So the coach has driven two hours from London to Dover, the rigmarole of crossing the bit of water, checking passports and being packed into a claustrophobic train has been completed, and we've ended up in France and driven just over an hour to Lille!
When I actually did this in November 2016, my plan was nearly scuppered altogether because Flixbus' drivers took industrial action in Germany which meant there was no coach to get on. Thankfully, Ouibus - the low-cost bottom-of-the-barrel, budget alternative (where seats are strictly reserved) were still running as usual and had some seats still available to book at similar times so it wasn't a great deal to sort out travel with them instead.
Lille isn't amongst my favourite places. It was a venue for Euro 2016, which was just a few months earlier, and I'm certain I read something once that says the city has it's own open-air zoo - quite close to Gare Du Nord railway station which also doubles up as the coach stop.
However, you won't find tigers or lions chasing locals around and, whilst it has it's pretty picturesque things - there isn't a massive amount to do here compared to other places which I've visited.
Anyway, Lille is in France but has a very, very Flemish/Belgian feel about it as it's only a dozen miles away from the border with Belgium. Only a day or two earlier, they'd switched on the festive lights so whilst wandering around the market in the early evening, the smell of chocolate filled the air and all you could hear was Christmas song after Christmas song.
The purpose of my visit was to watch Lille vs Lyon in Ligue 1 and reflections on that game will be posted later on today!
Enjoy the photos:
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