So work brought me to Paris & Berlin. . .: Lille and around

The next day was another packed one! First tour of the day was a walking one of the old town. Lille is the capital of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region in northern France, near the border with Belgium - you can actually take the metro into Belgium it is so close!

We woke up to beautiful sunshine, had breakfast, were ready to go and then this:

There was discussion about whether or not this tour was going to turn into a pub tour or not but then just as we started moving, the sky cleared and we were safe. . . well until the last stop.

Tourist office

Memorial

The tour takes you through the main square which is heavily influenced by the Flemish and thus, similar to towns you might find in Belgium. It includes: the Palais Rihour, the Main Square, the old stock exchange, the Opera House, the Chamber of Commerce, the Notre-Dame de la Treille cathedral.

Along the way you pass the buildings that house an outdoor market, the opera and more! I also found out that the outside of the Lille train station is the old Gare de Nord façade from Paris.

The tour ends near the Hospice Comtesse, founded in 1237 by Jeanne de Flandre. Inside you can find pieces from this time period and a brief history of the property. The last stop though is the church across the street which was something I had never seen before - a real mix between new and old!

The church . . .

Following this tour we had to haul ass back to the main square because we had another tour to take - yep, hence my comment at the beginning, I think I was a bit delirious!

The tour first takes you to Fromelles and the Museum of the Battle of Fromelles which focuses on the deadly battle which took place on 19th and 20th July 1916 and mostly British, Australian and German references. The museum was well done but we could have used a bit more time.

Then it was off to war memorials and Commonwealth cemeteries, especially the Australian Memorial Park and the VC Corner Cemetery.

Le Trou Aid Post Cemetary

Then we headed on the road to Ypres stopping along the way at more memorial sites. Our first stop was the Hyde Park Corner Cemetery in Belgium.

I think my favourite was the site of the 1914 Christmas truce memorial in Ploegsteert, Belgium. Firstly it had to do with soccer which fit in well with the theme of our trip, but mostly because you could really see the division between the battle lines, no-mans land and how close the two sides actually were to one another. For those that don't know what the Christmas truce is, it was a series of unofficial ceasefires that took place on Christmas in 1914 along the western front of World War I.

Next stop was Saint Nicolas of Messines church, rebuilt in 1928. Its 11th century Norman church hosted a German field hospital during the war.

The tour finished in Ypres, a city that was rebuilt after the war. The main site we saw was the Menin Gate which is a huge memorial to the war and then Anglican church. It was a shame we didn't have time to visit the town centre more because we could have sampled some Belgian beer and see what else the city had to offer.