countryside must have looked like in 1918, covered in trenches and land mines, treeless and desolate. Unable to imagine it taking 10 years to "cleanse" the land and return it to its population.

My grandfather fought in the First World War. At the age of 18, in late 1917, he joined the Scottish regiment, the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. In early 1918 he shipped to France and from what we can gather fought in the trenches around Lille - potentially in Bethune, Hazebrouck, Arras, Bapaume and Artois.

That's my grandfather, back right.....he looks like a little boy, a little boy soldier, who at the age of 18 went off to fight in a war, a war that killed over 885000 British soldiers....luckily he returned, but my dad said he never talked of his experiences in France.

Our guide collected us from our hotel at 8am on Saturday morning (yes an 8am start on holiday!) First was a quick stop in Lille itself to learn a little about the role of the city in the war. We saw memorials to the members of the city's resistance shot by the Germans in 1915 to the only memorial in the world recognising the role of pigeons (think carrier pigeons) in World War 1.

We then drove north from Lille, deep into the region of Flanders, that straddles France and Belgium, devastated during World War 1 when it became a landscape of trenches and craters and men fought bloody battles to gain metres of land......

First stop was Ploegsteert (nicknamed Plug Street by the British troops), where Winston Churchill (Prime Minister hero of Britain in World War 2) fought in 1916. We drove on to the Ploegsteert Memorial...built in 1931 to commemorate the 11,447 men with no known graves who died during battles in nearby Armentieres, Loos, Fromelle, Hazebrouck etc. It is surrounded by a number of graveyards including the Hyde Park Cemetery and the Berks Cemetery Extension. One grave here, commemorates a 16 year old, who lied about his age to join the army and by the time his mother was able to get the army to start looking for him to bring him home he was already dead.

Many of the names used in the area in World War 1 have strong London connections - this includes the trench called Oxford Circus or Regent Street.

Every Friday at 7pm the Last Post is still played at this cemetery to commemorate those that lost their lives.

We then moved on up the N365 towards Ypres, stopping near Messines to visit the Peace Crater. In the early morning of 7th June 1917, the British army blew up 19 mines that they had spent many months digging out to undermine German positions. The tunnels were dug by Tunneling Companies of the Royal Engineers, mostly by men known as clay kickers, who lay on their backs and with spikes on the soles of their shoes kicked out the mud and clay to create a tunnel (the quietest way to dig a tunnel). 17 of the 19 mines were all exploded in unison in June 1917 and the crater created by the Spanbroekolen Mine was purchased in 1920 to create a memorial. The explosion created a hole 76m across and 12m deep...

Our next stop was the incredibly moving Tyne Cot Cemetery, close to the strategically important town of Ypres (Ieper). Here, 11,954 allied soldiers are buried, the largest Commonwealth military cemetery anywhere in the world. A further, 34 587 men who fell in the Ypres Salient, whose graves are unknown are also commemorated here.

Over 8000 of the 11954 graves belong to unidentified service men.

I was unsure of what a salient was, it seemed historically important and have since discovered that a salient is a battlefield that extends into enemy territory and is surrounded on 3 sides. The Ypres Salient saw some of the heaviest fighting in the 1st World War, with over 90000 British and Commonwealth troops being killed.

After Tyne Cot, we headed to Ypres, captured early in the First World War by allied troops, Ypres was strategically important throughout the war. The city itself was almost totally destroyed but was rebuilt exactly as it was before the war (following a long debate about whether it should be left destroyed as a memorial to all that fell there) and today it has many magnificent buildings including the Cloth Hall and the cathedral.

On of the most moving sights in Ypres is the Menin Gate. It was built in 1921 to commemorate the British and Commonwealth soldiers who lost the lives on the Ypres Salient - remembering 54896 men.

The Last Post (click here to listen), is played here every evening at 8pm, as it has been since 1928. The exception being the 4 years during which time the town was occupied by the Germans in World War 2. On the evening following the town's liberation by Polish troops, the ceremony was resumed. A moving tribute to thousands of men who gave their lives......

Lille - A Weekend in Cake

Lille had so many good things to offer but the food was certainly one of the highlights. Be warned, if you are hungry you may want to grab something before viewing this post - the pictures could be a form of torture!

Friday evening we ate at La Cloche, a brasserie/bar opposite the Opera House. It was a nice enough place but I wouldn't go back - I think that there are lots of better places to eat in Lille, as we discovered the next couple of nights.

