DAY 5: Lille (Hotel Carlton)

Had a good night's sleep in our lovely suite and had an excellent breakfast in the first floor breakfast room, looking out on to the main square. It seems the French really know how to lay on a good breakfast.

We headed out to see some sights before our food tour at 11.30am. We were lucky that it was a cold but sunny day. No sign of cloud, wind or rain (unlike yesterday).

Our first stop was the Notre Dame de Treille Cathedral which mixed gothic architecture with a modern unfinished look (not very successfully in my opinion). What was interesting though was that there was some kind of gathering of all the gendarmerie of Lille at the Cathedral - all in dress uniforms with the hats and medals. There were hundreds of them about, with soldiers with machine guns standing around looking very fierce. Everyone was saluting everyone and cars kept arriving with very senior gendarmes with more and more medals getting out. I'd love to have known what was happening, but wasn't able to get close enough to see.

We moved on after that to a small museum called Musee de L'Hospice de Comtesse (the Museum of the Countess Hospital) - which is set in a former 13th century hospital. It was delightful! We were able to visit the prioress's private chambers, the refectory, the sick room where the patients slept, the dispensary and the kitchens. Everything was cosy with timber-panelled walls and paintings on every available space. There was also a museum of the history of Lille on the upper floors, which was very interesting. It was one of those small cheap museums (only 4 euro entry) which turns out to be a real treasure.

Paintings donated by grateful parents after their children's lives were saved by the nuns

After L'Hospice, we raced back to the main square to meet out food tour guide, Lucie. It turned out we were the only ones on the tour because it's a quiet season for tourists. Excellent! She was very engaging - maybe in her late 20's - and spoke very good English. She had even spent 6 months in Australia, working in a bar on the Mornington Peninsula of all places.

She took us around the back streets of Lille to six different food stops: -

1. HOPI - a microbrewery in a former hospital building - where we were served a craft beer and cauliflower tempura. (Maybe it is a French traditional dish after all!) The tempura was nice and the beer was fine, as beers go. What was really special was that the owner came out from the distillery and spent five minutes chatting with us and explaining the history of the place.
   
2. LES FISHTONS - a tiny restaurant specialising in seafood, where we had iced tea and the most delicious cod burgers (with cheese and parsley), and French fries. The fish was crispy and the bun was soft. Very nice indeed! Probably my favourite food of the tour.
   
3. ESTAMINET PORTHOS - an old-style French cafe/restaurant with a very eclectic decor - where we were served a beef stew cooked in beer with gingerbread croutons - called 'Flemish Carbonnade'. It also came with the obligatory French fries. It was quite nice - just like a rich beef stew. Not super exciting, but perfectly acceptable. We also had a glass of red wine to go with it.
4. PHILIPPE OLIVIER FROMAGERIE - a cheese shop! It was a very narrow place, stocked from floor to ceiling with cheese, salami and all the other things you would expect to eat alongside cheese. We were served three different cheeses - a goats cheese, an orange hard cheese called 'mimolette' and another strong smelling cheese, whose name I forget. They were all okay - but were were expected to eat them neat! No bread or crackers - even though the shop was stuffed with boxes of crackers. It's a bit hard to worry down cheese without anything to go with it - especially for poor Jim. Still, it was all very interesting.
5. L'OGRE DE CARROUSELBERG - the best named shop on the tour! It was an absolutely tiny patisserie which specialises in a choux pastry dessert called 'les p'tits pouchins'. Something to do with baby chicks? Anyway, they were filled with a delicious vanilla and orange blossom cream, but were very small - just a mouthful really. Could have done with another one each.
   
   
   
6. ERNEST JACQUES ET FILS - The last stop of the tour which was a shop specialising in spirits. (You would have been in your element, Barb!) The shop was just charming - not big but beautifully arranged and with lots of French atmosphere. The owner was a young man (in his late 20's) with a shaven head and tattoos on his arms and up his neck, who looked fearsome but turned out to be delightful. He was super passionate and very knowledgeable about all kinds of spirits and just exuded enthusiasm. He asked us what our favourite spirits were - so I panicked and said gin. He gave me a very complex and interesting gin - with flavours of coriander, hibiscus, angelica, mint and a dozen other things. Jim was smart and said 'Surprise me!' He ended up giving him a pear-flavoured whisky which was actually delicious. I would have loved to buy a bottle but didn't relish lugging alcohol around for the next four weeks. 
   
After all this, we were full to the brim and well lubricated, so we staggered back to the hotel for a coffee and a lie down. Later on Lucie sent us a photo from the first stop at the brewery, which was very sweet of her.



Later, after we recovered a little, we went to visit the famous Lille Christmas market. It was very impressive indeed! Hundreds of stalls with beautiful decorations and lights, food of all kinds, arts and crafts and lots and lots of people. We didn't buy anything, because we will be visiting lots of Christmas markets in the next few weeks, but it was a good introduction!