Good-Bye & Hallo 3 - Lille, France 1

Traveling from England to France by crossing the Channel through Eurotunnel was pretty quick and easy. Once we arrived at Calais, France, we were able to smoothly drive to Lille. Flemish and flamboyant architectures in the old town told me that I was not in England anymore!

J chose Ripaille for lunch. It was a small cozy restaurant. I had white asparagus in season and fish. J had octopus as starter and a kind of meaty dish for main. The dishes were wonderful! What a great pick, J!

While we were in Lille, I couldn't miss visiting an old pâtisserie called Méert. Their business, originally a chocolate confectioner, launched in the mid 18th century while the root can be traced way back to 1661. The current store in the old town has been around for more than 170 years. It looked very charming and filled with so many goodies. Actually we visited their branch store in Brussel and had a lovely Mont Blanc cake. At that time I had never known I would visit their original store in Lille in future. I live my dream! 

My target to obtain was their famous "La Gaufle." It's a thin waffle of brioche pastry filled with sweet butter paste and has been sold since 1849. There were several flavors of the filling. We bought three kinds of flavors: vanilla from Madagascar (the original flavor), pistachio, and raspberry. The waffles were so soft and delicate and tasted so buttery and delightful! I was going to take those waffles to our final destination with us; however, we ate all at our Airbnb by the end of the next day... 

In addition to enjoying local foods, we explored the old town of Lille. It was on weekend. Many people were relaxing at the Gland Place, the heart of the old town. 

A gelato time! 

A museum time! Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille was built under Napoleon I in the beginning of the 19th Century and now one of the oldest and largest museums in France. It was often said a must-visit. So did we. We didn't spend so much time, though. The weather was nice, being outside was actually better!

To be continued...