Following a long morning touring the countryside around Lille (but more of that in a later post) we headed into the city centre and followed our noses and greedy eyes to Vieux Lille's (Old Lille) rue Esquermoise and the most famous patisserie in Lille - Meert. Meert has a patisserie, with the most amazing cakes in the window, a chocolaterie with homemade marshmallows (guimauve), chocolates and sweets, an 18th century tearoom and a restaurant built around a sunny courtyard. We decided that we would go with the healthy option - cake for lunch!

At 5 euros for a slice of cake it's not cheap....but it is heavenly. The cakes are presented as mini works of art worthy of the Louvre or the Musee D'Orsay.

Our choices: I had vanilla millefeuille - a delicious confection of slightly chewy pastry filled with Madagascan vanilla confectioner's custard......

then there was the chocolate covered and filled meringue confection that almost killed Ali (that's it with the little M on the top below) and the choux pastry filled with chocolate, topped with a thin slice of white chocolate and a macaroon (to the right of the photo below) that Karen enjoyed.

After:

More views in Meert's window (not for the faint-hearted or the sweet-toothed - be warned!)

But Meert is not the only amazing patisserie in the city, on almost every corner in Vieux Lille (the maze of old cobbled streets that you could spend hours wandering around, discovering great shops, pretty little courtyards and a host of restaurants and bars) there is a patisserie or a boulangerie just screaming at you to come in and taste the goodies. Aux Mervilleux de Fred on Rue de la Monnaie is another must - famous for it's meringues covered in whipped cream and rolled in flaked chocolate

Or indulge your desire for macaroons at Patrick Hermand on Rue Masurel - a window filled with colourful bites of delight.

Dinner on Saturday evening was in the delightful La Pate Brisee on Rue Monnaie, famous for its flans. Filled with locals and tourists alike, friendly but brisk service and tasty food. Set price menus are available for all (not just a concession to tourism). For less than 13 euros we enjoyed a main, a dessert and a drink. I chose the Salade du Maison - a plate of lettuce, sliced mushrooms, ham and 3 small triangles of different flans - covered with salad dressing that sat in large jars, with ladles, in the middle of every table. My friends both had tarts - huge slices of tart, with salad. Delicious and highly recommended.

Sunday morning we went to the Wazemmes Market - it would appear that everyone in Lille was here, the streets being empty, apart from the square and streets around the market - which were thronging with people from all walks of life, the food piled high on market stalls, the senses assaulted by the colours, the smell (roasting chicken) and the sounds of Lille en masse. The outdoor market is open on Wednesday and Sunday mornings but there is also a covered market which is open everyday.

Look at the mountain of strawberries!

A more upmarket market can be found in Place de la Concert on a Sunday morning.

Sunday afternoon we headed to the town of Roubaix, just north of Lille to visit La Piscine, a museum and gallery housed in an art deco swimming pool - but more of that amazing little gem later.....back to the cake.....we ate cake for lunch again in the Meert run cafe in the gallery. This time I had the chocolate tart....it was chocolate heaven.....looked beautiful and tasted great - smooth, rich chocolate on a crunchy biscuit base....

We took the tram back to Lille and headed to Les Comapgnons de la Grappa, a small restaurant with outdoor tables in a sheltered little courtyard (off Rue Lepelletier) that we had spotted on our wanders....another treat! Typical food from the region on offer.....I had croquettes aux crevettes grisees, (shrimp croquettes made with North Sea brown shrimps) which were delicious, Karen the duck salad and Ali the carbonade flamande - a traditional sweet and sour beef and onion casserole cooked in beer and brown sugar.

All of this food....and what did we drink with it......Belgian beer....Kasteel Rouge and Leffe Ruby to be precise - beer made with cherry or other red fruits - delicious! Particularly served at a table sitting outside a bar overlooking a beautiful square after a day of sight-seeing.

A Weekend in Lille

Lille, northern France, close to the Belgian border. The growth of tourism boosted by the development of the Eurostar station in 1993, with Lille forming the axis between London, Brussels and Paris.

Lille (the Isle, L'Isle in French) is a beautiful city and great for a weekend visit - the perfect size for a weekend of wandering - not the bustle of Paris but with plenty to keep you engaged....from some of the best cake I've ever tasted, to Belgian beer, beautiful architecture (both old and new), museums, great shopping, a modern transport system (the first fully automated underground in the world i.e. no drivers) and World War 1 history surrounds.