Anniversary Trip to Lille, France

October 3rd is always a pretty special day as it marks mine and my boyfriend’s anniversary and this year we celebrated 8 years together! We always like to do a little something to mark the occasion, but often with work schedules and other such things, we don’t always get the opportunity. This year we decided to book a little last minute trip away, we only had time for one night away and decided to go someone close by but somewhere we hadn't been before, so we went to Lille! We saw pictures of the Grand Place Square and it looked beautiful, and Lille also houses a wonderful museum as well as lovely cobbled authentically French streets. We had a short trip but it was so lovely, we got to explore somewhere new and also relax and enjoy quality time together reminiscing on the past 8 years!

We stayed at the Carlton Hotel which is centrally located in the Grand Place Square so we didn't need to worry about exploring as we could get everywhere we needed to by foot. The hotel was very lovely and our hotel room overlooked the Lille Opera House (first picture).

What we enjoyed about going to Lille was that there wasn’t too much to do there, so we didn't feel rushed or like we were missing out on certain things. We walked around the main square, explored the old town as well as the royal quarters and spend an afternoon in a museum admiring art work and sculptures alike. All of which we had plenty of time to do! Not to mention sampling some delicious chocolate!

The architecture was beautiful, from the Flemish Gothic era buildings, to the Spanish inspired Opera house, and the classical French town houses, everywhere you looked (mostly when you looked up) you were met with a beautiful building. We spent our Saturday afternoon walking around the Palais de Beux Arts Museum and Gallery, where we saw artwork from Monet, Rodin and Picasso as well as so many other fantastic works of art. It was so quiet, we probably only saw in total 10 other people, which just made the experience so lovely for us. 

I hope you enjoyed this little post about our weekend trip away in celebration of our 8 year anniversary, Lille was such a lovely place to visit and I really would recommend it to anyone wanting a short adventure somewhere new!